...bet you thought I was on about something "dirty", heehee. Well all my problems with my Sheltie seem to be disappearing. If I give him a toy he will over push up onto my lap to chew and play with it. He likes handeling now and I think i have a lot of people here to thank for that. :) Plus he play bites far less roughly, it was clearly because I was tireing him out and making him over hyper (which I've stoped doing). The barking around food has also got lots better but I'm here to bug you all about something... sorry!

He won't play by himself! I have gave him a kong and an activity ball to try and encourage him, plus some toys to throw about. He still just won't play by himself. He's a very playful pup but only when I'm playing with him or someone he knows. If he's not being played with though he just walks about looking bored, then drops off to sleep. Or say if I'm not giving him my attention for 20 minuets because I'm at the pc he looks really sad. Which is what he's doing right now. He's resting by my feet looking up at me wanting contact. When I go out the living room and close the puppy gate, then go to the downstairs loo. He watches me through the puppy gate until the loo door is closed and soon starts crying for me.

I have been giving him break times in his create but maybe not quite enough (though he never cries in there - he just goes to sleep), maybe that's it. Its hard not to want to fuss him because he's a lovely little chap and i work from home. Has anyone got any ideas how to make him like playing and being by himself a while? I'm sure its not normal that he sleeps unless I or someone he knows is interacting with him. Even on the first day I had him he didn't seem to know or want to play games on his own, but its just gone down hill from there. He's clearly too dependant on me. 

Ah , if he's dropping off to sleep then that's fine! If he wakes up and you are not home (i supposed he's in his crate or pen) then he'll have nothing else to do but chew on his toys! Remember sleeping when bored is better then DESTRUCTIVE when bored!

ALL my dogs sleep until i come home if i'm at work , they are people dogs!

Yeah much better than destructive :)  

Glad you're making progress :)

On the one hand it's good for a puppy to learn they can't press the button and have you play with them when ever they want it, but it does take some a while to learn they can play by themselves, I've only ever had one dog who would amuse herself reliably - and her favourite toy was a large stone which she'd toss in the air - not ideal from a safety point of view.

Food seems to be the best way to encourage interaction with an inanimate object - 'Kong' toys are available in a variety of shapes which can be stuffed or smeared with tasty things to encourage the dog to interact - my favourite of these at the moment is the 'Jack' shape as this is great for puppies.  The conventional Kong can be stuffed with a whole meal if you like, and the dental Kongs are great for teeth.

Don't forget if you do catch your puppy playing with a toy by itself, to make sure you praise and reward the puppy - maybe even with a short game with you......