CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: bambino chicino on February 17, 2014, 06:24:37 PM
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Hi all,
Our pup Charlie is 8 months old now and its about time he became a bit more independant! We've managed to take the plunge and get our heads around leaving him when we go to work and most of the time he is asleep or lying in his bed when we come home. There is always a mess to clean up but then I hope thats just down to learning longer bladder control.
We've had a bit of damage to our garden this week after a fifty foot conifer was uprooted by the strong winds. My husband in particular had to keep going in and out of the house and it has really highlighted just how dependant he is on us, especially when he can see us but cant get to us. My husband dealt with the tree surgeons that had come to help in the garden whilst I had the fantastic job of trying to get an answer from our insurance company... in other words, spending half an hour listening to terrible music whilst getting no answer and costing a fortune!!
Anyway, sorry I digress. Basically, as soon as hubby shut the patio door, Charlie would then scratch at the door like he was starring in the Great Escape and rather than bark would let out an ear aching high pitch screetch!!
Im not going to get dramatic and say "right, thats it, he's suffering from separation anxiety" but with Summer (Hopefully) on its way, I have visions of trying to enjoy or work in our garden when it might not be suitable for Charlie to be out there and he is going to be stressed and upset. x x
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Jinley is 2½ and still needs to be in the same room. If I go out to the bin to sort out the recycling, you would think I had been gone days!!
She is fine and settles in her bed when we go out, but when we are in she is always in velcro mode.
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It's one of the characteristics of cocker spaniels, I'm afraid, so it's a difficult one to try and change. They want to be with you all the time. I have two hounds who will happily settle in another room of their own accord when I am busy doing something but my cocker spaniel Pippa will not willingly leave my side. I found using a crate helps. If I put her in there with a kong or good chew, she's okay for an hour or two but mostly I just let her be with me because that's what makes her happy. She is absolutely fine when I leave the house though for up to 4.5 hours.
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All 3 of mine whine when they're separated from me in the house (they're fine while I'm at work). It's a cocker thing :luv:
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Gemma 3 is quite content to do her own thing so long as we are in sight. Poppy will take herself off to another room on her own but not Gemma. As for gardening spaniels are very helpful with
unplanting weeding :005:
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Tee hee, awwww, I dont want to change his natural characteristics, Ive heard they're called velcro dogs for this particular reason.
I just want him not to get upset or worked up or upset when he cant be directly next to us. Perhaps I'll try a Kong and leave him by the patio door where he can see us and return before he finishes it, then step it up a little.
Our garden has lots of raised borders and he LOVES jumping up into them >:D so I wont be a happy Mummy if by the summer he hasnt learnt the difference between weeds and expensive shurbs! ;)
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Do they ever become independent?? Hudson is fine if we actually leave the house... but if we are in the house and in a different room to him or upstairs he will whine and cry and scratch at closed doors. :'( He follows us from room to room - even if he is exhausted and just collapses when he gets there! :005: He only settles alone at night, when we show him to his bed in the kitchen, turn the light off and close the door. Its just a spaniel thing I think. If I need to do something in a seperate room to him, or in the same room as him but which doesn't involve him :005: I give him a chew or a kong. The only time he doesn't care where I am is when he's eating ;)
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Tee hee, awwww, I dont want to change his natural characteristics, Ive heard they're called velcro dogs for this particular reason.
I just want him not to get upset or worked up or upset when he cant be directly next to us. Perhaps I'll try a Kong and leave him by the patio door where he can see us and return before he finishes it, then step it up a little.
Our garden has lots of raised borders and he LOVES jumping up into them >:D so I wont be a happy Mummy if by the summer he hasnt learnt the difference between weeds and expensive shurbs! ;)
Are shurbs an exotic :005: :005:
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All of my Cockers have been the same. Little Jamie is only fourteen weeks and he scratches at the door if I leave him to go outside. Young as he is, he wants to be with me. Henry is the same.
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Betty 6 months is quiet as a mouse when we leave her in the morning to go to work.... But going to the bins.... She whines and cries and sobs.... For all 1 and 1/2 mins of the break away from us
>:D
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Cockers are reknown for being people dogs more so than other breeds and often not as independent as people would expect even when they're adults - mine are happy to be left and when I go upstairs to bed but will follow me around when I'm there or have a nose to see what I'm doing
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Thanks peeps, I feel a lot more reassured now. As long as he isnt feeling like its the end of the world when we physcially leave him alone to go to work or shopping etc I wont mind so much because the thought of him crying for hours is horrible. The neighbours have never complained so Im assuming if he does bark or cry, it doesnt go on for too long.
I think Charlie treats shrubs as a main course :005: but his new favourite snack is eating the conifer remenants under the car port (His toilet area) that were left from the Attack of the Fifty Foot Conifer! His taps the door to go out with his best "I need a wee face" and then proceeds to chow down and do nothing resembling a wee or a poo!! :angel:
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:005: :005: Hudson does that too... though his delicacy of choice is cat poo... ph34r
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All 3 of mine whine when they're separated from me in the house (they're fine while I'm at work). It's a cocker thing :luv:
I only have the 1 but she's the same. Everyone can leave the room but if I do the crying starts, when I go to work no prob's at all (and I always tell her "mum mum wont be long") and that's only 2 hours.
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Haha! I too have a velcro doggy. I was told this when I got him that it is a cocker trait.
Luca is fine if we leave him to go out, but if we are around he will want to be wherever we are. Even if he is fast asleep next to me in the lounge and I get up to get a drink he will come with me to the kitchen, lay on the floor next to me with a big sigh. I then go back into the lounge and he does the same!! :luv:
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My Sam is fine when I go to work will sit on the stairs waiting for a kiss as I pick up my work bag .
On her own about 4 hours no problems at all.
But on days when I work late ,Mum in law comes and spends the day with her but she will start to warble and drum her feet if im exceptionally late.
It as if she can tell the time. Always a velcro fur baby when we arrive home will ignore everyone else until she has. Had her fuss from me.
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Our 18 week puppy is the same, follows us about everywhere or cries if we leave her in a different room for 2 mins!
I thought she would grow out of this but judging by the other replies seems not!!
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Think I have one of the few dogs who isn't like this - probably as she's too lazy :lol2:. She will sometimes follow me around, but more as she is nosy and thinks she might be able to steal something :005:. She usually sleeps downstairs on the sofa at night, despite me giving her the option of coming up with me... When she does come up, she tends to sleep on the bed in the spare room!
Don't get me wrong, she can be very clingy and does like to be with me, but she definitely isn't a Velcro dog. Why follow me about the house when she can snooze on the sofa :shades:
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Charlie walks that close behind me that his nose ends up on the back of my knees and his feet on the back of my slippers. He's always there, his nose is in everything first...I do nothing alone at home anymore. Would I swap it? Not a chance :luv:
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TILLY made me laugh out loud the other day. She was off lead and I had looked behind me to see where she was. Couldn't see her so I thought don't panic she won't be far. Couldn't see her so looked around to my right but still no sign so I called her, again nothing. Started to walk off but suddenly caught a glance of her sitting to my left looking at me in her funny look as if to say " really mum I have been here the whole time". I had to laugh out loud. I made a real fuss of her but I think she thought idiot. This has happened a few times where I think she is exploring but she's right by me walking.
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TILLY made me laugh out loud the other day. She was off lead and I had looked behind me to see where she was. Couldn't see her so I thought don't panic she won't be far. Couldn't see her so looked around to my right but still no sign so I called her, again nothing. Started to walk off but suddenly caught a glance of her sitting to my left looking at me in her funny look as if to say " really mum I have been here the whole time". I had to laugh out loud. I made a real fuss of her but I think she thought idiot. This has happened a few times where I think she is exploring but she's right by me walking.
I've done that so many times :005: Screaming his name panic stricken and he's stood at my side looking quizzically up at me the whole time :luv:
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I call mine 'the millies' as they're always wherever I am, milling around right under my feet.
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The only time Murphy shows any independence is when on off lead walks, just when I would like him to be more dependent :doh:
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Tee hee :005: so funny reading some of your comments.
I have started now shutting doors behind me, even if its only for a minute so that he knows I always come back. He does cry and has scratched at the doors but not in the manic way he did when he was a small puppy..
I came home early today and sadly I found him howling and scratching at the doors to get out. I hate hearing him howl, its horrible but Im just hoping that he heard the car or the front door and that he hadnt been doing that all day :'(
I had to go out to pick hubby up and I told him not to make any fuss of Charlie, even when we were in the car and this carried on when we got home. We always try to make a minimum of fuss when we come home to him (Which is extremely difficult!) and we will carry this on in future and will continue to shut doors in the hope that he does manage to undo his velcro just a little bit!! x x
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Jack is happy if we put him in the kitchen and close the door, I usually leave him with a couple of toys and the radio on but if we are just in the house pottering around he wants to be with us, he doesn't stray far. If we go out, when we come back and open the kitchen door he's always just stretching himself out as if to get himself ready for all the following around he will have to now do!
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Tee hee :005: so funny reading some of your comments.
I have started now shutting doors behind me, even if its only for a minute so that he knows I always come back. He does cry and has scratched at the doors but not in the manic way he did when he was a small puppy..
I came home early today and sadly I found him howling and scratching at the doors to get out. I hate hearing him howl, its horrible but Im just hoping that he heard the car or the front door and that he hadnt been doing that all day :'(
I had to go out to pick hubby up and I told him not to make any fuss of Charlie, even when we were in the car and this carried on when we got home. We always try to make a minimum of fuss when we come home to him (Which is extremely difficult!) and we will carry this on in future and will continue to shut doors in the hope that he does manage to undo his velcro just a little bit!! x x
Just wanted to offer a little hope. Wilma would cry and howl when left home alone (I left camcorder on to film it...it was heartbreaking :huh: ) but this has improved considerably in past month. She now howls for 30 seconds max, after finishing her kong ball, and then will settle down to sleep or chew a toy. Not a peep for 3 1/2 hrs! I haven't let her longer yet :-\
However, if I'm in the house....no chance >:(
Making minimal fuss on return did help and when I slack on this I notice a deterioration in her progress. She's 20 weeks now :luv:
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This thread is making me smile...I was discussing the same thing with my husband the other day. Blue doesn't get left for more than 3 hours max at a time during the day, and not very often. But he's happy enough in his crate. However, he is rarely in a different room from me when I'm home. We can have a big walk, come home, dry off and you think he'll just crash out. Nope. If I move, he moves. There might be the remote chance of food after all ;)
He'll settle happily at night all night downstairs though! Funny thing :005:
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[/quote]
Just wanted to offer a little hope. Wilma would cry and howl when left home alone (I left camcorder on to film it...it was heartbreaking :huh: ) but this has improved considerably in past month. She now howls for 30 seconds max, after finishing her kong ball, and then will settle down to sleep or chew a toy. Not a peep for 3 1/2 hrs! I haven't let her longer yet :-\
However, if I'm in the house....no chance >:(
Making minimal fuss on return did help and when I slack on this I notice a deterioration in her progress. She's 20 weeks now :luv:
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Aww thanks thats very reassuring :-) and it makes me think that closing doors and cutting down on the fuss will hopefully make him better in the long run. What I have noticed is that he is so much better now if just one of us leaves. I used to have to practically hold Charlie still to calm him down and he would spend ten minutes crying and scratching the door, especially if my husband went out. Then he added jumping up at the window to this. Now though, this is all much, much calmer and if he does cry, its for out twenty seconds. He might look longingly out of the window but its more like hopeful as opposed to manic x x
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The only time Murphy shows any independence is when on off lead walks, just when I would like him to be more dependent :doh:
Exactly what my Charlie does, he's like a little sucker during the day and will only have a rest if he is in his crate with the door closed, however his recall, is new and pretty non existent and everything outside of the house is far more exciting that me >:(