Ok, Penny has always been more my dog than my partners - I do all her training, feeding, exercising, she sees me most of the time, so therefore I've always thought it normal that she would be more attached to me than my partner. Don't get me wrong she loves him too and responds to him as much as me, but she's definately a mummy's girl. Lately I have been wondering if she is, perhaps, too attached to me. She follows me everywhere - she could a sound asleep but as soon as I move she will jump up and hurtle after me so she knows what I am doing. She follows me from room to room constantly, she's like my shadow! If I go to the bathroom and leave the door open she will sit and stare at me whilst I'm on the loo! She tried to get in the bath with me once! If sit on the armchair instead of the sofa she stands and stares at me with this sad look until I sit on the sofa and she can sit next to me. So I've been trying to force a bit of independence on her - if I go upstairs for anything I shut the stair gate so she has to stay downstairs - she sits at the bottom of the stairs and won't move until I get back, sometimes she whines. If I shut her out of the bathroom she races around, rushes up and down the stairs like she's searching for me and panicking. If I go out but my partner stays home, so Penny is not put in her crate, she whines and lies by the door, then gives up after about 10-15minutes. She does none of this with my partner. The odd thing is though that we don't have any problems leaving her at home alone. She knows our routine now and can tell when we're getting ready to go out. She's perfectly happy to be put in her crate and will happily settle while we are gone. Our neighbours would mention if they heard her crying and they haven't said anything so I can only assume she doesn't make a sound. Is this odd? Is this too attached? Am I doing the right thing by trying to force a little bit of independence by shutting her downstairs when I go upstairs etc? Is there anything else I can do?
Re: Too attached to me? Hi, Hattie is the same as Penny constantly at my side and she is 6 years old. I do all of her walking, training, feeding etc. and when I go out and leave her here with the family she will sit outside at the side gate waiting for me to return. I don't think it's possible to change this and personally I don't feel it's an issue as she is also perfectly happy when she is left for upto 4 hours. Hattie is definitely my dog and I wouldn't have it any other way Our rescue Charlie is the same and follows me around too but he also does this to my husband as he walks him and I do all the feeding and training so he favours us equally. Who knows what goes on in their brains Someone with lots of experience will answer your questions I am sure.
Re: Too attached to me? I don't overly mind that she does this, like you said it's quite nice really! I just worry sometimes, especially of she is whining because she can't get to me! I hate hearing her whine
Re: Too attached to me? I think it might be a lab thing, my two both follow me everywhere, I dont even get a bath on my own....if Im visiting someone's house with them they will leap up mid fast asleep if I leave the room, and always position themselves so they can keep an eye on me. If we are in the pub and I go to the bar to get the drinks in and they are left with my friends holding them all of five feet away, brodick cries dramatically and cuillin leaps up and stares fixedly at me until I come back. Most folk I know with labs seem to have a similar joined-at-the-hip thing going on
Re: Too attached to me? Hmm. My spaniel will stop dead and refuse to move if any of the other family members take hold of his lead... not sure I'm the best person to comment on this!! But - I walk them, feed them, train them, play with them. I would be a tad offended if the others got the same level of attention as I did! Clare
Re: Too attached to me? Fairly normal for lab behaviour in our house too. The only difference is, we have split allegiances. In the morning/afternoon/early evening I am definitely the one to focus on (food, walk, food probably) Come bedtime its the OH - he is the master of the suppertime gravy bones, and the letter-up-on-the-bed person (food, comfiest spot in the house) *sigh*
Re: Too attached to me? I wouldn't be too worried about it unless it is bothersome to you. Simba is not as attached to me (yet) as my previous dog, a Border Collie, who was my constant shadow, never more than a couple feet away at all times. Our boy is a rescue dog we got 6 months ago and is gradually seeing us as his family, perhaps he will always be a little more aloof, maybe not.
Re: Too attached to me? Charlie was like this over the summer when I had a long holiday, and we were together every day. I became worried about it, I really wanted Charlie to be more relaxed about me not being there. I do think it's important for dogs to relax when they are on their own. I'd say you are right to make her be a bit more independent, I started doing the same with Charlie - I set a routine where he had to settle quietly in his pen for periods without me, even when I was at home. I also avoided letting him wait outside doors for me, putting him in his pen instead. When we got back to normal, he was a little distressed when I wasn't there at first, but soon readjusted again. He does follow me around still, but it's much more balanced now, he will stay in a room with someone else if I say stay and happily trots off with the dog walker, and enjoys his time with grandad when I'm away working.
Re: Too attached to me? Dex definately favors me......but like Helen,I'm the feeder,trainer,groomer,around the most and I'm in agreement with Clare ,I would be affronted if I wasn't the favourite!he jumps up from sleep to follow me everywhere....but he's made to sit and wait downstairs when I go upstairs and I get the same mournful look that Penny gives out ( labs are good at that look!) but mostly he will wait at the bottoms unless he really can't contain his desperation to see me and he will either slink upstairs ,very,very slowly pretending to be invisible ,I can hear the slow chink,chink,chink of his tags....or at the other end of the scale come barreling up like a tsunami wave ,on those occasions I don't hear anything much just feel the brute force as he ploughs into me delighted he's found me!they are daft ! I'm lucky Theres never been any whining at all....maybe because he was a bit older when he came to us? X
Re: Too attached to me? Well Lady is also defo joined at the hip when things are going on out of routine. Otherwise she just takes up position guarding the front of the house through the sitting room window, or the back of the house in the conservatory. The only real sign of the joined at the hip behaviour was when OH was in hospital. Lady just wouldn't settle and paced around all night or if she did sit it was staring at the front door. I think on balance she pretty much divides her attentions equally in the house, but outside she's "my" dog and pretty much only responds to me, especially when she's working. I like these threads because they make me think about what makes the dog tick!
Re: Too attached to me? like lady, jasper divides his attention equally between me and my son,......when logan is here none of us get a look in
Re: Too attached to me? I have the same behaviour with my two and my old lab was the same. They love the OH and go wild with excitement for him but if I leave the room they come too. They are much happier being left in their pen if I go out then with the OH. In the pen I'm not supposed to be their so it's normal. In the house if I'm not there they whinge are restless and mess about until eventually settle and wait but always on the look out for me. They are my dogs. ;D
Re: Too attached to me? [quote author=Jen link=topic=3919.msg45217#msg45217 date=1389100064] They are much happier being left in their pen if I go out then with the OH. In the pen I'm not supposed to be their so it's normal. In the house if I'm not there they whinge are restless and mess about until eventually settle and wait but always on the look out for me. They are my dogs. ;D [/quote] My OH tells me the same - if I go out and leave him in charge, they sit and wait for me in the hall...!! Clare
Re: Too attached to me? Ditto here and I did try to give Chip some independence. But after a few attempts I decided it was just easier to allow him to follow me about. Sometimes (when I'm not home alone) I do shut the bathroom door to go to the loo but I've told him 'wait there' and he seems to understand that command, that I'm going to be out of eye sight for a moment, but I will be back so sit tight. I use this command when I leave him in the car to nip into Tesco! Your dog isn't lacking independence, as he's quite happy to relax home alone, so I don't think you have anything to worry about other than the slight annoyance of never being without a dog stuck to your thigh!
Re: Too attached to me? Harley is exactly the same with me. If I go out and leave her with hubby or daughter she will whine for at least 5 mins before accepting it and start playing. The other night I closed the en-suite door and she led on the bed with hubby, staring at the door and whining until I came out! Personally I love the fact that she us my dog, and shows this
Re: Too attached to me? Ok I'm less worried about Penny's behaviour now, it seems that she is fairly normal! Lol Thinking about it her attachment to me does kind of make sense. Her breeder told a little white lie about how old she was when we picked her up - we were told she was 7 1/2 weeks old, but when we got her KC registration paperwork through it turned out she was one week younger than that. It would also explain some of her small issues when interacting with other dogs. Studies have shown that puppies taken away from the litter too young build more of a bond with their humans and can have difficulties interacting with other dogs as they have missed out on crucial life lessons from their mother and siblings. Puppies that are taken away later (such as puppies that have been 'run on' by the breeder) and so are more like 10-12 weeks old when they go home develop closer bonds with other canines because they have spent most of their formative weeks with their litter mates rather than one on one with their humans.
Re: Too attached to me? Well, that is rather cheeky of your breeder (unless the date on the registration papers is a typo). I think that Penny sounds totally normal
Re: Too attached to me? [quote author=Oberon link=topic=3919.msg45386#msg45386 date=1389168097] Well, that is rather cheeky of your breeder [/quote] Now that's nicely euphemistic!! Clare
Re: Too attached to me? Yeah I was quite annoyed when I realised what had happened but hey ho, what's done was done. I'm glad we got her when we did though as all her litter mates were going the same day or the day after so if we had forced it for her to stay another week she would have only been with her mum anyway. So I'm glad of the bond we have, I love her to peices. I just wanted to make sure her behaviour wasn't abnormal but she sounds pretty average to me lol
