New to site and first message, we have a ten week old springer pup, Olli. We brought him home when he was seven weeks old, the main problem we are having is he has become very attached to myself, with a husband that is in the Army and going away soon for 6 months, were a bit worried that the problem might get worse. It has got to a point that if I go upstairs for a couple of mins and he down stairs with my husband, he howls the house down and wont settle, its got to the point if I go in the bath, I have to take him upstairs with me. Will he grow out of it? If anyone has any suggestions on how I can help him, please let us no. Thanks for reading. Lesley and Olli

hi lesley and welcome! sounds a bit of a nightmare. i'd get your husband to spend as much quality time with him as possible, without you, where they play, do training, he gets treats etc so he realised that you leaving is not a bad thing and other people can be fun to.

Thanks you Astarte for the advice, he does spend time playing with him, takes him out in the garden, gives him treats, cuddles. Its as soon as I move and he see thats when he starts, he was with my mum on his own a week ago for a few hours and he was great.  He just seems to have a problem with men, and as far as we no, no man has hurt him!

your really going to just have to persist with it i'm afraid. get your partner to make sure its really really nice being with him when your not there- has he a favorite treat or toy? if so maybe make the only time he gets it the times he's with your partner. there are loads of ideas for tasty treats on the forum if you search for treats, the likes of liver cake or tuna cake are good ones.

I will try that with him, I think the hardest bit will be when my other halfs away for 6 months on duty, Ive been told that in this time period I should make sure that he comes into contact with a lot of men which, when my other half gets home it should be ok with Olli for him to get there. We have also been told that we should start leaving him in the house on his own for ten mins at a time, then when we come back not to make a fuss of him, but someone else said to make a fuss of him. What would your views be on this? Thanks

I personally would start leaving him now. Without ceremony, no words just very cooly go out, very cooly return without ceremony or fuss involved. As if it is the 'norm' which is exactly what you want it to be, the norm!

Maybe have in the fridge a Kong stuffed with dog pate or cheese and just toss it to him as you leave, but withouit contact or words. Just go.

When you return, no eye contact, no words just very matter of fact. Don't make a big deal of it. Start with 5 minutes, then 10, then 15 minutes and build up slowly but however you are feeling inside you must be very matter of fact about it.

Same indoors too really. He will follow your lead. You make a fuss, so will he.
HTH 

Sorry to hear your problems, now is the time to grit the teeth, invest in some earplugs, apologise in advance to the neighbours and ignore her pleas for your attention. Let your husband feed and groom her and hope she remembers him when he returns. Even if she does not with a bit of work I am sure she will accept him without too much trouble.

You have to start leaving Olli now or you never will be able to. :-(

This could be the start of separation anxiety if you don't nip it in the bud.

As already said you have to start leaving the room for a short while at a time and build it up gradually. Ignore Olli until you are ready to say Hi. Hubby will also have to do this, and anyone else in the household. Be persistant, quite and confident. Ignore any silly behaviour, but praise good behaviour. Pups will always push things to the limit, just to see how you react. Any weakness now and you will regret it for life ;-) That's why I sleep with my dogs in my bedroom - I couldn't say no :-D

your right about the leaving him, start now! the girls above are right about the way to do it.

my dad used to work off shore and would be away for a month at a time,whenever he came back the dogs were always delighted to see him, but he always made sure that he got down and wrestled with them for a bit when he came back, both to give them attention and remind them he was boss (in a playing way). i know your hubbies away longer but its worth considering for when he gets back. there are a few folk on the site whos partners are forces so they might have better advice for you

Hi Lesley and welcome. Puppies quite often become most attached to the person who feeds them. In the wild, the pack leader has the final say in the order in which the other pack members are allowed to eat the kill. As food provider, you are, in your puppy's eyes, (though probably not in your husbands), the pack leader. At the moment, because your husband plays with him and gives him cuddles, the dog considers your husband to have equal status as the puppy himself, especially if your husband plays with him at floor level. When you leave the room the puppy calls you back as he feels that there is nobody of a higher status about to protect him and his fellow puppy ,(your husband). In order to raise your husbands status, he needs to become a food provider and he also needs to do his playing standing up. It would also reinforce his position as higher up than the puppy if you and your husband have physical contact whilst standing up, (I don't mean full sex.....a cuddle will suffice).

Thank you to all for your replies, were going to try everything suggested, slowly to start with untill the little monster accepts the rules. Its going to hard as most of the time he will be with myself oh and the guineas!  Im sure I will encounter more problems along the way, least I no where to turn for help. Many thanks  to everyone for the advice. Lesley & Olli

Also, when you leave, try putting a talk show radio station on.  Or some easy listening music on.  Just at a low volume, so there is just a bit of noise, but not trying to block out the cries of the pup.

Good Luck!!!!

Hi,

Yeah I would agree with some background noise being useful.  Also where is the pup left or going to be left as a big open space can be more worrying for a pup, maybe just in the kitchen or a utility room if he is used to that.  I would make sure you leave him something to do and as others have suggested have extra yummy treats such as stuffed kongs, filled with chicken, cheeses etc.  Also DAP collars can be very useful at times like this.  They emit a synthetic pheremone which is a replication of the pheremone the mother produces when lactating and gives pups a feeling or security and contentment,  You can get them online or at some vets.  I would also suggest to start with just getting him to be comfortable on the other side of a baby gate with you in view but him not being able to get to you and work up slowly from there.  Just go slowly and you'll get there, be patient with him he's obviously a worried little lad at the moment - it's a confusing time for some pups after leaving mum and litter mates.  Good luck :-)

Just to add to that...When you go and have a bath, get your husband to take him out for a walk or play ball with him, or both. Leaving you is a nice thing then. And you ignore him when you go and come back, no 'good boy when I'm away ' or similar tones, as they take this as a trigger to panic.

Just ignore him however hard it is and let your husband do the work. We try and baby them as we are thrilled when we have them, but it backfires. It is natural behaviour to do this, especially when we don't know the consequences, but you will never make the mistake again.

He is just a baby, not a monster, remember that :-) and you are all learning.

I will give that a try and see if that calms him down a bit. Also when we got Olli the breeder had his first injection, so last week he went to our own vet to have his 2nd injection, only to be told that the vet did not use that strain of the vacs and that we had to re start his puppy course again. Has anyone else had this problem or is my vet just getting more money for something that we did not need?

This happens a lot, which is why I don't give my pups there vaccinations unless we can find out before hand if the new owners vet is using the same. Either that or I keep the pups at mine until all vaccs are done.

I've had this once before and my vet was quite happy to give the second vac by a different manufacturer and said there was no need to start again as they are all pretty much the same.

the breeder I got my pup from checked with us first to see what our vet used, luckily she doesnt live far away so I just used her vet for the 2nd injection and then registered the pup with my vet shortly after.

Crate-training? get him used to leaving you. Or when you do leave him it could lead to seperation anxiety and he may become destructive. Leave him in his crate whilst you make up his dinner, ignore him howling. Leave him in there for ten minutes to start with, dont make to much of a fuss when you let him out just pat good boy and give him his dinner. carry on doing this several times a day and leave him downstairs in his crate when you go for a bath.  Make sure you give him oppertunity to relieve himself, but he really will not want to mess his crate anyway. Maybe let him have his naps in here and he will quickly get used to it. Have him sleep in it at night too, if he sleeps in the bedroom with you take it up with him and bed him down for the night.

HTH louise

Hi all, today Olli was left on his today, while I popped to the shop. He was in the kitchen with the child safety gate closed. I returned home after ten mins to find him wandering around the livingroom! Some how or other, the escape artist managed to fit his head and body through the bars! Anyone have any ideas on how to stop him? I tried weaving cardboard through the gaps, but he clawed it to bits! Many thanks, Lesley & Olli

are you sure he queezed through he probably jumped over !
You can buy a dog guard whch is higher than a childgate .

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/8704346/Trail/searchtext%3ELINDAM.htm

http://www.orvis.co.uk/store/product_choice.asp?pf_id=89HC&dir_id=6259&Group_ID=6664&cat_id=6665&subcat_id=6666&bhcp=1

http://www.ultimateanimals.co.uk/acatalog/Dog_Safety_Gate_dog_control_stair_gate.html

Can you borrow a puppy panel and fix it up on 4 strong hooks? Ithink hr squeezed through too.

Thanks for the replies, he did squeeze through the bars, we watched him this morning!  We put him in the kitchen and we left the house. We went into the back garden and looked into the livingroom from the rear window, and the first thing we saw was his little head pop through, then his body wriggle through. His first port of call was to the sofa, to have a look out the front livingroom window. He then spotted us at the back and decided he better put himself back in the kitchen! It was funny to watch, I didnt think that he would still be able to fit through as hes doubled in size since he came home.

Thanks for the replies, he did squeeze through the bars, we watched him this morning!  We put him in the kitchen and we left the house. We went into the back garden and looked into the livingroom from the rear window, and the first thing we saw was his little head pop through, then his body wriggle through. His first port of call was to the sofa, to have a look out the front livingroom window. He then spotted us at the back and decided he better put himself back in the kitchen! It was funny to watch, I didnt think that he would still be able to fit through as hes doubled in size since he came home.

Puppy Panel defo then! I still use mine, always useful.

unless they work out how to climb those which my little darling did 24 hours after being picked up from the breeder!  We started to use a very large crate after that.

At least he won't be able to do that when he grows up - mind you, make sure you have the panels until he's much too big, otherwise he might get himself stuck halfway!

Springers have a tendancy to get very attached to just one person, usually the person who feeds them.  Food is all most springers every think about.  I've got many years experience with them, you definatly need to start leaving him or he will suffer from seperation anxiety when he is older.  You'll find that as springers get bigger they will find another way to escape, usually by jumping over the gate so expect to find him in the living room most of the time when you return.

Hi all, Olli is doing great, when we go out and leave him now, he gets between the livingroom and kitchen. Weve had no problems at all, leaving him, when we come back if we look in the window, hes always in his normal place. In his bed under the guinea pig cages sound asleep. He had his 2nd vacs last friday, so he will be going out this friday :-), anyone have advice re feeding, when Olli first came home he was on beta, which we had to change due to stomach problems, the vet suggest eukanuba puppy, which hes been on for 4 weeks now, the main problem is when he has a poo or passes wind, the smell is real bad. Vet suggested changing his food again, but never advised on a product.          Lesley and olli

Hi all, Olli is doing great, when we go out and leave him now, he gets between the livingroom and kitchen. Weve had no problems at all, leaving him, when we come back if we look in the window, hes always in his normal place. In his bed under the guinea pig cages sound asleep. He had his 2nd vacs last friday, so he will be going out this friday :-), anyone have advice re feeding, when Olli first came home he was on beta, which we had to change due to stomach problems, the vet suggest eukanuba puppy, which hes been on for 4 weeks now, the main problem is when he has a poo or passes wind, the smell is real bad. Vet suggested changing his food again, but never advised on a product. Lesley and olli