Help with attention seeking

[Cath S]

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I have posted many times here and always seem to come across a resolution to each problem so here I am again. Freddie is now constantly asking for attention from my other half in particular - I work from home 4 out of 5 days and my other half goes out to work. It started about a month ago where he just sits next to us on the sofa and constantly paws us and will only stop if we fuss him. I always said to my other half the way to stop if is to just go with the flow but he is starting to ask more now and I am wondering if it is having the opposite effect. During the day when its just me and him he is super chilled - it only starts when both of us are home of an evening. My other half works long hours and comes home tired and stressed and just wants to relax. We did go away for 5 days and he went to boarding where he goes to daycare and this was just after the attention seeking started. Although no issues whilst we were away he has been super clingy since we have been back - hence the go with the flow comment as I wondered if he was worried we were going to leave him again. Nothing else has changed in his routine. He is on dry food and last night I put some of his dinner in a treat ball for him to get out and it took him about 15 mins but he crashed afterwards and was a lot better so will try that again tonight. I have also ordered some split antlers for him as he is an aggressive chewer so need something to occupy him that he cannot destroy (he eats licky mats!) He LOVES soft toys but will eat them so cant have any of them. He has other chewy toys but nothing fancy as they dont stand up to his chewing and he got an obstruction from chewing something not long after we had him. Am i on the right line with some sort of enrichment activity?. Het gets almost 2 hours of walks a day - 1 morning and 1 evening. Any suggestions would be welcome. Thanks

 

[JudyN]

If the treat ball (or antler) works, go with it, and hope it lasts! Often dogs need to 'decompress' after a walk, e.g. with zoomies round the garden, so making sure he gets plenty of mental stimulation at this time might help a lot. I would also praise him when he is lying quietly next to you. Don't reward with a treat though, or he'll just start wanting one every couple of minutes.

 

[Cath S]

If the treat ball (or antler) works, go with it, and hope it lasts! Often dogs need to 'decompress' after a walk, e.g. with zoomies round the garden, so making sure he gets plenty of mental stimulation at this time might help a lot. I would also praise him when he is lying quietly next to you. Don't reward with a treat though, or he'll just start wanting one every couple of minutes.

Thanks - will see how things go. We live in a flat so no safe garden for zoomies (if only!)