Dutch Shepherd Forum

She really has been the best addition to my family for which I could have hoped. My kids love her... she's brilliant and is eager to learn how to be a part of our family. When I first adopted her she had been caged at least 20 hours a day, since three months of age. I adopted her at 7 months. She's now nearly 10 months and is almost to the point where she can roam freely in the house. Due to her size and complete lack of training and socialization, it's been a long process of getting her to the point where she understands how to behave inside. Mostly I've been taking her out to play for a few hours in the morning... then walking her about every hour in the afternoon and evening, so she gets exercise and so I can train her to follow commands.

She is extremely attached to me and tries to figure out what I want her to do. The only issue I'm struggling with so far is for her to calm down when I'm at the office. She barks and whines nonstop if I'm not near her. Any suggestions?

If you haven't already started this way and worked up, shorten your play/train sessions. If the dog is engaged with you, and is motivated, keep her wanting more of that. I understand she was caged before. Do you crate her now? I never needed a crate with any other dogs, but I definitely see how much Endeavor needs it for herself. Whenever things get too loud in the house, she just goes and hangs out there. She's not frightened, just reducing stress on herself. Might be worth trying.
More importantly, have you had the time to make a game of her learning patience with you being gone? It sucks and it takes a LOT of time, but I've gotten a dog over separation anxiety before. Start off very slow. Put her in a sit-stay(if you can) step around a corner out of sight, then come right back with a treat. Gradually increase the time you're around the corner. Try for ten seconds out of sight. Then move on to the same exercise with a door, starting from scratch with the timer.

Right now, she has to be crated if there is no one at home... which is two or three hours usually. She also has to sleep in it, due to not being able to let her roam the house yet unsupervised.

pike wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2017 6:41 pm Right now, she has to be crated if there is no one at home... which is two or three hours usually. She also has to sleep in it, due to not being able to let her roam the house yet unsupervised.

Get another dog to keep her company and if you can see they get along well- then just leave them out. I would never just have one of these dogs, always in pairs or threes- they are extremely pack orientated. Test them in short durations initially until you can see they are fine. However, whenever you are home- the dogs need to be on their dog bed unless you've asked them to do something otherwise.

Mark77 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 07, 2017 9:02 pm


Get another dog to keep her company and if you can see they get along well- then just leave them out. I would never just have one of these dogs, always in pairs or threes- they are extremely pack orientated. Test them in short durations initially until you can see they are fine. However, whenever you are home- the dogs need to be on their dog bed unless you've asked them to do something otherwise.

I've been thinking about what I'll do when I'm down to one dog.
Most nights, En sleeps on the floor in the bedroom. Nice and quiet unless she needs to tell me something.

To get Duke accustomed to being in the crate overnight, I would sleep on the couch in the room where his crate was, gradually I moved myself to the room.

I had learned before hand the importance of ignoring his barks or whining for attention especially because with proper care, I knew he didn't need anything else.

By ignoring that behavior you are not reinforcing it. Instead, what I did was when I saw him in there peacefully I would lightly praise him and reward with a treat for the calm behavior.

Sounds good!