Help please!,,,,

[Ragajem]

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Hi. I am new here and wonder if you can give me some advice. First of all sorry for the long post, but I thought you would need the whole story.

4 days ago we adopted a beautiful little toy poodle, she is around 3 and a half. Very sweet and good with our cats.

We met her for the first time in Saturday and cuddled her for a short time then brought her home.

Even before we git home she made it clear she wanted me, my hubby just wouldn't do. As I was driving we didn't give in to her.

She has continued to want to be with me all the time. She follows me around the house or sits or sleeps on my lap. She sleeps in a crate in our bedroom where she is very good, but even if I go to the loo in the night whines till I come back. She doesn't seem to know how to play with toys or simple basic commands like sit, etc. She toilets reliably outside and is adorable.

The problem us I work 4 days a week and took a few days off to get her settled, but the day is coming when I have to leave her. She won't be Ali e as my husband is disabled and home all the time.

I have tried leaving her out of the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom when I am inside t she cries till I come out.

This afternoon I left her at home with my hubby and went to the shops for about 40 mins. Apparently she whined scratched at the door and created till I git back. She then climbed on my knee and went to sleep.

I don't understand why she has bonded to me this strongly this quickly and font know what to do to help her. Any ideas please

 

[gypsysmum]

It may be that she trusts females more than males. I have a new rescue and he definitely prefers my husband to me. He will actively avoid me at times.

I wonder if your husband's disability has something to do with it too. I suffer from anxiety and so will be producing chemicals that my dog can detect.

If you new little dog has not come across someone with a disability before she may be finding it difficult to deal with. You do not say who she lived with before and who was the main carer. Was she bred by a woman? This often has an effect on a dog's outlook on life, especially if they stay with a female breeder longer than usual.

All you can do is try to work on her bond with your husband. Get him, if he can, to feed and train her with treats etc You could be quite cool towards her. Try not to let her rest touching you all the time. No need to be tough on her, just get up if she jumps on your lap so that she slides off. It may take lots of repetitions for her to get the message!

Try not to respond to her whining for your attention. Don't even give her eye contact if she is being needy. This will help her to be more independent of you. It is fine for you to give her lots of attention when she is lying down, or playing, independently of you. This will build her confidence that life, just a little detached from you, is fine.

It may just be teething troubles but you don't want it to become an established behaviour to be over bonded to you. Could your husband be armed with toys and treats when you leave the house to try to distract her with? Tossing treats for her to find perhaps? Or playing with a favourite toy? She may not be ready for this yet but it is worth a try.

They say that it can six months for a rescue to fully relax in its new home.

 

[Shewbert]

Hi I am new to this forum myself, I work at an animal reserve and am the re-homing trainer for the animals, so I hope I can help.

Your dog has not had time yet to settle into it's new home.

It's quite obvious that the dogs last handler was mainly female, so the dog seems to trust you more than your husband.

There may be an underlying fear within the dog towards males, might have been shouted at by a male, accidentally stepped on etc. With it being a rescue dog you will more than likely never find out, but this has to be taken into consideration.

The dog must get into a regular routine, you staying off work to take care of the dog is in fact prolonging the routine.

The dog must learn to trust your husband, Poodles are very intelligent and learn fairly quickly.

You don't want to push the dog away from yourself, but let the dog know that you have had enough, pick the dog up and say something like go to daddy and place the dog on your husbands knee, your husband gives the dog a treat or play with a favourite toy,,, and obviously praises the dog.

Lots of praise and lots of patience is needed here, plus a modicum of stern commands, at least a basic training is vital, which must be done by both yourself and your huband, work on the basic sit, stay, down etc commands first, everytine your dog does it correctly a lovely treat and fuss follows. dog does it wrong or refuses a command,,, no treat,, no fuss.

Through time if you want peace and quiet, you tell your dog to sit or lie in its basket and stay.

Go back to work, this is the normal household routine, your dog will soon acclimatise itself to this.

Never shout, smack, scruff shake your dog, this will make it very untrustworthy of you and training will take 10 times longer.

Sorry about going on for so long, but I hope this helps you, be patient and I;m sure you will end up with a nice loving little dog.

If you need advice on the actual training regeme please just ask.

Shewy