So, Captain is a sweetie, yes. He’s a fantastic dog and I love him dearly. But he HAS to be around us. HAS TO. It’s all he wants in his life, just to be near his people. If he was a person he would be extremely disturbing, but as a dog it’s okay.
The thing is, when you put him outside he just whines at the door and is miserable until you let him back in. I don’t mean for a few minutes because maybe his former owners let him back when he whined - I mean for hours. When I’m trying to sleep in (so it’s not like he hears my voice). I think he actually does it when there’s nobody home. So I don’t like to leave him out, because I’m sure it bugs the neighbors.
Was my old dearly departed Westie unusual? Haplo had, you know, hobbies and stuff, I guess. He loved going outside because he had stuff to do out there! Things to sniff, barks to bark every so often, for all I know he had a chess by mail thing going out. He had his own life. When he was in the house, yeah, he was often in the room with you asleep on the couch, but he also might be anywhere else - sleeping in the kitchen if he was hot, curled up on a heating vent if he was cold, etc. He’d play games with himself, too - he loved toys with squeakers in them.
Captain will sometimes play by himself with his Kong, but really he just wants us (or he tries to play with the cats, but they hiss.) That’s the only toy he ever tries to amuse himself with. I mean, I love snuggling with the big guy, but he has got to learn to go outside by himself! Suggestions?
Awwww. What a sweetie. Like the previous poster, my suggestion for you would’ve been getting another member of the pack for your puppy. He sounds like he’s very pack driven. Beyond that, I have to say though, I’ve got nothing for you.
I say that also having a dog that wants to be around me almost all the time. She likes going outside alone when it’s nice out, but 15- 20 minutes is her maximum, and that’s in good weather. In the winter, or if it’s raining she wouldn’t spend nearly that long outside. In the house, she is where I am. But it doesn’t bug me, so that’s all right.
You talkin’ shit about my man’s plaid Lands End bourgeois bathrobe that I got him two Christmases ago with his initials monogrammed in? S’ comfy.
The thing is, he doesn’t go fifteen minutes, or even five. He goes maybe the time it takes for him to attend to Nature’s duties. I mean, I consider myself pretty attuned to the smell of dog pee in the house, 'cause Haplo was never what you’d call perfect (our fault), and I know there’s no way Captain is peeing in the house because he never even broke housebreaking in the shelter, but still I sniff around because I just don’t see how he can be out there long enough to deal with daily needs before he whines.
I own the world’s clingiest dog. He looks just like the OP’s except he has German Shepherd markings and pointy ears. I think his former owners left him alone in their backyard all day because he is absolutely starved for physical closeness. He also jumps when you place your hand on him, even if you’ve been petting him for awhile.
He sleeps on my head. As in he sleeps ON MY HEAD. I have no advice, just sympathy.
From memory, you haven’t had him all that long. Our rescue was super clingy for the first few weeks (doing that same full body contact thing when lying on the couch with us), but it did fade over time. She now loves to be out in the sunshine on her own, soaking up the rays.
So, it could just be an adjustment thing. He has yet to learn your ways and fully trust you, and maybe it will just take some time to adjust.
If not, and it really bugs you, you may have to work on lengthening the amount of time that you are separated, to the point where he trusts that you are always going to be there. I’ve never had to deal with separation anxiety in dogs, but I’m sure there’s plenty of info out there that would help.
Have you considered giving him a bone to chew on while he’s outside? Not every single time (that’d be expensive, and bad for the belly!) but a few times a week. It takes Dolly about 45 minutes to get through one of those twisted-end rawhide numbers, and she’s about his size.
Maybe if he spent 45 minutes outside while contently busy, he’d realize that being on his own is not so bad.
Caveat…make sure you can covertly check on him while he’s eating the bone. Technically you’re not supposed to leave a dog unsupervised when devouring.
Give him a credit card and explain to him the importance of paying off his balance every month. Then send him to college and hope he doesn’t just party all the time.
There are dog psychologists now that can help with these issues. Your vet can refer you if think that might help. It sounds a bit silly but it might help.
I have several rescued dogs, and they all start out this way. I think they’re afraid if they leave your side, the bad place will take them again. So far as my dogs go, it does get better as time goes along. They get more and more confident that you’ll be there when they come back in. They learn that hunting bunnies (without success, but they have high hopes) is fun, even if you’re not there. Still, mostly my dogs want to be where I am. That’s the beauty of dogs - their world begins and ends with you.
