Won't be left alone! CKCS

This is my first grumble about Harvey & oh!!

Oh left really early this morning and thought it best to close the kitchen door when he left, not sure why as there is a baby gate in front! Harvey had been let out of his crate and been outside for his pee, and the back door was left open too. But he decided he would scratch at the kitchen door in the hope I would let him up to the bedroom. Well, the door is not a tight fit so the door bangs ( best I can explain ) and Harvey was banging and scratching on the door, and eventually woke both me and my daughter. I went down to him, had breakfast, cup of tea, and a cuddle and play.

Daughter came down really grumpy as Harvey had woken her, demanded a lift to work-refused.
About 30 mins later when the bathroom was free I went for a shower, then Harvey whined and whined and whined-at the gate. I resisted the temptation to let him upstairs when I went to dry my hair in the bedroom. I asked him to schhhhh, but No, so again I asked him to schhh, but No. So I turned up the volume on the tv and continued to dry my hair-and I could still hear him whinning.

I do spend and have spent a lot of time with him, but had mastered the shower routine, and this morning really upset me & I can't understand why we have reverted to crying at the gate ?? Any idea's please x

It could possibly be that he is whinning because you are inadvertantly rewarding him. When you first went down in the morning his whinning had worked to get you there abd play and every time you told him to shush he is gaining some form of attention from you.
You need to try and think of ways of letting him know that your in charge and you`ll say when its time to play and wake up. For now I`d get your OH to put him back in his crate until you get up.

It sounds too as if your OH slightly changed the routine, was maybe earlier and also shut the kitchen door. Dogs will notice any change and be affected by it, sometimes quite a lot.

That's not to say you have to do everything regimentally, just that some dogs will react to change.

The best thing I've found is to not react to the whining but don't let it go on too long. Good training tends to be to wait until there is a small lull in the whining, then go down and be friendly. You want the dog to learn that whining doesn't work but that being quiiet will bring you down. Over time he will
A not get into the whining habit and,
B understand that being quiet is what brings you down.

Hopefully!!

If you are busy and he stops whining, whilst you are upstairs, you can lean over the bannister and tell him how clever he is and what a good boy he is, this is attention and it will help plus make life easier for you as you can't be up and downstairs every 2 seconds! YOu can do this at first even if he stops whining for say, 3 seconds. Gradually you can extend the time of qiuet for which he is praised and maybe treated.

If he starts to whine while you are praising him, say "ah!" and move away from teh bannister and carry on with what you need to do.

The rest of the family need to do the same - dont' let any of them go down stairs whilst he is whining or he will think that is what is getting them to go down to him!

i've tended to work on the grounds that once the humans are up and about in the kitchen in the morning then the dog is too! that doesn't mean i can't occasionally appear in the dead of night to make a cup of tea after nips has gone to bed but, for sure, once morning has arrived and he's been out for the first pee of the day then it's a deal easier to to cope with the morning routines accompanied by a dog than leave one whining in the kitchen. especially since you then have the issue of "rewarding" a whining dog to contend with as well!

i agree with that as when Harvey was here he didn't surface till we got up which is later than at Tracie's....I am not a great morning person so the dogs don't much attention till I am wide awake ( about an hr ) and Harvey soon learnt that routine .....hope things settle for you both