Busy boy

[jordangeoffrey]

Hi everyone
Im just wondering what might be the best way to keep my 7 month puppy busy while he's in the house?
We keep him in the kitchen which is connected to the living room, which we dont allow him into at the moment because he has poor toileting habits (he seems to go a couple of days being great at going outside then a couple of days where he's really confused and will try to avoid going at all resulting in weeing anywhere after trying to hold it for too long)
But he paces around the kitchen squeaking to get in and he has often torn the bin up and stuff like that. Hes obviously bored but im just trying to limp him trough this weird stage he's having while his hormones are a mess and he cant decide the best place to toilet (hes gone on the carpet and sofa so many times they will probably need replacing and its a rented house which isnt ideal)
He goes on daily walks and he generally has 2 hours in his crate then two hours out the crate but like i say he is bored when he's out the crate and not walking. He has plenty of stuff to chew and play with but seems to mostly ignore them

Is there any games or tasks i cant set up for him to keep him busy while hes out of the crate?

[its.sme]

Hi,

Can I just ask some questions as I'm sure COL we can help,

How much time are you spending with him training, playing etc ?

What things have you tried with House training ?

Is he spending anytime alone in the house ?

Sharon.

[jordangeoffrey]

Yeah we play a lot, we walk for at least an hour a day (depending on what walk we go on), we muck about/train a couple hours per day.
But at the moment im trying to get him 2 hours in, 2 hours out of his crate per day. We were havin major problems with his toilet training and i think part of it was down to us leaving the door of his crate open thinking he'll sleep if he's tired.

He's fine in the house, not destructive at all (just carrier bags if he gets hold of them. We need carrier bags around though because our bin is a carrier bag bin)

He spends hardly any time at all alone in the house.

Im not too worried its just ive heard working cockers (which mine is) like to have a job to do or a task to go at, so in his "spare time" i wondered if there was any tips out there for keeping him entertained.

[Ben's mum]

Have you tried a kong or treat ball to keep him busy? Mine used to love them.
I also wonder if he is exercising too much for his age and its perhaps better to do two shorter walks.

[Ernies mum]

What about feeding him from a kong wobbler ( treat dispensing toy ) or hiding bits of his kibble in the kitchen for him to find ?
Frozen kongs are good too and keep my dogs amused for ages ( soak dried kibble then pop in kong and leave in freezer for couple of hours ).

Anthos antler chews are great and I've found rotating ernies toys works well too so he doesn't get bored of the ones he's got .

A game of fetch / find it on the walk or in garden works wonders for ernie  as he's a working cocker too and it tires them out mentally 

Hope that helps 

[jordangeoffrey]

Ill have a look into the Kongs i think.

Thanks alot people ✌

[JackieT]

Is he in the kitchen while you are in the living room? Ziggy our working cocker is 8 months now. He wants to be with us all the time, I don't think whatever I did to entertain him he'd accept me being in the living room and him being shut in the kitchen. He puts up with us going into the dining room for dinner now, but he does just lie at the stairgate waiting for us to come back.

I find that he gets through a kong really quickly, so they don't entertain him for long. He loves find it type games, but you need to be with him for that. We also don't use the crate now for anything other than night times. Maybe he's more unsettled if he's in the crate for two hours at a time, that might be making him bored. Other people might correct me but two hours at a time seems like a lot of time to be in a crate, especially if you are in the house too.

[rubybella]

Hi. I have a 3.5 yr old WCS. They don't need to be kept busy all the time, in fact if you do that you will make life even more difficult for yourself. They need to learn to occupy themselves and settle themselves when there is nothing else going on. I am a bit confused with why you are putting your pup in the and out of the crate every 2 hours ? I think your puppy is probably confused too! I have only ever crated mine when I go out or if I am there, only briefly, like 30 minutes, if they have wound themselves into a frenzy and need forced chill out time!

I would try to ignore the whining and he will eventually realise that it gets them nowhere. I would only use the crate at bedtime and when you are not there. The rest of the time just leave the door open and let him use it when he wants to.

With regards the toileting I would get into a routine to take him outside every hour if you are at home and encourage him to toilet. Do you send him outside after every meal?

Hope this helps.