dalesvic  Offline
puppy walker
Joined: Mar 13, 2006
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Posts: 264
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4809 LabPounds
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No.of Labs: 2
Lab Names: Max & Fennel
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Location: north yorkshire
Gender: 
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 Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:08 pm Post subject: Howling problems, please help. |
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Apologies if this has been discussed extensively before
Just wondered if people had any suggestions as to how my friend can tackle her 5 month old male labs howling issues!?
He is a lovely puppy, and has always been very vocal, as was my lab, for example if he gets hurt he really cries about it. Anyway, the main issue is that if he is separated from her in the house then he cries and cries. He is obviously very attached to her, and when she needs to do things upstairs he will cry until she comes downstairs again.
From my point of view she has been approaching this problem in the right way, by ignoring him and not rewarding him for his undesirable behaviour. She will not enter the room or let him out until he is quiet either. She has also tried treats/chews when she goes upstairs but he ignores these until she comes back down again. She does usually shut him in the utility, and I have suggested he might be happier with a bit more space to roam around and will feel less 'enclosed' but times when he has been let out she says he will sit at the bottom of the stairs and do the same thing.
He seems to whine and vocalise when he wants his own way- and she is trying to ignore this and is happy to carry on doing it. The only problem is the neighbours have been around to complain, and almost imply that he is being neglected or mistreated! Obviously she is now concerned about them, and so would like him to stop asap.
It's hard to judge but I think that he is obviously very attached to her, and so as he gets older will become more independent and should grow out of it. My dog did the same as she used to cry when she was alone in rooms and the other dogs were out on walks. Can anyone suggest anything to help him become more independent? He is a very confident puppy, with other dogs and humans. He also regularly goes to other peoples houses, one being her mother in laws. Interestingly there, she has not had such a problem with him being left downstairs- he just whines a bit occasionally.
Any other suggestions about how she could try and stop him doing this?
Thanks ,
Vicky
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