Hi - my 10wk old choc lab has started going behind the couch - I bring him out and he goes straight back in - he's now done it 8 times in a row - I'm demented - I can't leave him there as I can't see what he's up too - any ideas/advice will be very welcome

Give him another den to settle in.

Thanks for reply - he has his own space - he was cage-trained when I got him and goes in and out it himself, quite often settles in it himself - he also has 'adopted' an area in the living room

you'll need to block his access to this new hidey hole

Mmmm I think so - I wondered if he was attention seeking and I was playing into it

> I wondered if he was attention seeking

At 10 weeks old?  No.  At this age he wants love and cuddles.  No different to a human baby.

Thanks - I'll try giving him more

And some fun training games with treats Even if its teaching him to go to his bed in his crate and then praise and cuuddles for doing it right.make it easy for him to do right so you can praise him as Mich as possible in a calm way.all good binding with you and making him del age around you but knows he can take himself off to his bed for a snooze. I also keep minei. The kitchen at this age helps with house training ,I am in their a lot so he hashimam contact and we can do little things and he gets both attention and being ignore.once he is more reliable I allow I to another area with me to watch so we accidents. Mine never wander around the house at this stage .small area I think also helps them feel secure

Thanks "furryfriends" - I appreciate any tips as it's s long time since I had s puppy

he also has 'adopted' an area in the living room

Mine (as a pup) 'adopted' a darker place & a duvet cover I had thrown there ready to dump, at the bottom of a 2 step stairwell, she still uses it quite often & theres always bedding there for her, interestingly when my last male died she used it all the time she was in, for about 2 or 3 weeks, to her it's what we would call a 'private', important, place of her own.
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Block off the access?    Has anybody shouted at him because at this age, it is, to me, a touch odd.

If you cover the top and 3 sides of his crate, that should give him a similar place to retreat to.

Thank u for ur advice

Thanks - No1 has shouted at him since I got him almost 2wks ago - he would be lying on the floor and then just get up and go behind the couch - he did it 10 times in a row and has now stopped (no doubt he'll start again) - I just thought it strange as there was no reason for it

> I just thought it strange as there was no reason for it

Dogs are denning animals, and will seek quiet corners and den like areas to rest, that or like mine choose the very middle of the kitchen floor, or in doorways, so you have to walk around or step over them, but their just weird.

Is your home busy? and with a new pup are people perhaps overtiring/overwhelming him with attention.

> that or like mine choose the very middle of the kitchen floor, or in doorways, so you have to walk around or step over them,

Although not so with my Whippet, my Bassets have always wanted to lie in the middle of where it's all happening (given Bassets don't stand if they can sit, and don't sit if they can lie!!).   I have built in 'avoidance' over the years, although I still manage to go base over apex, on occasion when in the kitchen when one decides to lie immediately behind me, and I've not noticed.   And anybody who has Bassets, knows they take up as much floor space as a Labrador!

My Goldens are just the same, and yes I've gone base over apex too! But they do take themselves off to their quiet corner when they consider it to be bedtime.

My Goldens have always sprawled about all over the floor setting trip traps for the unwary. Usually it's either at a doorway or by your feet when I'm sat at the table. Trying to get up from a chair can be fun with a big hairy dog blocking anywhere to put feet.

This sounds oh so familiar!

Both my dogs have investigated behind the sofa, I think they're just exploring their new territory. We just encouraged them to come out and then distracted them with a game or a fuss. Eventually they a) realised it was off limits and b) got too big to get behind it. I can understand your concern if you have cables that he can chew there, so be vigilant or block it off. We found it was just a short lived phase and they soon realised it was much more interesting elsewhere.

Thanks for all the advice

> my Bassets have always wanted to lie in the middle of where it's all happening (given Bassets don't stand if they can sit, and don't sit if they can lie!!).   I have built in 'avoidance' over the years, although I still manage to go base over apex, on occasion when in the kitchen when one decides to lie immediately behind me, and I've not noticed.   And anybody who has Bassets, knows they take up as much floor space as a Labrador!

LOL, I've learnt over the years to always shuffle slowly backwards, base over apex yes & I've always been more worried about the dog. Jokingly call them 'hovercrafts' when they lie down, they're not over weight but seen to spread out like the skirt of our local hovercraft!

Try moving round the kitchen with two 50kg Bernese helping !!!
On the plus side they are pretty good hoovers.
Aileen

I had a puppy years ago that was scared of her own shadow, mistake to get her really as she was a real nervous nelly, it was a relief when she went deaf at the age of 11 and stopped vanishing everytime she heard any noise that sounded like a gun shot.

Anyway, she liked people and wasn't nervous of us or any visitors, but scared of the world in general. When we bought her home I began to realise that she had probably spent most of her life in an outside kennel, she had no idea about being inside and was very scared. She found a tiny gap between a piec of furniture and the wall and stayed there until hunger bought her back out again, wish crates were the in thing in those days, probably would have suited her to have a den made in one. It took her quite a while to gain confidence inside although she never was happy with shiny floors (so they remained dirty).

OP. I wonder if your pup is a bit on the nervous or shy side and feels the need to hide away like mine did. Hope you've taken the advice of making the crate into a den by draping old towels or similar, to make a darker interior.

> Hope you've taken the advice of making the crate into a den by draping old towels or similar, to make a darker interior.

My boy westie did the sofa-disappearing act - I gave him what I had actually bought as a travel crate, put bedding in it and towels over the top to keep the light out - he loved it. He also loved his pen .. I didn't get one until the day after I got him when I thought he seemed too overwhelmed and quiet - put it up in the living room - hey presto he went in and played like a nutcase. Loved his dark den to sleep in (although he would come out half way through the night to sprawl out for a while too). He grew out of both eventually. My girl westie - well - no dark dens for her - and she broke out of her pen and didn't want to know it after the first day - not once sought out dark corners to sleep in (though occasionally hides under a cupboard when she is muddy and hears me getting ready to wash her off - though still silly enough to come out went told too !!).  BUT the funny thing is with my boy - he is 10 now - and he started seeking out darkened covered corners again like when he was a puppy - not because he is afraid of anything or timid - but I think because he is sleeping deeper now he's older and wants somewhere he can be completely undisturbed. So ... I bought a massive travel crate -put in bedding, covered over the top with a blanket to block out the light - and he's gone back to sleeping in the crate - in fact looked ecstatic when I showed him it - there was no question it was his the second he saw it - and he has taken to sleeping in there now. He even takes his toys in there like its his house (my boy has always, since the day I got him, sought out soft toys which he cuddles/paddles and sucks on the nose of (he likes teddy bears) until he goes to sleep - he has always done it and never grew out of it - and now he spends ages dragging his teddy into his crate at night after sucking on it for half an hour first).

So - to the OP - it sounds like a common thing with pups, irrelevant of breed, some seek it out dark covered corners and others seem to not need it. My boy wasn't scared or timid when he was young or at any time really  - he just did it I think because he liked his own safe place.

And to the other posters (not to hijack your thread OP but) .....anyone else have their dogs seek out covered corners again years later in their senior years like my boy? I'm just intrigued if others had their's return to those ways later in life too.

Our Labrador had a favourite den thou outside! She dug a lovely pit under a topiary bush and as a puppy slept many an hour there or chewed her toy there. She did not have a Kennel outside as not kept outside. She did when arthritis slowed her down always seek her puppy pit when we were outside together.
The pit is still there moulded to her shape and when we adopted two kittens they found and loved the pit too!
Our Cocker only goes behind the sofa if he knows the cats behind it asleep!