Author Topic: Humphrey, the opposite dog  (Read 1003 times)

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Offline Poi

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Humphrey, the opposite dog
« on: July 27, 2020, 12:37:14 PM »
Humphrey (5 months) is the opposite of my older cocker Lola (5).

He takes himself off to sleep in the day away, where Lola used to fall asleep on or next to us and then be put down.
He didn't sleep at night for quite a while to begin with, where Lola did 8 hours from day 1 (Thankfully he does now sleep all night).
He's VERY food motivated, Lola never was.
He's not bitey AT ALL, Lola made me bleed daily as a pup.

So it's been quite an experience doing it all again with a pup so different but there's just one thing left to address that would see us feel like we've cracked him.

Lola has always been fine being left alone during the day, we had her in her crate (after the usual crate training), then a play pen surrounding the crate and slowly increased the times we left her until it was hours... no problem.

We tried to do exactly the same with Humphrey but he is not taking to it at all, he barks the house down when left alone. He's fine with his crate at night and happily walks back into it if he goes out in the night. We tried setting up a play pen area to see if he'd settle better with more room (as he often takes himself off to sleep on the floor during the day) but he's a brave boy who will climb/bash anything to get out so that didn't work. We've used Kongs and lick mats in his crate which work briefly then it's back to intense barking.

I've tried going back to basics a few times but maybe I need to do this with a higher reward treat. Other training is going really well and he's very responsive, our local day care love him and have even used him to help train shy puppies and larger breed puppies how to play with smaller dogs. So he's a confident, friendly, weirdly non-bitey cocker (who knew they existed) that just hates being left alone.   

I think I may have convinced myself this isn't a classic case of separation anxiety because he will wander off in the house to sleep alone when Lola was always more clingy despite being fine when we left her alone. Perhaps it is just that though?

I just need to crack this one thing and we're golden  ;) Thanks in advance for any advice!


Offline bizzylizzy

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Re: Humphrey, the opposite dog
« Reply #1 on: July 27, 2020, 03:30:12 PM »
Ahhhhhhh :luv: Another Humphrey!!! Welcome!
Must be something in the name :shades:, your Humphrey sounds very similar to my Humphrey who wasn't bitey either and has  and has always been extremely laid back.
I‘ve never had a problem leaving him but as we‘re both retired he was used to a relatively quiet environment from day one so I suppose it didn‘t make a lot of difference whether we were here or not.
I think in your position, I‘d just go back to step one again, popping in and out of the house without much fuss so that your comings and goings become part of his daily routine, ignore him when he barks, praise him when he‘s quiet and let him have toys and treats when you leave him which he wouldn‘t have normally.
He sounds the perfect cocker in every other way and they do need to offer us at least a little bit of a challenge otherwise life would be so dull!!  :005: :005:
Best of luck!
Jayne & Humphrey 1 😉