Author Topic: Bad habits....advice please  (Read 2070 times)

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Offline bakesy

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Bad habits....advice please
« on: November 25, 2018, 08:55:39 AM »
Hi all,

Cooper is 22 weeks and he’s started some habits which I would like to nip in the bud, one is that he will start following me around obsessively staring at me and barking about an hour before his food is due, I am trying to keep him on a schedule of 7am/12pm/5pm but I end up feeding him early as I can’t get anything done....
Also he steals things and is quite possessive when we try to get them off him  and he growls at us??
Thanks in advance

Offline Barry H

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Re: Bad habits....advice please
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2018, 10:28:21 AM »
Rather than write a long diatribe, here are a couple of links by (probably) the best dog trainers on You Tube.  Zak George and kikopup.

Make sure you have plenty of time - when Jack was a pup I could easily spend an hour or more watching their videos!

Zak George on stopping barking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZ003dY8cU

kikopup on solving resource guarding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nyt2WLdQGs

Offline bakesy

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Re: Bad habits....advice please
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2018, 11:07:12 AM »
Thanks Barry

Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Bad habits....advice please
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2018, 01:35:37 PM »
Rather than write a long diatribe, here are a couple of links by (probably) the best dog trainers on You Tube.  Zak George and kikopup.

Make sure you have plenty of time - when Jack was a pup I could easily spend an hour or more watching their videos!

Zak George on stopping barking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFZ003dY8cU

kikopup on solving resource guarding:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nyt2WLdQGs

Love watching Zak George in particular, lots of different sorts of dogs and very positive training methods.
As regards feeding - I fell into the trap at the beginning, of feeding at exactly the same time every day and still now, over 3 years on, Humphrey is a pain around mealtimes, (never have worked how he knows exactly that its a quarter to six! :huh:). Its obviously a bit difficult when they‘re still little and need a regular top up but I‘d suggest aiming at gradually  trying to vary the times a little bit as Cooper gets older. I‘ve become a bit harder now and send him to lie down and he only gets fed when he‘s quiet, obviously that‘s a bit of a big ask of Cooper at 22 weeks but you can maybe work towards it, try a bit of distraction maybe, or even feed him early now and again before he starts to whine. The main thing is to break the „I whine, I get fed“ cycle. I wish I‘d been a bit more consistant earlier on, old habits are hard to break!

Offline bakesy

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Re: Bad habits....advice please
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2018, 04:00:29 PM »
That’s great advice thank you, I’ll definitely try not to give it to him just because he’s demanding it! Makes sense.

Offline PennyB

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Re: Bad habits....advice please
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2018, 05:00:59 PM »
Mine can do this but were far worse when Wilf was here as he demanded feeding at 5am every morning and then Stella would join in - interestingly a spell in kennels for both of them broke that cycle (they were in kennels for something else though but it really helped)
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