I don't know quite where to put this, if it should be in the Puppy or Behavior thread or here. Koffoy is 3 mths and 6 days old. I've brought him home when he was 8 weeks. I love him dearly and he is a ball of energy. He is a different personality than my Other Sheltie was and I am enjoying that too.
But we are struggling with a couple of items that I didn't struggle with my first. The two biggest issues are he seems to be struggling with a separation anxiety. He does fine if he is in the exercise pen in the kitchen if he can see me. But as soon as I leave to go down the hall to the bathroom or laundry, he goes crazy. He starts barking and scratching at the kitchen floor and throwing himself into the side of the exercise pen. As soon as I come back into site he is fine and goes back to playing. What do I do to help him? I didn't have this issue with my first and I am worried he is going to hurt himself. He doesn't do this at night when I say it's bedtime and he goes to his kennel for bed. I've tried putting him in his kennel and given him a treat when I've gone down the hall but he does the same thing that he does in the exercise pen.
The other issue is training. He is doing well on the leash and walks pretty much right next to me only occasionally tugs. But we are working on sit and come and he is just not having anything to do with either one. I have a treat that he absolutely seems to love that I am using for training, but he just doesn't seem to be getting it. Am I expecting to much for his age. I keep the training sessions short and am trying to do it multiple times throughout the days. When I go to work with him on sit he either tries to nip at my hand or tries to play the "catch me" game (which he likes to play a lot and I know is common at this age). He is on the leash when we are working on sit and come so he can't get too far away during his catch me game, but I'm not sure what to do because he doesn't seem to be getting it. I'm doing the same thing training him that I did with my first.
Otherwise I think he is doing ok. He is still having some accidents in his kennel during the day when I am at work, but I expect that still at 3 mths. He doesn't having an accidents at all at night. He has an occasion accident in the house, but its usually because I wasn't paying attention. He is a little shy still around new people and new dogs, it doesn't help that a golden retriever came bouncing up and slobbered all over him one evening. That made me furious, because the owner didn't have him on a lease and couldn't control him. I had pick Koffoy up because I wasn't sure what the golden would do, but the golden kept jumping up on me and scared Koffoy.
Sorry this is long, but any ideas, suggestions for the two big issues would be appreciated.
But we are struggling with a couple of items that I didn't struggle with my first. The two biggest issues are he seems to be struggling with a separation anxiety. He does fine if he is in the exercise pen in the kitchen if he can see me. But as soon as I leave to go down the hall to the bathroom or laundry, he goes crazy. He starts barking and scratching at the kitchen floor and throwing himself into the side of the exercise pen. As soon as I come back into site he is fine and goes back to playing. What do I do to help him? I didn't have this issue with my first and I am worried he is going to hurt himself. He doesn't do this at night when I say it's bedtime and he goes to his kennel for bed. I've tried putting him in his kennel and given him a treat when I've gone down the hall but he does the same thing that he does in the exercise pen.
The other issue is training. He is doing well on the leash and walks pretty much right next to me only occasionally tugs. But we are working on sit and come and he is just not having anything to do with either one. I have a treat that he absolutely seems to love that I am using for training, but he just doesn't seem to be getting it. Am I expecting to much for his age. I keep the training sessions short and am trying to do it multiple times throughout the days. When I go to work with him on sit he either tries to nip at my hand or tries to play the "catch me" game (which he likes to play a lot and I know is common at this age). He is on the leash when we are working on sit and come so he can't get too far away during his catch me game, but I'm not sure what to do because he doesn't seem to be getting it. I'm doing the same thing training him that I did with my first.
Otherwise I think he is doing ok. He is still having some accidents in his kennel during the day when I am at work, but I expect that still at 3 mths. He doesn't having an accidents at all at night. He has an occasion accident in the house, but its usually because I wasn't paying attention. He is a little shy still around new people and new dogs, it doesn't help that a golden retriever came bouncing up and slobbered all over him one evening. That made me furious, because the owner didn't have him on a lease and couldn't control him. I had pick Koffoy up because I wasn't sure what the golden would do, but the golden kept jumping up on me and scared Koffoy.
Sorry this is long, but any ideas, suggestions for the two big issues would be appreciated.
. There are so many ways to teach it. You can use food to guide him towards a sit by lifting it slowly while in front of his nose, you can use the same method but add you hand on top of his rear end and slowly guide him to a sit, or you can free shape and wait for him to sit and then you click and reward.