Hi everyone

I am new to the boards but have been "lurking" for a while and soaking up all your helpful information!!!!
I find now I need to speak up a little and ask your advice if I may!
I am now the very very very very very proud owner of a Shetland Sheepdog named Reggie who was 11 weeks old on Monday! and if you had not gathered I am totally smitten!! :-)
Everything is going really well, house training good, socialising (only in my arms as awaiting second jab) good as it can be, he wants to be down there but getting used to bikes buses prams people etc until it is safe for him to interact with dogs etc!!! Bed time good, starting to leave him to get him used to it for occasions like...I have to go shopping! seems to be doing fine, usually asleep when I come back in!
BUT he cries like heck when I go upstairs i have tried everything....well i thought everything to get him to stop, i ignore him when i do have to go up to the loo or put washing away! when I have come back down. I wait until he has stopped crying before I go down (which can take forever!) before I go down so he does not think by crying I will respond. I put him in the garden with his favourite toy and try and sneak away...does not last obviously.
The strange thing is that when it is bed time (he sleeps downstairs) and I turn all the lights off etc to go up to bed he takes himself into his bed and i do not hear a peep out of him until I go down in the morning
What am i doing wrong for the daytime to be a problem??
Any thoughts welcomed
Thank you
from a luvved up reggies mum!

hi and welcome!

sounds like your doing the right thing and at nights have either a) gotten very lucky or b) have a very tired boy who likes a full nights sleep. how long have you had him to try and get used to you leaving him downstairs?

Hi Astarte

Thanks for your reply and the welcome

I have had him just over two weeks. He did whimper for first two nights but showed him where he was sleeping from day one, nothing huge, settled within minutes so made the decision he was not too distressed so left him and now he happily goes off to bed the minute I start locking doors and turning lights off etc. I live in a terrace house so when I started the leaving him thing asked my neighbour to listen for noise...nothing. But I did do that gradually and slowly!
I am lost to why during the day he hates me going upstairs. It is not like we are joined at the hip for the rest of the day. I will wander off and do things he will pootle into the garden and have a wee and sniff etc... and sunbath like today, quite happy on his own so why is upstairs an issue I just do not know

Aaah Shelties can be sensitive souls and quite chatty too, as I remember.

I wouldn't get hung up at his age on waiting until he stops crying in order to go in and out of rooms. Pop a radio on, make sure you leave him with a suitable baby chewie or toy and then just go about your business. I think the key thing is only to interact with him when he is not whinging, unless he needs the loo of course. Just go in and out of the room and be busyand jolly, but ignore him in a kindly way by getting on with what you are doing. He does however need to know that you are there and so I think going in and out repeatedly but ignoring is better than being out of the room for ages and waiting for him to stop.  The hard core stuff can wait until he is older.

You may find that giant empty rooms (from his perspective) and gardens are too much space for him. Does he have a crate and a puppy pen to put the crate in? Unless you are interacting with him I would try putting him in his pen with toys etc.. That is his safe area. Then just get on- he will catch on after a while. Try not to get wound up or upset by the crying, just go with it for a while and see what happens.

BTW I don't think you are doing anything wrong. All pups are different and some are more laid back than others. It sounds like you are doing really well, remember he's only a baby.

Actually, having just re read your post it might simply be that he knows he can't physically get up the stairs to follow you, or perhaps the noise of the loo flushing scares him- it could be many things. I'd just accept that he's going to have to get used to it and I think he will if you calmly get on with what you need to do.

well you've not had him long so he's probably not used to it yet. has he been upstairs at all? he might be worried about you- my lad shoves open the bathroom door when i'm in as he seems to think i need checking on, though its probably more that he doesn't like not knowing where you are for his sake at that age.

give it time, he'll get there and your doing the right thing.

Ok Thank you
I just love him . I have waited a really long time for him and now want to make sure I get it right....hmmm i know in an ideal world maybe! He does have a crate his toys are in there,which is where it would seem he likes to keep them! Still at the stage of only shutting the door with me in room (up to fifteen mins now) finding it a bit hard to be firm on that one. Mind you jaw dropping episode. Whenever myself and my daughter sit at table to eat a meal (which is where his crate is) he just gets in and lies down. i have never asked him to he just did it which is brill! :-) How lucky am I !!! No begging at meal times!
Thanks again
R M

you've either gotten and angel dog there or he's come from a very good breeder

No Astarte he is not been upstairs at all. He cant do the stairs...too little lol bless! Also to be honest i would rather he stayed downstairs
One other thing I have bought him a puppy kong which I put in the fridge so it is nice and cold on his teeth and gums...dont you just love teething! It has grooves in it and i have been told to spread peanut butter or marmite in it but will this not upset his tummy? Sorry if its a silly question but I am not sure!
RM

Ill go with the angel ;-)
breeder was good though I hasten to add!!!!
:-)

> No Astarte he is not been upstairs at all. He cant do the stairs...too little lol bless! Also to be honest i would rather he stayed downstairs

he might be worrying a bit then. ease him in as freelancer said.

> It has grooves in it and i have been told to spread peanut butter or marmite in it but will this not upset his tummy?

i prefer pate or cream cheese. you'll not need much of it.

fab thanks! added to my shopping list lol

Ill relax about the stairs thing too

He starts puppy school on 9th May, meet lots of other canine babies. Any ideas at what age they can start agility? i am sure I will find out then but thought I would ask as..... i am impatient !!!

The key thing is not to get into perfectionist mode with him. By that I mean the way Mums get a bit OTT about developmental stages with children. Training guides for pups are a good thing but they are only guides not absolutes. You've got your house rules, upstairs is verboten and so that's the way it stays. Just use your common sense and be consistent. If something isn't working take a step back and think are you asking too much too soon?

The crying is so normal, as I say, just let him get used to the idea that you are in and out whether he cries or not, but you only notice him and interact with him when he is quiet. At his age he needs to trust in your reliability and he is learning about how you function as a household.

I must admit I've got a velcro breed and mine also got upset about me going upstairs. I gave him a couple of guided tours as a pup, just to let him sniff around, explore and see what this upstairs malarky was all about. That did seem to help.

Shelties can have sensitive tums, why not just smear some nice soft, meaty food inside- marmite is a bit high salt in my view.

ohh a while yet i should think... baby bones are easily damaged! you;d be best asking another sheltie or small breed person, i'm a working group girl :)

Cripes, don't even think about it for a year at least, his bones and joints all need to develop properly and settle. Start agility too early and you risk irreperable damage. The most important thing right now is that he has a happy puppyhood and grows into a happy, confident adult.

OK thank you both so much!
Yep i have taken all your advice on board and will not let myself become too precious about things! ;-) I figure just enjoy!!!  Speaking of which i am off to give him a cuddle!
Thanks again much appreciated!
RM

I think a visit upstairs to see there is nothing scary there might help - carry him up, let him sniff about and explore and carry him down again. You sound like you are doing everything right though :-)

I started agility a while back, not been in a while though either. They don't seem to take them until they are 18 months old, that was the general consensus when i called a few up asking them about joining.

Welcome to you and Reggie.  Do you know there really is just something about stairs isn't there?!

Long after my youngest was used to closed doors, popping out, being left, and all that good stuff - he remained a bit silly about the stairs.  Even now at 21 months it's the only place we get any attention barking.

Nowadays it's more likely connected to what happens when I come back down - I'll go upstairs to get ready before taking him for a walk for instance.  BUT when he was little I put it down to the 'stair effect'.

Consider this, it's generally the one place where your pup can see you leaving or coming back to him.  There is a good reason that stairs are used for dramatic effect - you can really make an 'arrival' last so much longer when walking down some stairs!  From your pups perspective he has a bit of extra time to anticipate you getting back to him or to watch you leave.  Whilst you are upstairs Reggie can hear you but you are out of sight and out of reach although he may glimpse you at the top of the stairs several times before coming back to him.  It must seem a bit odd for a puppy but he's just shouting

A 'normal' leaving generally involves a swift exit and a closed door.  Without the sight or sound stimulation they'll soon turn their attention to something else.

Reggie will get used to it - just nip up and down a few more times than you need to.  Don't worry about the barking, and just ignore him when you come back down, he won't need a greeting from you.  If you think he's getting too distressed then you could try leaving him behind a closed door instead when you go upstairs.  This is something you can come back too when he's feeling a little more settled and more comfortable with his daily routines.  It's such early days and you'll find that with each step forward you're bound to take a couple back for while.

Good luck with Reggie - he sounds a bit special :) 

Well I think you are doing a great job. What an angel!, there will be many people on here so jealous of you. All the things you are doing are sensible and I am sure in time when he 'gets it' and knows that upstairs is not a place where you disappear for good then he will be fine. Enjoy your puppy classes it is so exciting getting them out to play with other dogs.

Aww bless thank you Alison thats nice to hear
Well the angels halo has well and truly slipped! Thought it was too good to be to true ;-) Reggie has pulled the whole weather strip (not sure if that is what its called) from the back door today!!!!!
Sigh, roll on the end of teething!!!
R M

You could try moving to a bungalow! lol
Its the same with my elderly BSD-I can go out and leave him-no problem.He's fine downstairs at night as well(he can longer get upstairs) but if I try and go upstairs daytime or evening before about 11pm he just stands at the bottom and barks-and its a really demented bark! I think I might buy him a stairlift!
As regards the agility-there's loads you can do now which doesn't involve actually jumping or going on the equipment.I'd recommend a puppy pre-agility group-whereabouts are you? You can start training things like contacts now,also ground work,back end awareness exercises,also going on wobble boards so he won't be nervous when he first does the seesaw.Don't do what I did and started as a beginner with my sheltie at a "pet" agility club,decided that I wanted to compete then found out that I hadn't taught her contacts properly and its very difficult to reteach when they've learnt bad habits.

Sounds like you have a lovely pup there. Dorhive me if I am sayiong the obvious but as he is so good when you eat, start using a command when he goes to bed eventually he will just go there when you ask him with little effort. I have said bed to my Gsd and chi right from day and gently took them to there beds. Both of them just absorbed the word and now will  go to bed when I tell them. Also brilliant for teaching sendawasy later, the gsd did it right from the beginning at training . Gosh was I proud Mum for once.

Hi
Yeah maybe a bungalow would do the trick but also it would have to have no doors so he cant chew the strips off!
Helen re agility I am in Wiltshire so if you are able to recommend anyone close to me that would be great, sounds like I have a lot to learn did not know what those terms were you were talking about :-) I looked on the puppy school website and will hopefully talk to the trainer at school next saturday as she has something on her website about it.
It would be good like you said to start introducing him to things without causing him any damage!
furriefriends - definately start using a command
Thanks again
RM

Hi Reggiesmum-I don't know of any puppy classes in Wiltshire but there must be some.I'd check out the club list on Agilitynethttp://www.agilitynet.co.uk./activepages/clubs.asp .I'm pretty sure Kennel club registered clubs don't allow dogs under a year old but its still worth contacting them to see if they know of any other trainers who do puppy classes.There's also several dvd's available on pre agility training-there's someone on the agilitynet fleamarket selling one.

That is brilliant thanks.
I have found one fairly close from that aite. I will see what happens at puppy school and go from there. Obviously not in a rush to do too much as he is still a wee little thing but nice to build up some knowledge for myself

R M