Just Venting...

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by McheleM

My house, my rules. If you break the rules and feed my dogs some thing you shouldn't, don't expect to be invited back. Same goes for other rules. It's the same with my children. If I say I don't want them to watch spongebob square pants, that doesn't mean they can go to grandmas and watch it, and you tell me "it's okay, they were at my house". I don't care if they were at the White House with the president. Still my kids, still my rules. And I don't care if you agree with my parenting of my children or my animals, if you want to see me, my children or my animals, my rules get followed. I have no problems not seeing someone.

[ladyjane]

Originally Posted by Yorkiemom1

This sounds like normal Yorkie behavior to me....? I have at least 7 that do this very same thing....I am so totally accustomed to it, when one that normally follows, suddenly does NOT follow, I start looking for issues! As far as the guests not following the house rules when it comes to feeding treats not approved by you, I would sweetly tell these people that my house is now off limits, and in the future, we will be meeting away from my home or I can come to THEIR house....."I can not cntinue to pay for vet bills when people insist on feeding my baby things that are not good for her/him" (this is a bit of embellishment, but it stregthens your argument!)

You pretty much summed it up. Sounds like a normal yorkie to me....if I did not want to be shadowed, I would not have gotten a dog. They love their human companions. I always have an audience in the bath and in the shower...not sure why that bothers people... and I have multiples as well. Oh, and I have a pile of them on my bed at night...or I probably should say their bed. I don't let them do obnoxious stuff such as sit on my table while eating, but normal stuff...just fine with me.
Anyone who is not going to love my pups need not come to my home...and anyone who visits knows better than to feed them. Rules are laid out in advance...don't like them, don't visit.

[yorkietalkjilly]

All 3 of my Yorkies I've had did/do the shadowing to one degree or the other, as do other small dogs I've had. Dogs are pack animals and tend to stay quite near other pack members and are not loners at all unless they have some type of psychological issue but small dogs that often sleep or nap in our laps or beds or right beside us on the couch or chair get habituated early in the relationship to staying nearby and it becomes a habit they and we keep reinforcing. It can become an obsession with some dogs to the point of the dog whining, nervous and uncomfortable when he can't be right with his person - which is never good for the dog if his person has to leave the home or board him when away. Other owners love it.

If it bothers you, train the dog to stay put when you leave your position near him and make a fun game of it so he'll enjoy waiting for his treat and praise as he learns to stay put when you leave his presence and he'll soon learn not to follow every time. Also, occasionally leave him with chewies or puzzle toys to play with when you leave the room so that he's got something else to focus on. My Tibbe shadows me at times still but others he stays put and does his own thing now but he went through a period of constantly shadowing me due to his poor early lifestyle and battery of anxieties and fears he came here with.

A clingy dog is often an insecure dog so if you suspect your dog has that problem and is following you due to his insecurity, fears or anxiety, you can build up his self-esteem and help him relax with a good home training program for 5 minutes a couple or three times a day that involves him seeing and learning to work hard for your pride in him every time he learns a new command(and make it fun for him), enriching his life with more interactive games and toys to keep him focused and busy learning and add to his daily exercise by adding some agility in the house or back yard. A good life-enrichment program for a clingy or nervous or unsure dog can remake him into an independent, happy dog, secure in himself and he won't always actually need to be near his person every single moment. And he will come first time he's called 99% of the time when he's well-trained and he'll be happy to do it out of sheer habit of having learned to do it and having learned to happily respond to your words and commands! That's the value of good, fun, loving and patient training and the dog utterly loves it all for all the great feedback he gets from you. And you get the best, happiest and least troublesome pet ever.

Of course I don't know if any of this applies to your little one but am just throwing out ideas that might fit the bill to use or ignore as you see fit.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

All 3 of my Yorkies I've had did/do the shadowing to one degree or the other, as do other small dogs I've had. Dogs are pack animals and tend to stay quite near other pack members and are not loners at all unless they have some type of psychological issue but small dogs that often sleep or nap in our laps or beds or right beside us on the couch or chair get habituated early in the relationship to staying nearby and it becomes a habit they and we keep reinforcing. It can become an obsession with some dogs to the point of the dog whining, nervous and uncomfortable when he can't be right with his person - which is never good for the dog if his person has to leave the home or board him when away. Other owners love it.

If it bothers you, train the dog to stay put when you leave your position near him and make a fun game of it so he'll enjoy waiting for his treat and praise as he learns to stay put when you leave his presence and he'll soon learn not to follow every time. Also, occasionally leave him with chewies or puzzle toys to play with when you leave the room so that he's got something else to focus on. My Tibbe shadows me at times still but others he stays put and does his own thing now but he went through a period of constantly shadowing me due to his poor early lifestyle and battery of anxieties and fears he came here with.

A clingy dog is often an insecure dog so if you suspect your dog has that problem and is following you due to his insecurity, fears or anxiety, you can build up his self-esteem and help him relax with a good home training program for 5 minutes a couple or three times a day that involves him seeing and learning to work hard for your pride in him every time he learns a new command(and make it fun for him), enriching his life with more interactive games and toys to keep him focused and busy learning and add to his daily exercise by adding some agility in the house or back yard. A good life-enrichment program for a clingy or nervous or unsure dog can remake him into an independent, happy dog, secure in himself and he won't always actually need to be near his person every single moment. And he will come first time he's called 99% of the time when he's well-trained and he'll be happy to do it out of sheer habit of having learned to do it and having learned to happily respond to your words and commands! That's the value of good, fun, loving and patient training and the dog utterly loves it all for all the great feedback he gets from you. And you get the best, happiest and least troublesome pet ever.

Of course I don't know if any of this applies to your little one but am just throwing out ideas that might fit the bill to use or ignore as you see fit.

Good advice.

Jackson is the kind of dog that will follow me into the next room, but he's not obsessive about it. He never wants to be in the bathroom with me, or RIGHT near me, but as long as he's close and can see me... he's happy. But if I leave his eye vicinity, he's going to follow me. That's how most dogs I know are. It's really not uncommon.

[MarliQQ]

Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly

All 3 of my Yorkies I've had did/do the shadowing to one degree or the other, as do other small dogs I've had. Dogs are pack animals and tend to stay quite near other pack members and are not loners at all unless they have some type of psychological issue but small dogs that often sleep or nap in our laps or beds or right beside us on the couch or chair get habituated early in the relationship to staying nearby and it becomes a habit they and we keep reinforcing. It can become an obsession with some dogs to the point of the dog whining, nervous and uncomfortable when he can't be right with his person - which is never good for the dog if his person has to leave the home or board him when away. Other owners love it.

If it bothers you, train the dog to stay put when you leave your position near him and make a fun game of it so he'll enjoy waiting for his treat and praise as he learns to stay put when you leave his presence and he'll soon learn not to follow every time. Also, occasionally leave him with chewies or puzzle toys to play with when you leave the room so that he's got something else to focus on. My Tibbe shadows me at times still but others he stays put and does his own thing now but he went through a period of constantly shadowing me due to his poor early lifestyle and battery of anxieties and fears he came here with.

A clingy dog is often an insecure dog so if you suspect your dog has that problem and is following you due to his insecurity, fears or anxiety, you can build up his self-esteem and help him relax with a good home training program for 5 minutes a couple or three times a day that involves him seeing and learning to work hard for your pride in him every time he learns a new command(and make it fun for him), enriching his life with more interactive games and toys to keep him focused and busy learning and add to his daily exercise by adding some agility in the house or back yard. A good life-enrichment program for a clingy or nervous or unsure dog can remake him into an independent, happy dog, secure in himself and he won't always actually need to be near his person every single moment. And he will come first time he's called 99% of the time when he's well-trained and he'll be happy to do it out of sheer habit of having learned to do it and having learned to happily respond to your words and commands! That's the value of good, fun, loving and patient training and the dog utterly loves it all for all the great feedback he gets from you. And you get the best, happiest and least troublesome pet ever.

Of course I don't know if any of this applies to your little one but am just throwing out ideas that might fit the bill to use or ignore as you see fit.

Thank you for this, my thinking had began to go along these lines. He is my first dog, any previous dogs in my life were family dogs. I grew up with collies and rotweilers. There was some shadowing that I remember, but not nearly as excessive. I don't completely hate what he does, I just feel like it is odd for him. Milo is not a "lap dog" by any means, if I try and cuddle him, he is like, okay mom are you done?, after like one minute, and if he is allowed to sleep with me, he will sleep next to me, max a few minutes . He won't remove himself completely from me, but move away enough to be aware of my actions. I accept that he is not the kind of dog I can baby, but the new shadowing is like odd for this non-cuddler. I know he needs more training and probably is insecure, and that will began shortly.