FrederykBlot

This is very interesting, I didn't know about those details of the history of the breed We try when he's in with us to set the volume not that loud to help him settle with us, and also try to get the maximum at the table to avoid making rufus if he tries to sleep with us. Sometimes he may stay in, but often he goes downstairs by himself. This depends during the evening program : there is a thin line between "I'm exhausted enough to settle on my own, either with my people or downstairs" and "I'm so over tired that I cannot settle and I will misbehave until you put me out of the room" For example, yesterday night was perfect : we made a big walk, he was clearly tired when back. He got his dinner while I was cooking, while we eat, he got his frozen chew, when finished, he tried to attention seek us, which we ignored, and he ended up going downstairs by himself to sleep / start his night. After the movie, we called "night time Loki", he went in, no whining, and everyone went to bed. But sometimes I feel bad to expel him from us. I think it's punishing him of having affection towards us :) :) That's why having the point of view of "help him learn to settle peacefully alone" help with this

Thank you, I never saw it with this point of view. Expelling him from the video room / our presence, to me it was a form of punishment, I never saw it like a way to teach "please go calm down somewhere else", like we taught him to sleep into the crate Besides, after a little while, when we get out of the room, (around 15-20 min I'd say, when we finish eating or finish the épisode), he would hear us going out the room, coming back to us much calmer, and we would pet and praise, trying to reinforce that coming back to us when calmer is prone to reward. We try not to reward with food on that case because food has a tendency to put him in a "working" state of mind to get treats. About the need of feeling exhausted, I'm pretty sure he is, because it happens mostly at diner time, after the long evening walk where he usually meet and play with doggy friends. And we perceive the exact same "symptoms" of overtireness that made us need to enforce naps in pen last couple of months. Thanks again for the relevant insights

Haha It came more from him. He offered paw before I asked so I tried target also But I guess he was in a good mood and reacted quite frankly to the exercices, and thats why the rythm was fast

Thank you for all the détails and explanation about the timeout However, I'm not sure if it was a précision to confirm we did well or to correct from what we did From what I see it's not that bad - it's not in crate or play pen, as those places are supposed to be only "positive" place - the timeout usually happen only when redirection didn't work. During the witching hours, which is After the big evening walk, he gets a chew/lick to calm down / chill out. Then if he's still excited much and doing biting and humping After his Big chew, he may get the timeout - from our expérience, WE are a source of stimulation, and remove him from us helps him to settle... Like with the yard : when he had full access to the yard, he would try to nap, but end up reacting to many things outside... Since the yard is only authorized at certains times, he sleeps more and better during the day - for us, what I called timeouts is more the "chill outs" thats you described, except it happens when he starts to get crancky - usually, after those chill out/ timeout, he sleeps deeply after a few minutes. Thats really makes us think that the previous behavior was more an overexcitment/ overtireness from the evening session (obedience+Big walk+mental games...) And also some time, he's not timeouts. It happened after the evening walk he was tired and ended up just sleeping around... And nothing to do here I really Think we're not that bad Please let me know if I'm mistaken Thanks again for all the insights

I don't understand how I got it, but going good so far 🙂 https://youtu.be/wBLDn9UgSVo however I understand what you mean by going out of control : he now offers paw before the cue, and also when I give the hand for target 😂😂

It depends what method you use for the timeout to get him out of the room. If it's a collar grab, there is risk that with time, he may not like to be touched by the collar, or that he may "play hard to catch." In other words, he may learn "every time I am touched by the collar, it leads to be me being moved away. Not at all. We tried to avoid any negative gesture involving our hands, except if it's a matter of necessity / security. I do collar / harness grab for example when he's playing around with friend dogs but we approach a street for example. For leaving room we have the "Ouste !" cue. It's French for "Get out !". We got this one, because he sometimes followed us in forbidden rooms we opened because we had to, like toilets, or laundry room... So in the evening, if he's wild while we're in the video room, we call "Ouste !", close the door, let him cool down and watching by the camera, and open back after a few moments we see him calmed down Thanks for you advice for my GF. We'll surely try the mimicking thing. I'm not sure however her behavior is much more different than mine. We overall have the same "knowledge" as we studied together and we agree on all about Loki's education But she's definitely absent more often as she's going to her office at least twice a week, that's why for me the "absence" was the real difference between us

I have no special advice here, but just wanted to let you know, you're not alone :) Gone are the days when your puppy loved to stick by your side and would come running the moment you were out of sight! There are many more interesting sights, smells and sounds at this time just waiting to be discovered. Fully into that one ! I even got scolded by other owners because he was free while I thought I was alone, then someone was coming from sooooo far I didn't see them, and Loki decided on his own to go to them, and even an emergency U Turn, which usually worked was not enough to make him come back to us I got myself into the "heyyyy watch your dog !!" vs "sorry sorry we training free walk we thought we were alone, we didn't see your from so far behind" because Loki was friendly and they didn't appear to like that :)

Only dog half dog, half crow You may not believe it, but here he has a harness and a collar 😂😂

If I may barge in, just to say the steps are spot on, and provide a little self experience although all doggies are Actually the 1/ was one of the most powerful for us. So that he would go by himself to see if another one have spawned. One thing we did much also was complementing with capturing : if he would go in on his own and we see it, he would get an high value treat. Now, when I get near the crate, he would hop in, sit, and look at me like saying "you see how nice I am ? May I get my treat now ?" And also, you have to give time its due. Even with working daily, he would cry and whine a bit when crated, although less and less. And few months later, you call bedtime, he will go in, sleep without any whining

thanks again for all the insights It helps to do walks with other dogs, but with the dog not actively interacting/playing. Just calm walking. We were glad lately because we are able to do that. Before, when walking with his buddies, he would always go on the "play" side, pulling always in the direction of his friends. Lately, we allow them to play a bit, then walk a bit, and if they behave, they're freed to play again. And since a few walks, Loki is ok with just walking around his friends. He would go to them, but in a less excited state than "LETS PLAY NOW !!!". But more like "hey ! what did you found here, seems cool..." Time will tell. If it's a result of the boarding, it would be interesting knowing if they offered some activities that helped calm down. Was definitely the boarding. I put him to bed at 9PM, he woke up at 8:30AM, and the evening, everything was back to normal, with him having the witching hours :) I don't know if he's much stressed from the boarding, because he loves the tennants. He always make them a big party when he sees them, so I'm pretty sure he feels well there. He also get to play with other dogs... But sure, maybe our prolonged absence can cause some. But we try once a month to make "boarding a normal thing" and minimize the amount of stress it's causing. Nerdy fact: Removal as a result of an undesirable behavior with the goal of decreasing a behavior falls under negative punishment. My bad, actually I was thinking negative pushnishment because we remove something to make him stop something, but didn't know the full reason of those calling. Thank you for the explanation latest news : We changed strategy for the witching hour moment : starting with the return of the evening walk, the yard is totally forbidden. We return between 7:30PM and 8PM, he's usually tired because it's the longuest walk of the day with both my gf and I, usually at the same time than some of his buddies... So we don't want to add anymore the excitation of being in the yard with checking of everything that pass by. It would be the worst, as he's already excited from the big walk. He would whine in front of the door, but we do not indulge. It would be the time we cook and eat. so he gets his last meal, and the special treat in the hoof. It usually last half an hour or so, enough time for us to eat while watching an episode. When he finishes, best case scenario, he has cool down, and he chills with us. And worst case scenario, he's still a little hyped (we would try to get on the coach to us, or bite us to come outside), and in that case, we tried something : he got a form of timeout by being kicked from our video room while we stayed in. We enjoy the end of our episode, while he put alone in the living room. We still check with the camera. He would whine a little in front of the door, and even scratch at it a bit, but after a few minutes, we've seen with the cam he would lie down in front of the yard door, or downstairs. In that case, we finish our stuff, get out, and praise Not too bad so far : we avoid big barking in the evening... we have a chance to watch our shows with him around... and in misbehaving cases, we "punish by timeout", but at the same time make him used being alone in the house free Please let me know if there is something bad in this implementation Also, the crate thing was definitely one time, and no regression. With this implementation, yesterday, around 9:30PM, I was chilling in the living room, he was lying down also, totally cooled down, and he went on his own in the crate without me calling "bedtime". I waited around 10 min to see if it was just to get something, but he actually stayed there, starting to fall asleep. Then I call "good night Loki", closed the crate, and went to bed also. So I'm not worried anymore about the crate However, little question on the side : can absence cause excitation after the return ? I mentioned my gf was on a girls weekend ('about 5 days), and since she returned 2 days, he cannot chill with her around. Yesterday evening, he was timed out because he was non stop onto her after his chew : bitey, tried humping. She was supposed to put him to bed yesterday, but if it was her, it wouldn't chill... she has to disappear, and let me handle the end of the evening. Today, she's working in the office, and he biting the chair, which he never did with me while she was gone Can this be related to her absence, or there is something else ? We already talked about the difference of treatment from him between me and her, but here it seems like some regressions, but only towards her.. May this be some kind of fear she will disappear again ? or something like "you've been too long ! take care of me now !" I hope it's just that ! I'm the one having a guys weekend in 2 weeks :) I will be worried if she'd had to go all the day with a little demon :) PS : I'll try to get a nice photo with him being bigger now :)

Thank you for all the insights little update Yes, however, when something was working, and then it no longer works, it's a sign that some tweaking is needed. For example, if he's not listening to "look at that' cues, it's important to evaluate what's going on exactly. Is the stimulus too intense? Too close? Are the treats used too low value compared to the stimulus? Are we catching him when he's already in a aroused state? I think it may be a bit of all. Intensity of stimuli depends on what it is... A wanderer = little stimuli. Another dog = big stimuli. Another friend dog = "OMG !! PLEASE LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW !!" state :). And therefore the value of treats will depend on that. Dry food or paste works (ish) for the 2 first, I'm not sure anything would work for the last one Is he allowed to bark outside on his own? If he's outside barking on his own with little or no guidance from us, that day we decide to start changing things, you'll likely to get some form of resistance. Sort of like "I have been barking on my own at things in the yard for some time, what is it that now you want me to respond to you? I have enjoyed taking the matter in my own hands." Well, they might not think exactly this way, but you get the idea.... Same if we allow it intermittently, like some time we do "look at that exercises" and other times we allow unrestricted barking at things. So it's important to manage as much as possible and redirect at the first signs of possible reacting. There was definitely some of that. When younger, and the barking was less, he'd been authorized the yard, and the barking, as it wasn't much. With him growing, the hard barking could not be tolerated anymore, as he also have bigger voice :). So yes, he has more rights before, and I guess no one likes to have some rights taken away :) I sense a bit of improvement though. However, he was onboarded this weekend as I had a baseball tournament and my gf have a girls weekend, and when back, he didn't bark as much, even a bit lower, and responded more to the treats... But I don't want to shout victory too soon, as he may be due to a bit a tireness from being onboarded. A little part of me want to think it's the payoff to the effort :) I'm pretty sure the "you bark too much and too loud = no more yard" seems to have some kind of impacts (I know, it's postive punishment and not positive reinforcement but at least it's not aversive :)) It could be that vomiting in the travel crate has caused some regression. If the same crate is used for travel and indoors, I would make sure it's cleaned with an enzyme-based cleaner in case of residual smells. If I recall, once Loki also had a regression in being crate when he once had a poop accident. In any case, it is possible that a negative experience like that can generalize to the other crate if a different one is used. That, or not using the crate for sometime can be a factor. sorry for the misunderstanding, as the message was including several days. The barking in crate at night was before the vomiting in car. Besides, it's not the same crate. The night / indoor crate is integrated in furnitures. So I'm pretty sure those 2 events were unrelated I will definitely go with the one time thing with the upset stomach. He vomited the day I went to the pension. When getting him back yesterday, no vomiting in the car. Little whining in big turns, but nothing unsual here. Also the night in crate went smoothly. Still, it may be just the tireness of the pension, but yesterday night, he was allowed in the yard because he behaved and did no barking, he started to fall asleep in the grass when usually he chases insects... I called "bedtime", even an hour earlier than usual, he just went gently, and slept the all night without trouble. I would go for the one time thing on this one, and no regression. That's awesome! It's nice once they learn to not be destructive and we can trust the more around the house. The camera is super helpful to keep an eye on him just in case and also for getting him used to spend time alone. Yes, we were really happy on this one. It worked the first time, short duration though. But now we feel more confident to run errands, and perhaps have a little drink outside with him not contained. Baby steps. Little thing we notice : no problem if we go out when he's in a calm state. But if he's a bit excited when we go, although we proof the biggest part of the area he can access, downstairs (where he likes to lie down because it's fresher) has also the shoe rack... and one of the time he was not so glad, he went for the shoes, this little rascal :) We should proof this area also, and I'm pretty sure in no time, alone time when free won't be too much of a bother Perhaps we should also include a nice edible chew when we go to make the association "seeing us going is good, you gain a nice chew, and you're not even contained" So here it is... teenage phase makes us work, but we adapt, and we see things evolve in a good way with little bumps on the road (and with growing, our little boy is getting more and more beautiful :))

Hi I discovered an issue in a fun way :) We wanted to add a trick to Loki as a new stimulation, which is "give paw" because we figured it was an easy one, and a prerequisites before more fun stuff like "check" and "double check" We saw the usual method is to have a treat in a closed hand, and when he paws, release the treat, and add the cue after some time But when we tried to do that, he actually start licking the hand,because when bitey when young, we played "gentleness matters" :D :D So now, everytime he sees our closed hand, he would come by and either touch with the nose (as playing "target") or licking (as playing "gentleness matters") We had a good laugh the first time, seeing we had trapped ourselves :D But would you have any advise to learn "give paw" if we can't use the closed hand method ? We don't want to abandon "gentleness matters" and "target" on closed hand, specially now, with the teenage phase, he's getting sometimes a bit rougher to get the treat if he's a bit excited Thank you

He actually were never crated if not for sleeping. The crate is always open and he goes to nap in sometimes when I work in the office. For day containement he was in the pen and we train that. He would always complain a little once the chew is over but settle fast. we discussed that if I remember and put it to fomo. The barking in the crate was a one time thing, but last night so I don't know if it repeat. However, today in the car, he vomited, while he was fine with it during our holidays. I found an awful amount of foam from one of the toy he destructed. I didn't he had Time to swallow so much before I took it away. I wonder if that could cause a bad feeling, which caused the crate barking.. Actually, we're trying more and more alone time in the house without containement. We set the camera in an angle we can see most, and that goes well so far. He's no more destructive of the furnitures, and he often end up going to sleep downstairs (it's more fresh). We train "look at that" but sometimes he's so hyped he doesn't respond to the cues, not even touching the treat. In the morning it's better, less energy thus more eager to comply. Other problem I think we reinforce : because when he starts to bark much, we come and call him back in the house, spécially at night... Or for the training : as we cant wait all day that someone comes, we get the treat after hé start barking, come, and treat when he stops... But seeing us when the barking occurs may be counter productive. It's hard to get the timing right on this one. As you say, it's a bit like playing"cop and thief" : we see something to work on, we adapt, we work, it works after some time... Then something new and we repeat the same process 😂😂 Thanks again for all the insights

Thank you for the good explanation. I have to admit the teenage phase is getting at us hard. We may have been a bit confident due to Loki's progress in general, and that made this phase more harder. We were so proud that it has been a long time since he "attacked" us, and all of a sudden, he's going madly on our toes and hands... Lately, all bedtime moment went smoothly, and all of a sudden, he started to bark as a mad man when put in the crate to sleep... The contrast between how good he has become and how the teenage phase throw away good things surely made our reactions not ideal because it was unexpected I guess we also need some adaptation on our side. For the witching hours, I have prepared a set of special treat : he's not much into frozen Kong, however I prepare a mix of cottage cheese + wet food+ duck grease and I stuff that in hooves, and I freeze them... It's like the ultimate ice cream... We try that and it helped sooth him down. We also forbid the yard more. It appeared that being authorized in the yard whenever he wants keeps him in stimulated state because he sees all the time people passing by, or others dogs... We figured out that he would nap in the house if he has no access to the yard, hence avoid being over tired / over stimulated... And he seems less hyper in the end of the day because he spent time really napping during the day. About the yard also, we have a "barking problem"... He would bark madly at anyone passing by... It's weird because he's so friendly with everyone... But I may have heard that the breed is prone to barking... We ordered a higher fence, with full sight blocking, hoping it will limit the visual stimulation, hence the barking We do all of that to try avoiding the "snapping point", because I want to keep that a one time mistake, and I definitely dont want him to walk on eggshells near me. And as you Say, prevention is better then correction But I guess every mistake is an opportunity to learn 😂

Its funny. To check how bad I did, I search a bit and found this : https://dogdiscoveries.com/curiosity/scruff-shaking-dogs-for-discipline article by you :) However, I didn't shake. In puppy school, one time Loki was playing too rough with another one, and the instructor grabbed him by the scruff, gently, put him a bit on the side, and let him go... He explained that scruff grabbing isn't a bad thing per say, as they would be carried around like this by the mother, but NEVER EVER shake, as shaking is for killing a prey and shaking would instigate fear, even terror, the one of being killed... I made sure I didn't shake

I would like to tell this part on the separate as it's a thing on its own. The more it goes, and the more I think it's teenage phase kicking in a bit hard, with him "testing the limits". In walks, his comfort distance increased greatly for example... But I figured that out in a way I'm not very proud of : Being back from last evening walk, I went in the yard to get some cut grass, and Loki started to pounce onto me. Then he started to attack my toes (I was in slippers), to the point he hurt me, while we worked on bite inhibition since young. I turned my back, move away, then he jumped on the hand-rattle I was holding and tried to get it. It tried to put it away, and he went for my hand, to the point he hurt me again. I pushed him away gently, turning my back, with a firm "hann hannn" (stop noise), he went again all stronger, with stronger bite, hurting me even more. I flee the yard, and my gf stepped in, as she saw I was getting nowhere and losing patience. Did all the same with here, starting with the toes, to the point he hurt her also. Then attack the clothes, a shirt she actually likes, almost to the point to make a hole. She tried to cut interactions also, and while she was fleeing, he attacked the toes hard again. I came back to help her, and redirect him. I got down, tried to pet and saying with calming voice to try to get him relax "Loki, calm now"... At that point he tried to get my hand and even higher. And then I just snapped, it was the "too much" moment. I grabbed him by the scruff, put him down on his back, and said in a firm voice, but without yelling "STOP ! NOW ! ITS OVER !". A few seconds, he didn't whine, my gf went back, I stepped up, Loki too, I went into the house back, and he followed me, and went to lie down after that. I was feeling so bad about myself, and was thinking "oh my... its over... i've killed our relationship..." Then I went to cook, he came to the kitchen, offered a sit, I gave him a little piece of cheese... I tried to pet him, he let me... I don't want to justify my action, I don't like it much because it was done out of loss of patience, but weirdly, it may have helped. He was calmer. I was afraid he would be now frightened by me, but not at all, I would still come near me, took treats, and let me pet him. It reminded me a bit of a toddler who pushes, pushes, pushes, got grounded, and settle back I don't want this kind of episode to happen again because I really felt not good about it (and still do today whereas everything's good) but that made me really think about something like "pushing the limits", and the teenage phase, when I saw the consequences and him being better after being grounded please don't be too harsch with me, I love him, I would never abuse him, I'm just human

Hello Thank you for all your insights. I think I heard something already about the witching hours. I didn't know it was also part of zoomies. For me zoomies was just when they run around franctically during several minutes until they are exhausted :) For instance, now that the weather is cooler, he may have more energy to spare. That may definitely come into play, but I'm not totally sure about this one, because the evening walk is the longest one, and we are both doing it, my gf and I. We even do exercises during the walk, like recalls, hide and seek in the forest... So he would have plenty stimulation, I would rather balance on too much side, than too little We discussed about dominance a while back True, but I wasn't thinking about dominance training, but more the fact that he displays behavior while playing with dogs that ressemble him bossing others :) He would try to mount whereas the others don't, and would always want to be on top, stuff like that... IT's like he prefer to be the "bully" than the "bullied". Not sure if that's a thing, but I was thinking, if he's acting bossy around other dogs, why wouldn't he be with us, as part of his character more expressing itself You can try making a routine of coming back from the walk and keeping him in a quiet, low stimulation area where he normally naps with something to chew and wind down. This can help if the behavior is triggered by crankiness and he needs a nap. Maybe we should force the nap again. I mean at least contain him, just let him some time to cool down. Is the crate ok to that ? With him being better now, the pen is off as we could start again watching tv shows and movies. (but if needed we could put it back) Even with all this time, I always feel off about containing him. Still afraid he would resent the crate, or the pen, and make it more complicated to contain him when we will really need it. Or afraid that he doesn't need the nap, and would just throw a tantrum while contained. However, we must evaluate whether his stopping and sitting may be a calming signal, or a sign that he's not too at ease in encountering another dog. Not at all. He's like the most friendly dog ever. This sitting is more like "look ! I'm having a good behavior, let me go play with him." Then he pull to say like "hey ! I was nice, I was sitting, and you didn't let me go play with him, why so ? I'll get there myself then !" You can try to strategically take him out to the yard for some brain games such as a fun training session using your clicker or putting his nose to work in some nosework activities. This can help if the behavior is triggered by overstimulation/ excess energy. He usually already over threshold when in that state. Wouldn't more brain games tire him even more, making it worse ? I thought brain games would stimulates them even more than physical games, and that wouldn't help calming them down Thanks again for all your explanations

Little complement I thought about Loki starting to express dominant behavior towards other dogs, mainly trying to mount Sometimes he got himself put down, and I'm totally fine with that, hoping it would calm him down, and sometimes not. Can this evening behavior could be him trying to get dominant to us ? I also noticed lately during walks, he gets a bit stubborn... if there is another dog in sight, or something that interest him, he would just stay here and sit, until it comes to him. I try to go, and call him, but he would just stay there... it can takes minutes, to the point I sometimes have to drag him on a few meters before he start to walk on his own again. This new-gained stubborness, could it be teenage phase kicking in hard ? Can it be related to what I exposed on the evening ? Also, we're just back from holidays. During holidays, about 2 weeks, we spent all days together, doing hiking in the country side in lovely places. We would work some alone time in the evening while we were getting some drinks, but he was so tired, he would sleep during his alone time in the hotel. Perhaps us being back at home, and working during the days, he wouldn't understand why we're no more available for him during the day, and "make us pay" during the evening I'm just throwing ideas here, without being sure of anything It's not that simple to find the correct thing to do here. I mean, if it's attention seeking, I don't want to put him in a crate / pen timeout If it's really tireness, I don't want to just ignore and let him loose as a devil in the house...

Hello, I'm glad it has been a long time since I posted for a personal subject, but everything good come with and end :) Loki is doing usually great. 7 months now, and better recall, better settle during the day... But lately, he displayed an unpleasant behavior, and I'm not sure where does it come from, and how to address it... In middle evening, he becomes unbearable, around 8PM, after the evening walk, around when we eat. One of the thing is since quite some time now, we do not force the nap anymore, he manages better to settle, but since a few days, in the evening it's becoming difficult. He would jump on the couch, which he stopped doing before. Jump on us... we would anticipate, and ask a sit, then he would look at us in the eyes, and then jump right at us. Any attempt to pet would result in biting, sometimes stronger than we allowed before... Even made the re-appareance of holes in clothes He has all the symptoms of over excitement, but weirdly, it's only at this specific hour It's also more directed towards my gf, and specially when she was at the office and not home. So we may have thought he could be some "over attention seeking", but in the end he also got bitey with me too... She would flee the scene sometimes, and he would just wander around in the house As it's a bit late related to his sleeping time, we don't want to force a long nap, but given the symptoms, he may be cranky from tireness Sometimes we would ignore and it would end at some point, but it would takes minutes of him wandering around, with some little whines sometimes... I'm a bit lost here, because I don't understand the cause, and don't want to have an inadequate reaction

Hello, I'm not sure there is a need to add much more but little things : - I wouldn't recommend pads : you save your floor, but the training will take longer as they could learn that doing inside is OK - I would go for the grass box, or even sandbox on the balcony : a special place outside. Having grass of sand can help to recognize the feeling when outside If he knows to do on the grass on the balcony, the grass outside will feel "familiar" - signs management is important : we had the chance to had Loki while he was almost clean : most of the accidents were because of us not taking enough attention of the sign. If we would have been more careful, we could avoid most of them if not all - time : it's the kind of training that will become better with just time, as the bladder will grow bigger, and they would be able to restrain themselves longer and of course, congrats for the pup !

I wouldn't be able to advise on the subject as our boy is alone, but just wanted to say the picture is precious ! They're lovely !

Hello I hear you, been there too not so long ago First thing : even if you do not have a crate, or don't want to use one, you'll definitely help yourself with some kind of containment device, if it's not a specific room, at least a pen... You never know if your pup would wander around during the night, thats something you'd want to avoid First night we had ours (he was in a bed which was in a pen) my girlfriend would stay close to the pen while he fall asleep. Few days after we slept in the same room (guest room with a convertible bed), but in sight After that we moved things a bit, same room, but no more in direct sight And then our own bedroom back Each step were few days each, making around 2 weeks to sleep in the bedroom again About the whining and so, I do not recommand going direct to her. You don't wanna teach "I whine, you come" However, you also don't want to let high distress too long We established a 10 min rules, as nurses in baby services : if the whining is less than 10 min, it's just "I dont wanna sleep", if it's more it may be a concern Also in the first days, we really spent time on crate training to make him love the crate. In your case, you can try training to love the sleeping place : spawning random treats in there when he does not look is quite efficient In the end, ours always whine when put to bed, but it never goes above a few minutes, it's just "really ?? Now ?? I want to play more !!" Hope that will help

Hi all No big news, we just having our first holidays with Loki, in the country side Program is hiking, forest walking, chilling on lakes shores... Loki lives his best life

Hello, lovely buddy ! If I may, here are some little personal tips, while everything Adrienne and JMFS said are all really insightful To me, it's really looks like reactions issued with crate training, some equivalent of basic crate training may be helpful : playing IN and OUT game, WAIT IN and close the door, go away few seconds and treat when back, and increasing the time... But something that worked well with Loki for crate training and pen training was actually things while he was not contained : You left the contained area open, and you put very high value in there when he does not see you, and let him go in by himself He will start to think "oh my ! this area is soooo cooool !! It spawns high value treats ! being in there is not that bad after all" And also doing normal stuff in there, to show it's not just an area of exclusion : If you want to play some tug, or some chase, just go in with him, close the door behind you both, and play while in there Same for mental games : Loki looooovveeesss the muffin game. Many times we played it inside his pen. We couldn't obviously make the STAY with distance, but we could train the STAY with time while in the pen I'm not sure he can put away all the barking and whining, specially if the dog is clingy, and can have FOMO, but it will reduce much Hope that can help

I think it's how you describe on the first part What was weird to me and why I was reluctant to force the nap, was that during the day, he manages it well. We come back from the morning walk and he would settle in the office while de work How come one time of the day he can settle alone, and the other part he would just become crazy ? It's like there is a off button existing and working mostly fine, but disabled in the evening 😂😂 Can it he understand that in the day we're busy working and are not available ? While in the evening we can hang, so he's more clingy in the evening ? Also the heat of course I was really caught off guard last time, but I know now that something working at some time doesn't mean it's always OK