Bored with me?

1599 Views 5 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Mandalay, May 7, 2008

be.happy

Discussion Starter · Feb 4, 2008

Hi everyone,

I recently bought myself a very amazing young shepherd dog.
He has been pretty darn perfect for a puppy, his OB is top notch(for the amount I have taught him and what I want him to know), he LOVES to learn, he has a very strong personality and great drives for his age. I could go on more about how magnificent he is but I will leave it at this....he is awesome.
(he is 4 months old)

I am starting to get a bit concerned though.
I think I bore him.
If I am going to give him a treat or ask him to do a command, he will eagerly do it. But after we are finished, he will stare at me....allot. Its like he wants me to do something or keep going with the commands. I do not want to do too much OB with him too fast as I would like to persue ScH with him at a club level.

Also, when we are just relaxing in the house he will come up to me, look into my eyes and cry. I think "oh hey he needs to potty" but when we get to the door he will just sit and look up at me as if to say "no silly human thats not what I want....geez". I will walk away....he will follow me......staring and crying.

Most of the time he will eagerly play....he loves to chase and "kill" prey items, (such as his favorite Loofa dog) but as soon as the fight is over he looses interest and is bored again.
When he is in one of his moods and I try to initiate play, he will just sit and look at me as if I am one very very silly human.

I find the ONLY thing that entertains him when he is like this is OB. This is great and everything but I was told by many people not to do allot of OB with a young ScH pup.

I am certain we will both be WAY happier once it warms up a bit. He is never outdoors for too long, usually just long enough to pee and poo in the back yard. I take him with me every once in a while when I excersise Eva, but I dont like to as it is just too much exercise, its too cold....and Eva enjoys one on one ball throwing time with her mom.

I am hoping it warms up soon so I can just throw on our coats and take him for a walk when he is bored. The weather is very very cold up here right now though.

I do take him with me whenever I go uptown to get the mail, go to the store.....etc. But we are never gone very long and hardly ever outside.

He was at the vets a few days ago.....he has no issues that were found in his exam. His poop is nice and firm....he is not vomiting or sick in anyway.

He gets a variety of bones, treats, chews and toys.....I think he is bored of them too (though he still gets a kick out of an empty pop bottle)

Does anyone do any neat little bonding activities?
Or know of something that will help with his boredom?
What do you do with your dogs on cold/rainy days that you cant go outside on?

Thank you everyone.

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Keeyah

· #2 · Feb 4, 2008

Can you play games with him such as hiding a toy/treat in a room and teaching him to 'find it'? He sounds like a smart boy and this game will get him moving and using his nose.

Diesel loves this game on rainy days.

The other game we play works with two people in the house. One of us hides somewhere while the other stays with Diesel. The Diesel is sent to find that person and while he is looking the other person hides so it is a constant game of finding us for him. Tends to get him a bit over excited though!

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Qyn

· #3 · Feb 11, 2008

Originally Posted By: Diesel_and_LisaThe other game we play works with two people in the house. One of us hides somewhere while the other stays with Diesel. The Diesel is sent to find that person and while he is looking the other person hides so it is a constant game of finding us for him. Tends to get him a bit over excited though!

Thanks for sharing that, it made me smile as I can just imagine you both doing that and other non-dog people shaking their heads but the rest of us really appreciating what you are doing for your dog(s).

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MaggieRoseLee

· #4 · Feb 11, 2008

Quote: I am certain we will both be WAY happier once it warms up a bit. He is never outdoors for too long, usually just long enough to pee and poo in the back yard. I take him with me every once in a while when I excersise Eva, but I dont like to as it is just too much exercise, its too cold....and Eva enjoys one on one ball throwing time with her mom.

My pups would be very bored at that age and you are lucky, your boy seems to at least come to you for something to do. My pups would have just started molesting the other dogs/cats or destroying the house.

I would ALSO not want to do more 'obedience', BUT there are tons of fun tricks you can teach with a clicker/food instead. ANd the bonding we get with our dogs from 'tricks' is amazing.

http://www.silvia.trkman.net/tricks.htm

Additionally, by 12 months, unless it was REALLY super cold (I'm talking wind chill way below zero) my dogs are always fine if I take them outdoors for hours long runs in the woods. Truth is the cold seems to bother me alot more. At home, if I put them out they pee/poo and want in but not cause of the temperature, it's cause they like to keep an eye on me. When I pack them in the car and go for our hikes, they can go forever. It's my hands/ears that want to go home!

All my dogs will go into the water when it's so cold they end up with icicles dangling from their fur when they exit. So I know it's cold and they don't care.

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Sherush

· #5 · May 7, 2008

I play with Jesse, some of the games he loves to play with me is,

I hide he tries to find me, we play fetch in the backyard or in the house, we play keep away where I chase him with the ball in his mouth and then I get it and he chases me, we walk in the park and then end it with a game of fetch, tug (I always win), he loves it when I throw the ball in the pool and he has to try to get it out without going into the water but leting it float around till it gets to the edge. I also have a crinkle material bag (for cats who don't like it) and I throw treats in it and he has to figure out how to get them out.

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Mandalay

· #6 · May 7, 2008

I wish Mandi would get bored with me and just sit and look at me sometimes.

I'd love to be able to just sit and relax for just ab hour and not have to go see where she is at, what she is getting into, who she is chasing, why its so quiet, what that noise was, what I hear her drinking, why the cat is howling, if she got hurt from the cat knocking her in the face with his claws - again or why I only have one shoe by the door now when I am certain there were two a minute ago.

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