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Attention seeking behavior advice

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
Hello all! I have a 9 month old Cane Corso who at the age of 8 months or so started successively grumbling, whining and then barking for attention. What attention, I don't know. She is exercised daily, 45 minutes of walking, going to off leash parks for an hour of play, fetch & tug in the house....she runs errands with me in the car, we go to pet stores for socialization, you catch my drift? It seems most prevalent once I sit down to relax, if I am doing housework she tends to either follow me or go lay down. I try to ignore her behavior but lately it's getting on my last nerve. If I tell her to sit, she will, but then she is right back to her antics. Anyone have some helpful training advice to curb this behavior? Is more time needed in her crate? Is it an age related behavior? She just seems to be an energizer bunny lately and a royal pain in my butt. She is home with me most of the day, only crated when I am at school, where she is left with her filled kong. She has had OB training but we need to re-enlist into another program to keep the momentum going. She is very smart and will do anything I ask for the most part. She loves all dogs & people, in fact she wants to meet the world! Any helpful advice is much appreciated!
 

musicdeb

Well-Known Member
Welcome to the teenage years. This stage takes a return to OB training, NILF, lots of patience and lots of alcohol (2 shots and beer every 4 hours).

When she starts to bark, tell her to lay down and calm. When she does it, reward her. Do not give her treats, food or attention until she performs a command.

Mastiffs can feel your frustration and shut down on you, so when you are frustrated you need to walk away and take some deep breaths. When you return, shoulders back and show confidence and then start the training again.

If she has a crate, do you keep the door open? Teach her to go lay down in the crate. The crate should be her place to "chill".

Remember to reward with motivational treats when she does what you want her to do. If she does not, tell her "no" in a calm, stern voice. Make her sit and do the command she would not do and then reward if she performs.

Hope that helps~

BTW, pics are necessary. :)
 

season

Well-Known Member
Good advice....sounds like you need to step up the leadership game. He needs to know you are the boss and you won't put up with it. Period. Calm assertive leadership is key. Sounds like at the moment that is not you since you're obviously frustrated etc.
 

seeknoxrun

Well-Known Member
I agree with musicdeb - make her earn EVERYTHING, especially at this age when she's learning (and re-learning) her boundaries within your home.

With my two, when they start attention seeking behavior (usually resting their heads in my lap, nudging with their noses, pushing the other one out of the way, pacing and whining), I completely ignore them and continue on with whatever I was doing. Even something as simple as eye contact is enough to encourage my two, so I avoid even that if I can. As SOON as they give me space, go lay down, and/or busy themselves with an appropriate pass time (basically, until they give up and forget about why they were bugging me in the first place) I go to them and initiate interaction. This technique has worked well for us, and for the most part they're very non-pushy dogs. Our male tends to still try harder than our female does, but he's always been a more pushy, needy individual. And, of course, it's not fool proof because I do catch myself mindlessly petting them or talking to them when they come up to me, and that unintentionally reinforces the idea that they can demand attention simply by approaching me. But I feel like I've found happy medium with them - they can try, but if I don't want to give in to whatever they're wanting and ignore them, they know they don't have a chance and usually give up pretty quickly.

It sounds like you have a very determined pup, and it might take a little longer to break her of her bad habit. What it comes down to is she's learned that whining has gotten her what she wanted in the past. When whining doesn't work, she's learned that taking it to the next level of barking will get her what she wants... kind of like a snowball. And when you stop giving into her, um, requests (haha), you might see what's known as an "extinction burst" where, when she realizes that barking isn't going to work, she's going to try a more forceful and/or persistent approach (maybe nudging, maybe nipping, maybe jumping, maybe extreme and constant barking - all of which I would correct with a sharp "NO" before going on with what I'm doing).

Just know that it's part of the teenage years, and it won't last forever. But it's definitely important to keep up with training and, as musicdeb said, maybe even going back to the basics and really perfecting even the simple things - sits, downs, watches, stays, heels, etc. Good luck!
 
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danielleconn

Well-Known Member
Thanks for all the replies so far...in fact I am laughing as I read these, because she is performing for me while I am trying to read the responses on my computer. I think patience needs to be my biggest practice. Currently, we practice commands as she does this, but she will be back at it in a moments time. If I even go to the cookie jar, she is on her P's and Q's, I just don't want to reinforce what she is doing with a treat. Most of her quirks we work on and she grows out of them within a few weeks, but this one hasn't quit. I really never reinforced the behavior, maybe making eye contact. I will just keep ignoring and only rewarding for what I ask of her. I will try getting a treat and telling her to go to her bed. She understands many commands and we practice daily. I would say we are good at NILF...and I try and give her the most attention when she is relaxed and lying down. I guess I just have to hold the teenage reins and pray they pass quickly. She is a sweet, good girl...just a bit of a brat the past month or so!
 

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
Okay...I hope this works...I tried to attach files of my little girl!
 

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DennasMom

Well-Known Member
Beautiful girl!!

Does she know a "place" or "rug" command? I.e. "go to your place"?

Put a dog bed in view of where you are, and teach her the Place command (lots of youtubes on how, if you need them)... it's then her job to stay on her place until given the release word. If she moves off the Place, say "no, place" and put her back on the dog bed. If she stays there for 1 minute, treat and say "good place" but don't let her off.... slowly increase the time between treats until you can get her to stay there for 15-20 minutes at a time. Hopefully that will teach her to relax on her place while you do other stuff. If she sits there at attention for 20 minutes, but stays on her Place... that's a good energy drain in itself, too!

Good luck! We went with the EM to get a low-energy dog (and we scored on that point), so I'd be going bananas with a girl with as much energy as yours. :)
 

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
Thanks so much Tina...I will try that and see if it helps. Yes, we tell her "go to your bed" and she knows that well so I will make her maintain it. She has a release word too that we use as she has to sit at the door to go out, wait to eat, leave her crate once we are home, etc. It's not like we allow her to walk all over us....it just baffles my mind. We researched the CC well before we got her...we were intrigued by the "calm & quiet around the house" as part of the breed. Maybe that's after the crazy puppy phase? LOL...I am trying to patiently wait for that day.
 

season

Well-Known Member
Beautiful girl!!

Does she know a "place" or "rug" command? I.e. "go to your place"?

Put a dog bed in view of where you are, and teach her the Place command (lots of youtubes on how, if you need them)... it's then her job to stay on her place until given the release word. If she moves off the Place, say "no, place" and put her back on the dog bed. If she stays there for 1 minute, treat and say "good place" but don't let her off.... slowly increase the time between treats until you can get her to stay there for 15-20 minutes at a time. Hopefully that will teach her to relax on her place while you do other stuff. If she sits there at attention for 20 minutes, but stays on her Place... that's a good energy drain in itself, too!

Good luck! We went with the EM to get a low-energy dog (and we scored on that point), so I'd be going bananas with a girl with as much energy as yours. :)

That is great advice as well. I've been using the "place" command with Solo and it has helped a lot. He usually doesn't need to be told to go there anymore as he has figured out very quickly not to ask for my attention. In fact my avatar is a pic of Solo in his "place"....and again, it's not perfect. There are time when Solo is craving my attention but I only give it to him on my terms. No touch, no talk, no eye contact.
 

jsavoni

Well-Known Member
i remember that whining stuff... so hard to not get frustrated. Sometimes my girl, 16months now, while we are out I will make her heel, but she will just stare at me for more commands and start whining. I was always told to ignore her whining, which is confusing. do you ignore when whining or give another command....
 

DennasMom

Well-Known Member
I agree, Jsavoni, that's a hard one.... Denna does the whining thing on and off, too.... if I ignore it, it escalates.... if I address her with an "enough", she quiets down.
Other than the word, "enough", there is no other attention given.
Depending on where she is (i.e. if she has her head on the arm of my chair), sometimes the "enough" turns into an "enough - to your rug". So, I guess, it's dog & situation dependent?
 

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
See I am at a loss too...Dennasmom, I heard you girl whining...that to me is soft & sweet. Zoe's is whining/roo-roo-roo's. It's still attention seeking, either I gotta pee, I am hungry, I am thirsty, I want to play...she seems needy. I work her, exercise her, do the works, yet this behavior daily. It's getting old. I use enough as well, it will work momentarily, then right back at her antics. We already do NILF...I have no advice.
 

season

Well-Known Member
Is your dog crate trained? The crate is a great tool. It's not punishment but if your dog is having trouble with rules boundaries and limitations then a crate is a great tool. Keeps the dog in a safe place and keeps her out of your hair. If your truly frustrated then the dog will pick up on it. It's your house. Your space. Your rules. Your dog is living in it and with strong leadership the dog should figure that out and find it's lane.
 

danielleconn

Well-Known Member
Is your dog crate trained? The crate is a great tool. It's not punishment but if your dog is having trouble with rules boundaries and limitations then a crate is a great tool. Keeps the dog in a safe place and keeps her out of your hair. If your truly frustrated then the dog will pick up on it. It's your house. Your space. Your rules. Your dog is living in it and with strong leadership the dog should figure that out and find it's lane.
Okay Season, I hear you, I do. I am not frustrated by it, really it's semi-entertaining. However, I might try the crate more often. I am home most of the day with her so she usually only is in there when I leave the house to either go shopping, the gym or general errands and it's too warm for her to hang in the car. She listens very well...I just don't have an adequate tool to stop her from being demanding, maybe it is her crate. I have been trying her bed lately and it works well. Once released, it's back on, especially if I am trying to sit down & relax. Problem is, her way of communicating, this rooing thing is the same tone and frequency for potty, hungry, wanting play, etc. Now it's up to me to figure out foremost if it's potty, then from there, everything else is on my time. She has a lot of energy, yesterday we walked an hour and a half and she swam for 20 minutes...she finally slept well for the afternoon & didn't drive me nuts. Well at least until 5pm.
 

season

Well-Known Member
good call. Solo started doing that early on and I stopped it with a loud no and the Cesar Millan technique that if use appropriately is a great tool. Of course there are times when he wants to get in there and get the attention but when he does that without me calling him to me I put him in a sit or "place" and make him earn it. Or if I'm busy working out or something (he loves getting on the yoga mat with me) I tell him no loudly and he gives me the space I need. Usually laying down near me and doing his own downward dog;) Claim your space. Good luck.