Stressmagnet

Ernie has been holding himself through the night since 6 months old, no problem. He's a year old now. From 10pm to 6:30am, he's been sleeping through the night. Lately he's taken to whining to be let out at 2 or 3am, then anywhere from 5-6am. As he sleeps right beside me, he wakes me up - which means I'm getting lousy sleep. I'm wondering if: A) there's a medical cause. I will point out, he bounds happily outside at such hours and he does pee - but then heads straight for the lounge room as if it's 'getting up time'. I have to insist on 'bed'. I do not play or interact with him at these times. B) he's trained me to respond. I've noticed that if we are in the kitchen and he's in his lounge room bed, he will whine constantly for company. This is a new behaviour too. Last night, he got fed at 6:30pm, had his last drink of water at 8pm, got let out for the last time at 10pm. 3am, he was creating by whining and fussing. So I figured for some reason, he needed to go back out. I let him out, he did his business (not anything special or long winded) , then attempted a lap of the front yard before I called him in -- whereupon he went straight to the lounge room and it took some very firm 'BED' commands to get him to go back into his bedroom crate. Then he was fussing and whining again at 5am. He's always been so great overnight, so this is new. Should I take him to the vet and check for a UTI? Or am I being trained to let him out or entertain him through his fussing?

My bedroom has THREE wax melty things and a reed diffuser. Also Glen 20. I cannot sleep in a gas mask.

Um. Do Labradors need raincoats?

*sigh* Ernie just ate: - 600gms of roasted salted peanuts IN the ziplock bag. Yum. - 1 pack of butter. Can't wait to see what that looks like every 40 minutes tonight But: He may be cured of helping himself to the bottom pantry shelf. Miss 15 put her snack time bag of wasabi peas and he ate about ¾ of them before he got Mr Squishy Face and bolted for the water bowl. When that didn't work, he did 4 laps of the house, stopping every few seconds to wipe his mouth with his paw. He then sulked in his bed when I couldn't comfort him as I was too busy wiping tears of laughter and yelling at Miss 12 to video tape it. I don't think he's still forgiven me. He's in bed now, snorting and huffing and pointedly looking away when I look at him. Being given shade by a dog - that's a first.

Even tho I do use the 'F word' I agree that it can ruin coats. I do believe it has it's uses (esp for a Labrador) but not in your case; not on your dog. The Ernmeister gets a going over with it monthly - every night, I use a good coat rake and a slicker brush. I also use the Zoom Groom but only at bath time, which for Ernie, is once every couple of months unless he's rolled in a dead thing. It's great as a bath time tool but I don't find it reaches deep enough to be used as a part of his regular grooming. As usual - you've received excellent advice here. Do what I do, and take it! Ps. Your 'mutt' sounds absolutely gorgeous.

My sis has spent almost 1000k getting her two Westies ready to come out this year - and since her 'skilled job' suddenly disappeared off the list - it looks like she'll have to do it all over again when she applies again. She's doing the right thing. Once again, it seems like those of us who follow the rules get gouged, while those who know how to work the system get off with a slap on the wrist. Very hard on us 'good guys'.

Yeah. I didn't know about the FD thing. I order from them and have stuck with them for their excellent customer service.

I'm loving the Karma collars. Before I buy one (at some distant point in the future) can you or anyone explain: What is a D ring collar and why would I use it? And is a Marringale similar to a choke collar? And how do I take care of a beautiful collar like these if my dog swims a lot? Don't buy one? Thanks.

Lalalalala.... NOT clicking till Ernie's woven collar with my phone number wears out. But... Those of you who've shelled out $150+ for leather collars... Do your dogs swim in them? Because otherwise, I'd be buying a collar that he only wiore once or twice a month. NOT that I'm clicking!!

I will say that I find the mosaic Labradors incredibly beautiful.

Ooh TeeKay, off to google how to teach 'stop'. I used s combo of OI! And waving my stick today. It worked. But he does like to check in with me regularly, which is lovely - just not at break neck (or break wrist) speed. And if it's while he's carrying the biggest stick he can find - it makes me wish I had jet powered shoes! Anyway, I'm going to teach him 'stop', and never turn my back on him again. It doesn't matter how many dogs you've owned in the past; each one comes with its special joys and weirdnesses. :D

And he'd go for the cuddly parts first.

Ok. I'm going to dust off my cane which I put away after I finally learned to walk again properly (not like a drunk). I swore I'd never use it again but I refuse to EVER yell at my chocolate idiot again the way I did yesterday. My wrist is in s spiffy cast and my ankle is taped up and I'm purple all down one side. Time to stop being so damn vain and use my cane. It will help stabilise me on uneven ground -- and I can wave it like I'm an 84 year old man every time he comes too near. Honestly. I'm not going to change him. Labs are boisterous. I knew that when I picked him. But j can make him aware of me and my whacking stick. (Not that I'm planning to do any whacking). Then, I'm going to put some $$ aside and get a good trainer to come out with me on off leash. There's no point in having them in my home or on leash - because the beautiful boofa behaves like a dream. They'd think I was nuts as he sat/dropped/stayed and respected my kitchen space, went to his bed on command and waited for his food. Seriously, if I wasn't so damaged, it wouldn't bother me. So I fell down, so what? But if he knocks me down when I'm on my own, they won't find my body for months. And he'd probably eat me because, well, he's a lab.

I love these dogs so much and I've never ever met them. Such expressive faces. You lucky thing you.

"Wolves in sheeps clothing" were the words used by one dog trainer I respect. They need boundaries, training and a firm but fair hand or they can be little monsters. They are NOT lap dogs. Well, my friend is in for a sharp shock as she treats him as if he was another Cav.

Well done - she's a stunner.

Thank you all for not judging me. I do feel like an idiot. And Ernie's doing the head tilt as I hobble around so i know he thinks it's nothing to do with HIM. The thing is - he crashed into me from behind at full tilt. Honestly, did he think I was some bendy wobbly thing that would bounce back up like those dancing air men at the car lots that fascinate him so? I'd pay a million bucks to get inside that dog's head.

Maybe he is insecure, and maybe she's rewarding the behaviour, or maybe she's not. Even if the behaviour is becoming more frequent, it's not necessarily because the owner is reinforcing it. This is why trainers and behaviourists should do functional analyses for problem behaviours. IMO a good functional analysis involves some experimentation if possible. I'm a pretty good guesser, but why guess when you can test? You can develop very specific and effective training plans if you know the function of a behaviour, and you don't need emotionally-laden words. Just objective observations. Yep, with humans you would never undertake a behavioural intervention without functional analysis. Which is why folks, I post so often and ask for help. My only claim is to have owned some very bolshie dogs in the past and have had to call in experts. While I would never dream of telling her how to manage her dog - I'll be interested to see how it plays out. Her Ollie is a really lovely boy but her only other experience EVER with dogs is her Cavalier, who is the softest sweetest boy ever. Ollie is a little firecracker and has attitude and personality plus. How he ends up will be up to her and him and I guess to some extent Ernie and I. As Ernie refuses to engage, Ollie may learn that such behaviour stops the fun. But aren't cockers such big dogs in little packages??

Sorry to interject... I love Danes. What colours/patterns and why?

Hey folks! Yet another help question from me. Ernie barrelled into me from behind today during his off leash period. He knocked me flying and I've now got a broken wrist and badly torn tendons in my right ankle. Before, I would wave him off when he got too close but he simply either forgets in the heat of play or just doesn't get it. How do you teach a dog to respect a safe distance around you? If I hadn't had a friend with me to help me up - i'd still be lying there, while moss grew over my slowly stiffening body. I was extremely angry with him when I got up - but of course, that's far too late - he doesn't know what he's in trouble for. If I can't get him to understand that he cannot knock into me as I'm quite unsteady on my feet - I won't be able to walk him and that will break my heart. And please, no criticisms about how I should have gotten a more suitable dog for my disabilities - I realise that now. But I'm not giving him up. Thanks.

Oh I don't toilet him. He's fine at night. And yes, he goes to his crate when you say 'bed'. But he's exuberant as all get out when HE wakes up and by the time I've shouted it twice - I'm awake. For the next 2 hours. So we will teach him that not everyone is as happy to greet the daybreak as he is -- on the weekends when I've got a chance to catch up should he mess up. He wants desperately to please; it's just his mum who's a grumble bum.

Of course Ernie would eat it. His world is divided into three distinct parts: 1. That which is to be eaten 2. That which is to be loved on 3. That which is to be rolled on.

Ernie the Sneaky Smoocher is back in a locked crate for a while. I'll keep trying on weekends but he fails to realise that an overhanging and exposed foot is not to be lovingly lavished with spit. Also since I yell at him so infrequently, he chooses to interpret my morning 'f*** off' as 'come love me some more'. Funny, the kids don't have that confusion. So during the week - locked crate but I will bring him inside for my chemo naps, since he's been perfect thru those - I suspect because they are only a couple of hours and that coincides with HIS naps. Nights are obviously too long for The Ernimator and therefore it is his job to get everyone moving with heaps of tongue licks and snuffles of joy. And I hate hate yelling at him - and my brain can't work out how to keep a positive reward going for 9 hours.

I must admit - I've been catching a whiff of hypocrisy too. That is, of course, assuming that the SAME folks are commenting on BOTH threads - which I cannot be bothered to check. If not, ignore this comment please.

I heard that until 'brown' labradiors became stupidly popular - rhey were called 'brown' or 'liver'. But Joe Public didn't want to say they had a 'liver' coloured dog - too icky. And 'brown' is too prosaic. Hence 'chocolate'. I'm pretty sure Ernie doesn't care what he's called as long as it's for dinner. Sometimes I reckon he thinks his name is 'silly sausage'.