My Puppy Needs Independance

[goldenclare]

Hi All! It's my first post on the forum so be nice! My partner and I have recently added a second pup to our family. We already have a 2 year old male Golden Retriever which we brought with us when we moved over from the UK and our second pup is a 13 week old female Goldie. We had a few teething issues when the new pup first came home - i.e. if she had an accident inside the house, the bigger one would mark his territory on top regardless of the fact that he is toilet trained! Since then, everything has settled down and they are inseperable. I do have a couple of questions which I'm hoping someone might be able to address.

1. She (the pup) seems to have very little independence - she will willingly follow the older dog anywhere and everywhere but the minute you take her out on her own she cries until she sees him again. She also becomes very timid and submissive when approached by other dogs or humans which I find quite unusual for this breed. We've tried walking her on her own and holding little training sessions on her own but to no avail! I'd love to increase her confidence so any tips would be much appreciated!

2. She loves the older dog more than us! Any tips on bonding with her like we have with our older boy?

3. Will my older boy continue marking his territory forever? Thankfully, he no longer does it inside (Although we don't have many accidents anymore) but he still waits for her to go to the toilet and then proceeds to wee on top everytime she goes outside.

Any advice would be much appreciated! Especially from anyone with multi-dog families!

Thanks!

[ell&diesel]

Hi, and welcome to the forum I have two dogs but they don't yet live together (they are both breeds once used for dog fighting and one of them can be a little iffy with other dogs, so we are taking introductions incredibly slowly), but hopefully I can help a little bit.

1. She (the pup) seems to have very little independence - she will willingly follow the older dog anywhere and everywhere but the minute you take her out on her own she cries until she sees him again. She also becomes very timid and submissive when approached by other dogs or humans which I find quite unusual for this breed. We've tried walking her on her own and holding little training sessions on her own but to no avail! I'd love to increase her confidence so any tips would be much appreciated!

I'm not sure why she could do this, perhaps it is a mild form of separation anxiety. Either way, I think you could treat this the same way as you would when you bring a new puppy home, put it to bed and it cries all night - ignore it. If you separate the two and she cries, don't give in and take her back to your other dog, otherwise she will think she's being rewarded for her behaviour. Keep taking her for walks without your other dog, playing with her and training her without your other dog around, and hopefully she will eventually realise that being away from her pal isn't such a bad thing after all. As for becoming timid around other dogs or humans when he's not around, think of it this way - you are your happy, smiling, normal self when around friends and family but are you always gung-ho about running up to random strangers? Puppy preschool will help, as will supervised play dates with dogs you know & trust (eg family members' or friend's dogs).

2. She loves the older dog more than us! Any tips on bonding with her like we have with our older boy?

I think if you keep walking her, playing with her and training her just one-on-one, she will eventually bond with you. You just need to remove the distractions

3. Will my older boy continue marking his territory forever? Thankfully, he no longer does it inside (Although we don't have many accidents anymore) but he still waits for her to go to the toilet and then proceeds to wee on top everytime she goes outside.

I'm not sure if he'll lose enthusiasm with this - you may find that once the new pup has well and truly settled in (ie in a few months), he won't feel the need to assert himself so much - as long as she doesn't try to challenge him. If it's not occuring in the house then I wouldn't be too worried.

Hopefully I've helped you a bit. If not, at least I tried

Ps - Got any photos to share?

[TerraNik]

I have no help to offer - I just wanted to say I saw the photo of your two in the 'show off your puppy thread' and they are GORGEOUS!!!!!!! So cute together!!! More photos pleeeeeeeeeeeeease!!!!!!

[goldenclare]

hi ell&diesel,

thanks so much for your advice - it really is useful! We're actually off to our second puppy preschool class tonight so I'm hoping she will come out from under the chair tonight! Last week it was all a bit scary plus the fact that it is scheduled at 7:00pm - 8:00pm and she is starting to get pretty sleepy at that point! She's also going to watch her brother and sister in the WA Golden Retriever Show tomorrow so another chance to socialise without her 'secruity blanket Spencer'!

Thanks again and I'll try and get some more photos up soon!

Clare

[~SL~]

My bitch is over 2yrs old now and my dog has always and still does mark over her pee. Unless he is particulary busting he waits for her to finish so he can go and mark over where she has gone.

[goldenclare]

My bitch is over 2yrs old now and my dog has always and still does mark over her pee. Unless he is particulary busting he waits for her to finish so he can go and mark over where she has gone.

That's exactly what he does! He will literally hover over her until she's finished, to make sure he hits that exact same spot. It's not happening in the house anymore so I guess I'm not that concerned but just find it strange - especially as he rarely marks his territory when we're out walking!

[ell&diesel]

No worries goldenclare, I'm glad I could help. Quite amazed that i could help actually

Hiding under the chair at puppy preschool is a bit worrying, you don't want her to be that filled with fear that she feels the need to hide. Is she visibly scared or does she just chill out under the chair ignoring the other puppies? If she's just ignoring them then I wouldn't worry so much, she'll come out to see them when she's ready. If she's visibly scared/stressed, you may need to seek professional help as IMO it's not natural for a young puppy to be so fearful. Just remember not to try to "comfort" her when she's being "scared" - you'll be reinforcing the behaviour.

Either way, good luck at puppy preschool tonight, I'm looking forward to mroe pictures :D

[Kirty]

My bitch is over 2yrs old now and my dog has always and still does mark over her pee. Unless he is particulary busting he waits for her to finish so he can go and mark over where she has gone.

That's exactly what he does! He will literally hover over her until she's finished, to make sure he hits that exact same spot. It's not happening in the house anymore so I guess I'm not that concerned but just find it strange - especially as he rarely marks his territory when we're out walking!

At least he doesn't pee ON her - my boy also has to mark over my girls pee, except he can't wait until she finishes so usually just pees ON her.

[goldenclare]

haha - sounds like Lani's lucky not to get peed on!

weve just got back from puppy preschool and she had a great time. in just a week her confidence has grown so much. She wasn't visibly scared last week - just chilled out under the chair and making no effort to socialise. Tonight she decided to say hello to everyone and was top of the class when it came to learning how to lie down and go to bed - we taught that to her weeks ago! anyway, enough about my bragging - well, not quite - here's some more pics!

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp248/c...667379_8387.jpg

http://i416.photobucket.com/albums/pp248/c...674477_4098.jpg

gotta go! puppys to play with!