My dog: 12 mos., GSD, intact male, crate trained, obedience trained, my guess is normal GSD level of activity needed, very attached to me.

My day: I work from home so am alone w/him till 2 PM when teenage kids come home from school and can relieve me somewhat of my dog duties <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />. I do spend every morning (approx. 10 minutes) working on his obedience skills and another 15 minutes or so throwing the ball in our back yard or playing tug of war. I will take him for walks but he must be leashed where I live so that doesn't use up too much of his energy. And every day I also put treats in containers that require effort on his part to retrieve.

My home/environment: Dog has fenced-in acre to run around, has a 1,000 square foot patio with two ponds and was built in such a way that he can and has cat-like walked the walls of the patio. One pond is filtered...he's decided to make this his swimming pool. I describe my patio because it seems like a dog's dream! What else does he need? Oh yea, I have a stream at end of property he can run and swim in, run of a 4,500 square foot house.

My dilemma: He stays attached to me all day long. He follows me throughout the house. I know I can crate him but don't want to do that more than 1 hour or so because if I tell him to go lie down (outside of the crate) he will. But after about an 1 hour, he'll trot back into my office to see what I'm doing. Sometimes he just stares at me. Sometimes he'll come around my desk and start sniffing the keyboard or gently licking my hand. Everything he does to get my attention is rather non-invasive for the most part and is not really correction worthy (I'm guessing Ed would disagree). However, if I put him on the patio he'll only stay there at most 10 to 15 minutes by himself before he tries to get my attention again by trying to open the door.

My question: I'm not looking for a replacement of the time I am actively engaged with him (training, playing) but am looking for additional ideas on how to get him interested in the great outdoors and less interested in me? Does anyone know of anything I can do or buy that will help keep him entertained for more than 10 minutes??? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Lots of rabbits!

I would dream of "complaining" (I know your not really) about this but I can understand how it could get old.

John

Unless it is separation anxiety then I wouldn't worry about it, sound like he looks at you as the leader, the alpha dog, and that is what they normally do, follow the leader wherever the leader goes, I work at home too and he follow me everywhere I go, even when I go take a crap. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Ugh! If I understand you correctly, no matter what playland I create here, he's gonna be up my a** all day every day?? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

 Quote:

..... I do spend every morning (approx. 10 minutes) working on his obedience skills and another 15 minutes or so throwing the ball in our back yard or playing tug of war. I will take him for walks but he must be leashed where I live so that doesn't use up too much of his energy......

I've had two velcro dogs.

This is what I would try:

More fast-paced exercise;(Suggestions: 20 minutes or more of him fetching and you standing in one spot; a teenage dog-walker who will come and give him a long and brisk daily walk.)

A fast 5-minute walk to release frustrated energy every couple of hours;

The realization that to a dog, no matter how great the yard, it's still "behind the fence;"

A command that I taught my deaf velcro dog that means "go away from me now" or "Out of my face." To me, this is the *last* step. It's very useful, but I found it most useful to tire out the dog, to relieve his boredom, and to release his pent-up frustration.

Can you enlist one of your children to take him for a *long* walk (which is the basis of my pet dogs' exercise) early in the day? It really changes the day, in my experience.

I thought I'd go nuts with that wonderful and well-behaved but needy velcro dog until I re-structured our day so that by 9 a.m. she was sleepy and tired, and then every couple of hours she had another trot around the neighborhood.

I empathize! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

dogs are pack animals. they have no desire to be alone. you could condition him to stay outside without you, but you would have to ignore all attempts to get inside and this could lead to damage to the door of the house. a second alternative would be to build a run outside and have the dog spend time in it. desensitize him to the run by having him stay in it five or ten minutes at first. gradually add time to his stay. once he is conditioned to being in the run try leaving the gate open and the dog outside. if he is bored he will probably go into the run and go to sleep.
the key is conditioning. he is conditioned to being with you all of the time because you are home all of the time. change his conditioning gradually by area of influence and he should be fine.

I like my velcro dog, he goes n lays down in whatever room I'm in most of the time, your dog is still nothing but a big puppy, he wants to be with mama n hasn't learnt to lay down n chill out yet. My dog paces between the 2 back doors if I stick him outside looking to see why I'm not letting him in. He used to bark at the back door but now he quietly paces. Maybe when I get my 2nd pup n she's old enough to interact with him they can go run the fence together, but with just him, forget it, he's wherever I am... unless I run down the stairs and make a right into the bathroom -- in which case he stays at the top of the staircase.... it's funny, sometimes he'll follow me halfway down, realize I'm going to the bathroom, stop in the middle of the stairs, turn around n go back up to wait for my return. He knows that part of the house is a dead end so he can see me if I go anywhere other than the bathroom.

If it really bothers you that much then put him in the crate or get a 2nd dog and hope it fixes the problem <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif" alt="" />

Judy,

Structured exercise is certainly an excellent approach. I would really hesitate to condition your dog to be away from you by separating him from you 'cold turkey' as the stress and frustration of that (in some dogs) make the velcro tendency worse.

Conditioning him to feel comfortable at a distance from you could be approached with obedience with down stays, a place command, a crate command and back. After he has learned these, when you feel pestered, put him in a down stay a short distance away from you. After a couple minutes (however long he can stay) then send him to his crate for a couple minutes, then send him to his rug for a little while and then let him be near you, then have him step backwards a few steps and another downstay. Act just as if you are in a training session and let your daily activities be the distractions during training.

Dogs truly benefit from structure You may have given him too much freedom. Don't allow him to bump, touch or paw you for attention. If he does this, simply walk away from him. (You may need to close a door behind you for a moment.) As the pack leader, you are entitled to personal space where you dog cannot follow, whether it be your bedroom, office, furniture, etc. Whatever room you find yourself in for a good part of the day, maybe tht is a room to set as off-limits to your dog. Possibly don't allow him full access of the yard, but put him in a kennel run or on a tether for a part of the day and then release him to enjoy the space for a shorter period of time.

Judy, re-home that dog & adopt ME in his place (!!!) I'm very good at entertaining myself in luxurious surroundings, LOL

I have a velcro dog. I put him outside and he stands at the patio, ears perked, staring at me. If I leave his line of sight for more than a minute I get a bark. Yes, I have to go outside and watch him or he won't potty.

Inside the house he has learned "go lay down". He'll go to a spot he's picked and stare at me from there. When I'm on the computer, he lays at my feet. When I'm in bed, he knows that it's "quiet time".

This is the system I set up for my dog. It just happened through repetition. Hope it helps. I like knowing where my dog is and that he's not getting himself into trouble.