Several times, since Bailey hasn't had any accidents in the kitchen, we've come in to the lounge to play and chill. If I ignore him, he'll often curl up on the rug, moving to a different part of the rug every so often, but yesterday when I was sat on the sofa with my laptop, he sat and barked. I gave him something to play with, which he did for a minute or two, but then sat and looked at me and barked. Is it best to ignore this barking, in the hope that he'll find something to play with or lie down? I don't really watch much TV, and we do play lots, it's just nice to be able to sit down and do nothing for a bit. Saying that, he is currently, lying at my feet as I'm sitting on the sofa. Maybe last night's barking, was because I'd been out for a couple of hours and he just wanted to play?
A twelve week old puppy does not understand the human need for "downtime" and won't for some time to come. This is where a crate comes into its own. Just pop Bailey into the crate when behaves like this. Not in a cross shouty way, but in a way where he will soon realise that his human doesn't like what he is doing. It is worth mentioning that puppies are often at their worst (barking and frenetic) when they are tired.
No chance at the moment with Twiglet (11 weeks) Her crazy hour starts just as I settle down to watch TV in the evening, even Tatze (2 years) goes in the puppy pen for peace and quiet! My supervisor (Twiglet is a Guide Dog puppy) has suggested I do half an hour of training at the time she gets loopy as that will tire her out, I will try that tonight She's not 'safe' enough toilet training wise for us to go in the (carpeted) front room - but, when we do, I will take no toys and expect them to settle. I did this with both other pups and it worked so long as they'd had a walk/training session/play time before hand. The front room is our quiet room.
I still will dedicate some tv time to playing or just giving attention to Chepi. I usually walk her twice a day and she has all of my attention then but it's not enough. We usually play or do a bit of play training several times a day in between walks. Sometimes I will ignore her if there's something I want to watch and she will eventually slope off, sighing . I suppose trainers might say make sure you have paid enough attention, played, trained, fed etc and decide what your plan is about your time. If you get to that point and your puppy is barking it's not a good idea (I think) to be told what to do by your pup because that is just training the pup to carry on, after all it worked before. So to answer your question there will be times when you can ignore your pup because you have already taken care of his needs. I would put in some play time before you want to flop in front of the tv so your pup flops too. I expect you will have less rambling and more precise answers shortly!
As long as I know I have given Murphy enough attention, that he has been walked, played with, fussed, loved, fed and toileted then I would completely ignore any attention barking. He has only done this with me a couple of times, to which I yawn, look away and pretend he is invisible. He soon gets the idea and goes and amuses himself or lays down for a snooze.
Hi there, Dexter was a little bit older than Bailey (5/6 months) but we used to have a ' Twilight Zone ' in the evening just as we sat down ......he had definitely had enough stimulation,company and attention through the day..he would just go a bit nuts,charging around and doing things he didn't do during ,sitting by the back door like he wanted to go out but he didn't and generally being a pain! I used to give him a stuffed kong ( the chewing settled him down) or I'd sit on the floor and hold a toy for him to chew on .....or we'd put him in his room ( he could see us from behind the child gate ) and leave him to settle x
Being consistent is the thing - dogs are very, very good at taking cues from what is happening around them. So if they never get any attention while you are watching TV, then they will eventually just settle down when you switch the TV on, because they know it means "nothing doing right now". Same if you are eating, on your laptop etc. But if they sometimes get attention, then they will keep trying to get your attention. So being very consistent with how you interact with your dog pays back. That said, your dog is really too young to learn this yet. It's a lot to ask them to settle for more than a few seconds at that age (leaving aside those rare Labradors that seem to be models of angelic calmness from day one - but there aren't many of them ). There is an article here, but it's for dogs over a year old: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pestering-you/ In the meantime, kongs and crates help a lot....
Hummm - I'm going to try the half hour training at the loopy time - I wasn't quite sure if there was still a brain cell working but going to give it a go
