one person dog?

Justicemom said:
Fasb sounds like Justice. Ok here is my butt pet me please. He is all yours until I go to leave and then he is "wait up mom I'm coming". Ember has learned to be this way over the years, it was not her natural way as a youngster. It took her 6yrs to get that way.
Click to expand...
Sca is sure everyone is his friend or mistaken. However at the Sheltie party he was in almost every picture of me the year I was hurt. He had to keep an eye on me, normally not so much.

Spitfire is well what is in it for the Spitfire is his thinking :rolleyes2: And if you on not on the list you are not allowed to touch.

Oh and Justice was my buddy once he found out about the ice pack :lol:
 
Most of the dogs I have lived with, as a married woman with kids, have showed preference to my attention. I groom them, feed them, do most of the exercising with them and spend the most time with them. The exceptions were Michael, my husband did the grooming of him, and now Rhiannon. Rhi, the terv, was very much my girl until dad got sick and was home for 6 months. Now, she is still really affectionate with me but it is clear who the love of her life is.
With the exception of Tinsel, all the others would engage other people on the street or visiting but kept a watchful eye on what I was about to do. Most of them would lay at the door waiting for me to come home - Dave could be in the next room but it was me they waited for. Now Rhi does that with Dave. The two groups that have lived here are herding and terrier but in this respect there wasn't an appreciable difference.
 
Justicemom said:
There is a difference between being aloof and reserved and shy and fearful. Hiding behavior should never be encouraged, running away behaviors and avoidance should be worked with and desensitized against. Those are the behaviors that I
would encourage the OP to work on with Riley. Positive association goes a long way. But just like I would never expect all people to love me, I would never expect it from a dog.
Click to expand...

What would be some ways to help Riley work thru avoidance behavior?

A couple of recent examples of avoidance behaviors would be I was not home to feed Riley so my dad fed him and Riley would not take the food from him. The other behavior would is my 5 year old brother has just started karate and when he is in uniform Riley gets really wild and goes crazy barking and runs away from him. I am having a hard time getting my parents to do extra things with Riley. What can I do on my part to get Riley to be braver? I want him to know I will keep him safe but he does need to learn that he can't always hide.

I do like to hold Riley a lot if I am on my kindle (I can't remove the hyperlink) or watching tv. Could I somehow be coddling him and creating his confidence issues? Or is could he be going thru a fear phase?

Please pardon any errors as I am using my kindle as my computer isn't working.
 
I'm happy to find this older thread. So as I understand they do tend to be one person dogs. At what age does this imprinting(borrowed the word from Twillight:yuckyuck) starts to show?
My girl is now 6 months old and I'm the only one who feed, play, train(we go to puppy school and than we will begin with agility) with her, the other family members are just there and do nothing. Because having a Sheltie was my long time wish I miss that special bond with my girl. I try very hard to be a fun and loving person but for now it looks like she prefers my mom best and she put zero effort in it...and I won't lie it hurts my feelings:cry:
I have a second dog and she likes him a lot too, if we go on a walk together she will only be interested in him and completely forget about me. We do go on separate walk because of that but till now no results:rolleyes2:.
 
For the first year or so of Enzo’s life he loved new people best of all. Any new person was his new best friend and we were chopped liver! He’d pull at the leash to see them, jump all over them, etc. He never did that with us! As he has matured it is clear that we are his people.
 
Both our Sables have been very outgoing dogs and love both DH and I as well as strangers and frequent visitors. Our Tri was a rescue from what we figure was a neglect situation and she is closely bonded to DH and I and is rather shy but curious around strangers. She will come around to people, especially those who visit frequently. However, we've tried to be keep a balance between working on her challenge and not stressing her over it either.

I've always found it hilarious that she uses the Sables as her wall to hide behind. It hasn't changed from the days of Bailey when she'd hide behind his behind, to today when she hides behind the younger Annie when we are out and about and strangers approach. She will eventually come out to see people but it is always on her time.

The only exception is Katy adores children. She adores my nephews and wants nothing more than their attention. She's been known to lay down in the middle of a Thomas track to get them to pay attention. It amazes the adults who can't get her attention that she'll do anything to get their children's attention.
 
Drake is very much a "both of us" dog & he is incredibly "tuned in" to each of us.

Not only does this show when one of us is under the weather & he then becomes a shadow that constantly checks up on the person in question, but last year in September I had what we call my "adventure"..... To cut to the chase,.... I died,..... No less than 6 times over 8 hours. The worst possible kind of heart attack (my odds were 10,000 to 1, against) a person can have & still somehow survive.

But Drake knew it was coming.....

6 hours before it struck (Things got ugly at 4am), Drake's behavior stepped WAY outside what was normal for him,..... He simply did not want me to go to bed & he was very insistent,..... So much so that he went to my wife & also told her what he thought of the situation.

We simply thought a bear or a cougar was roaming outside so I did a door patrol of the house with Drake in tow,..... Nothing out of the ordinary was discovered, but he was still very visibly upset..... It was baffling as I had ZERO signs of what was to come.

The only way he was prepared to settle down was to sleep on the bed at my feet (he usually settles on his bed on the floor in our bedroom, but he was having none of that....),.... He had his chin resting on my lower leg as I went to sleep.

3am,..... & so it begins,..... woke up with a gorilla sitting on my chest, hot/cold sweats & numbness in both shoulders, spreading down my arms. I'm in deep trouble now & Drake is right there wanting to lick my face to make me better......

Danielle bundles me into the car & does her impression of Mario Andretti to get me to the Emergency room of the local hospital,..... A trip that normally takes 50 minutes, she did in 28...... Drake wanted to come along, but we had to leave him in the house,.... He was NOT happy at all.......

I made to the ED & then started a series of major crashes, each one getting worse. The last crash was on the operating table as they were repairing an artery,..... I spent the next 5 days on total life support with a machine doing the job of my damaged heart.

Danielle was left with keeping the home fires burning & she got a friend to come live at the house for a while to babysit Drake so she could be with me 24/7

12 days after first going into hospital, I was allowed to go home,..... I had 17% heart function at that stage & walking 50 feet was a struggle.

Drake near turned himself inside out when he saw me getting out of the car at home,.... I had to sit in the car for a full 5 minutes while he sat on my lap licking my face & crying at the same time,.... hell,.... we were both crying.

He only left my side over the next month to answer the call of nature and that was it,.... If I sat in a single seat lounge chair, he was in there with me,.... At night he was in between Danielle & I on the bed with his head touching me somewhere,.... Leg, arm, face,.... it didn't matter so long as he was right there.

As I improved, he allowed me more "freedom",..... Once I could walk outside with him & throw his chuckit or his Frisbee, he decided that all was good again & he went straight back to "normal" ..... It was uncanny.

I now am recovered enough to go back to work & as I work away from home for 2 weeks at a time, I make sure we have a proper goodbye & he gets to hear my voice when Danielle & I chat each day,..... Danielle gives him a heads up on the day that I'm coming home & he promptly sets up camp next to the front door to wait.

He is just awesome & we love him dearly.

:)
 
Ian & Danielle said:
Drake is very much a "both of us" dog & he is incredibly "tuned in" to each of us.

Not only does this show when one of us is under the weather & he then becomes a shadow that constantly checks up on the person in question, but last year in September I had what we call my "adventure"..... To cut to the chase,.... I died,..... No less than 6 times over 8 hours. The worst possible kind of heart attack (my odds were 10,000 to 1, against) a person can have & still somehow survive.

But Drake knew it was coming.....

6 hours before it struck (Things got ugly at 4am), Drake's behavior stepped WAY outside what was normal for him,..... He simply did not want me to go to bed & he was very insistent,..... So much so that he went to my wife & also told her what he thought of the situation.

We simply thought a bear or a cougar was roaming outside so I did a door patrol of the house with Drake in tow,..... Nothing out of the ordinary was discovered, but he was still very visibly upset..... It was baffling as I had ZERO signs of what was to come.

The only way he was prepared to settle down was to sleep on the bed at my feet (he usually settles on his bed on the floor in our bedroom, but he was having none of that....),.... He had his chin resting on my lower leg as I went to sleep.

3am,..... & so it begins,..... woke up with a gorilla sitting on my chest, hot/cold sweats & numbness in both shoulders, spreading down my arms. I'm in deep trouble now & Drake is right there wanting to lick my face to make me better......

Danielle bundles me into the car & does her impression of Mario Andretti to get me to the Emergency room of the local hospital,..... A trip that normally takes 50 minutes, she did in 28...... Drake wanted to come along, but we had to leave him in the house,.... He was NOT happy at all.......

I made to the ED & then started a series of major crashes, each one getting worse. The last crash was on the operating table as they were repairing an artery,..... I spent the next 5 days on total life support with a machine doing the job of my damaged heart.

Danielle was left with keeping the home fires burning & she got a friend to come live at the house for a while to babysit Drake so she could be with me 24/7

12 days after first going into hospital, I was allowed to go home,..... I had 17% heart function at that stage & walking 50 feet was a struggle.

Drake near turned himself inside out when he saw me getting out of the car at home,.... I had to sit in the car for a full 5 minutes while he sat on my lap licking my face & crying at the same time,.... hell,.... we were both crying.

He only left my side over the next month to answer the call of nature and that was it,.... If I sat in a single seat lounge chair, he was in there with me,.... At night he was in between Danielle & I on the bed with his head touching me somewhere,.... Leg, arm, face,.... it didn't matter so long as he was right there.

As I improved, he allowed me more "freedom",..... Once I could walk outside with him & throw his chuckit or his Frisbee, he decided that all was good again & he went straight back to "normal" ..... It was uncanny.

I now am recovered enough to go back to work & as I work away from home for 2 weeks at a time, I make sure we have a proper goodbye & he gets to hear my voice when Danielle & I chat each day,..... Danielle gives him a heads up on the day that I'm coming home & he promptly sets up camp next to the front door to wait.

He is just awesome & we love him dearly.

:)
Click to expand...

wow- what a story.....
if only we could hear what they are trying to tell us- dogs are amazing:yes:
glad that you made it through to tell us about your boy Drake and how he tried to help you..
 
Oberon is definitely attached to both Lee and I, although in different ways. Lee is for playing with and I am for cuddling with. If we try to do the other's "job", he will - but with a peculiar look on his face and not for very long. We are, however, both allowed to take him for walks and, of course, feed him and give him cookies.

He's also appointed himself my keeper, especially when I'm injured or ill. Since we've had him I've had major shoulder surgery and minor foot surgery. Both times he's stuck very close to me. I've been hospitalized twice due to my cancer diagnosis, and upon arriving home both times he's stayed within paw reach for a couple of days. After each chemo session, and for the following few days when I'm feeling horrible, he's always nearby, and checks frequently to make sure I'm doing okay. He puts his face in my face and rubs his nose on mine. Each of these times he brings he me his toys, and sometimes a blanket -- either his or one of mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top