I need a personal support group!
 

Hey everyone- I'm having some issues with my Oliver-
He's 6 months only as of today and going through some "terrableness"
He has been a really easy puppy- for the most part- training wise! HE was fully litterbox trained at about 2 months so I don't have much to complain about. He just recently stopped attacking feet (HURRAY) and he knows what NO means and (usually) listens.
BUT
lately he has this thing for the stairs. He NEVERS has a pee accidnet- but poo is another thing- he and the stairs have this secret pact to KILL ME! I, honestly, watch him like a HAWK when we are downstairs but he sneaks on there and does it so fast. My boyfriend picked him up today before he even squated but before he made it to the litterbox with him Oliver had *ahem* "dropped" his droppings already....
And he's getting weird about me picking him up- he scuddles away like he's scared and hides underneath my bed and barks at me. I've never hit him, and am always the one to feed, clean up, teach him tricks, etc. so I don't know why he is handshy around ME!
Could it be because he is teething?? (he has many doubles... any guess to when any will fall out?)
I'm stuck here... I know it'll pass (I HOPE)... but please join my support group and bring me mint chocolate chip icecream in the meantime! THANKS YT!

bizzbeth
 

Your "kid" sounds like he has too many options.
Don't allow him to use the stairs anyway, he's too young and could injure himself. It's great that he's got the confidence, but he's already figured out that these stairs are another means to do his business other than in his litter box. You may want to consider putting a bell on him and keeping an ear out for where he is around the house. Otherwise, I'd either crate him if you can't watch him or gate off the stairs.
Further, SHUT THE BEDROOM DOORS. And all the doors for that matter so he doesn't learn to run under the beds and so on to avoid you. This shouldn't be "his" game. So by giving him so many options and trying to be nice, you are overloading him and now he's beginning to call the shots.
Don't worry about the hand shyness. If you quit allowing him the opportunity to avoid you, this will go away on it's own.

PM me w/ more q's.
~Leslie

wow. that was very good advice!

Thanks.
I'm sorry if I sounded frustrated in my last post.
I've had MANY clients w/ small dogs that do this very same thing and can't figure out why their sweet baby that was doing so well begins to fall backwards in his manners and housebreaking. This would be it!

Bailey loves stairs, he is 5 months now. We have blocked them off because of his fascination with them, we worry that he will tumble and hurt himself. His roaming area is limited to kitchen and tv room. Rooms that we spend most of our time in, he is crated if we are out or cannot watch him. I have always been afraid he would get something and choke on it , or chew electrical cords and get hurt. He goes through certain times of the day when he is handshy, If we are only trying to pet him, as opposed to lifting him to go out , or put on a harness, we allow him to scurry from us and head for his bed. In our house the dogs beds are their "safe places"., we know ourselves sometimes we need our space, and we allow our furbabies the same., That is ONLY.. if it is just because they need a bread or rest.....LOL..am i making any sense at all.....Mommy mush brain today.:confused:

What? Why?
 

Okay, I understand what you're saying and it sounds like you've now gone through helping him out by closing as many opportunities to mess up as possible. The one last thing left is why you allow him to run off and avoid you. It doesn't matter if he's running to his bed or under the table. HE'S RUNNING AWAY. But more importantly he's running away to AVOID you handling him in any way. It's not a "safe spot" as you say in this case. It's him pouting and going to his room to avoid being around you. This anti social behaviour shouldn't be accepted imo. I'd have him on leash around the house as much as you can handle and force him to stay near you and see how wonderful it can be. You need him to not only like you, but to TRUST you. By letting him run away from being pettied or picked up like that you're only adding fuel to a bad bad fire.

hmmmmm....

just to clarify- that was a different poster- I don't let him have his space when he runs away from me- I get him out of there as best I can with a come command.
Thanks for your advice though- I can tell you knwo what you're talking about. And I should take my own advice- it the dog regresses back to puppy behavior (not that he isn'ta puppy but the bad behavior like accidents) then revert back to your method of training that puppy- smaller freedoms!
He's doing great today, so we'll keep our fingers crossed! (And I'll keep working on ME too! hehe)
:) :)