koalathebear Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 (edited) Elbie's 5+ months now and doing well overall. One thing I've noticed that doesn't seem to be changing as he grows older is that he is still a big sook. We leave him alone in the yard while we go out and also in his crate. If he's been crated, then when we get back he's generally quite relaxed (as if he's been sleeping) and doesn't make much fuss. If he was left out in the yard, he'll make plaintive noises to be let in. From what we can see, he seems fine while we're away and does not get up to particularly destructive behaviours (we have a web cam). We always ignore him when we get home - unloading groceries or just pottering around. We only let him into the house when he's quiet again. We let him out of his crate after we finish unpacking groceries etc. Generally he doesn't fuss at the time of departure because we leave him with a kong so to be honest, if he whimpers - we're long gone by the time he starts. The thing that I find odd is that he'll make whimpering monkey noises when one of us leaves the house. Sometimes he'll whimper when we leave the room to go to another room and he can't see us. If he knows where we are then he's fine e.g. if he has followed my OH and realises that OH is in the bathroom, then he'll trot back to his dog bed and lie down peacefully, otherwise he'll make his little plaintive monkey noises. He is happy to lie in a different room to us (for instance we are in the study now and he's in his crate in the kitchen) but generally he prefers to keep us in visual range. He'll play in the yard on his own but again, his favourite spot is where he can see us. If we leave a room, even briefly, he almost always has to follow us to see what we're doing before going back to his bed - generally he'll try to plonk himself down in the same room as both of us so we can see him trotting back and forth between rooms trying to figure out where everyone is going to end up. What's a little annoying is that when we're out and Elbie's on a leash, if one of us walks away e.g. to buy something/put something in the bin etc Elbie will freak out. He seems to want us together at all times and he'll bark and yelp quite loudly if one of us walks away. The one staying with him of course doesn't comfort him or pander to his behaviour but we aren't sure what to do to get him to stop freaking out. If he's offlead then he's fine and just runs back and forth between us very happily. Both the monkey whimpering and the 'separation yelping' only lasts for a short while and then he settles but I am a little surprised that he's still such a sook as I assumed he'd grow out of it by now. Does this still happen to anyone else's 'older' pup? Edited July 27, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Both my boys are sooks, Bronson my youngest is a shocking sook and always has been, he is 2 1/2 now. He is a real drama queen, if we are out walking and the other three dogs go down a track out of sight, he cries. He is really quite talky and vocal to so I think the sooking for him is a real way of communicating to me that he is not happy. Generally I ignore him. He has got slightly better but has not grown out of it at all!! Cooper on the other hand only sooks when he doesn't get his own was, he really uses the sooking as a tool if that makes sense. He is 4. Neither of my girls are sooks at all. They just sit back and let the boys do the whinging and crying thing!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 27, 2010 Author Share Posted July 27, 2010 Both my boys are sooks, Bronson my youngest is a shocking sook and always has been, he is 2 1/2 now. He is a real drama queen, if we are out walking and the other three dogs go down a track out of sight, he cries. He is really quite talky and vocal to so I think the sooking for him is a real way of communicating to me that he is not happy. Generally I ignore him. He has got slightly better but has not grown out of it at all!! Cooper on the other hand only sooks when he doesn't get his own was, he really uses the sooking as a tool if that makes sense. He is 4. Neither of my girls are sooks at all. They just sit back and let the boys do the whinging and crying thing!! I am relieved I'm not the only one with a sooky dog. I have a horrible feeling it's genetic because the woman we got Elbie from was always telling us: "Elbie's just like his father - his father is a very smart and obedient kelpie - but a big sook". I have at least 3 emails where she mentions the sookiness of Elbie's father, albeit with affection ... Sometimes for a joke, we imitate and say to Elbie: "Be a man! Do the right thing!" Ah well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlc Posted July 27, 2010 Share Posted July 27, 2010 Russell peters funny guy! I think it could be genetic as well Bronsons breeder always says Bobby (Brons dad) is a shocking sook, and so are a couple of his brothers. So there has to be something in it! I don't usually give in to Bronsons whining but I do occassionally with Cooper, they are both so different. But the whining and sooking can be really annoying at times! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Ohh.. I have a sook! Charlie. Biggest sook there is. Sometimes he wants to take a nap on the bed but doesn't want to be alone, so he sits on the bed and whinges. He puts his whole body, heart and souls in his whinge session.. it's really pathetic. When I walk into the bedroom, he quickly lies down and put his head on his paws and gives me the 'mummy, i want a nap. please nap with me' looks. So I lay down beside him (yes, he has me whipped). When Emmy goes out to the backyard and he doesn't want to follow.. he will sit in the living room and whinge and cry till she cames back... but she usually comes back and launches at him, then he whinges because she is not nice at him But the worst is when the boyfriend goes home... he will sit by the door, looking out at the window giving him the most saddest puppy does eyes, then walks over to me and sits beside me and whines.. till I tell him to shut up and stop being pathetic. I use to say 'grow a pair' but I had him castrated. then I said 'where's your back bone, man?' and he literally doesn't have one now.. so i had to stop using that too He is over a year old.. apparently he isn't going to grow out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 (edited) I use to say 'grow a pair' but I had him castrated. Oh that's hilarious - I also sometimes tell Elbie to grow a pair and my OH has to remind me that we've had him desexed and then the guilt sinks in Thing is my dog is supposed to be a hardy, tough working dog. We were warned before we got our dog that kelpies could be aloof, didn't really want affection or human closeness etc. Hmmm. Sorry to hear about Charlie's backbone. Eek! He does so well though! Edited July 28, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 I use to say 'grow a pair' but I had him castrated. Oh that's hilarious - I also sometimes tell Elbie to grow a pair and my OH has to remind me that we've had him desexed and then the guilt sinks in Thing is my dog is supposed to be a hardy, tough working dog. We were warned before we got our dog that kelpies could be aloof, didn't really want affection or human closeness etc. Hmmm. Sorry to hear about Charlie's backbone. Eek! He does so well though! Really? My friend has a kelpie and is a totally daddy's girl. Must always be with him and touching him all the time.. I always thought Kelpies are sooks! It's alright about Charlie's backbone.. he moves around really good and it doesn't bother him Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 (edited) I use to say 'grow a pair' but I had him castrated. Oh that's hilarious - I also sometimes tell Elbie to grow a pair and my OH has to remind me that we've had him desexed and then the guilt sinks in Thing is my dog is supposed to be a hardy, tough working dog. We were warned before we got our dog that kelpies could be aloof, didn't really want affection or human closeness etc. Hmmm. Sorry to hear about Charlie's backbone. Eek! He does so well though! Whoever told you that about kelpies probably forgot to mention that any dog not socialised to accept human company is unlikely to seek it. No pet Kelpie I know matches that description. Elbie ain't a kelpie anyway. He's crossbred and IMO he's got a few breeds in him. I'd say you've got some [over] bonding issues. You could implement a program to decrease Elbie's level of anxiety when left. Edited July 28, 2010 by poodlefan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 (edited) Elbie ain't a kelpie anyway. He's crossbred and IMO he's got a few breeds in him.I'd say you've got some [over] bonding issues. You could implement a program to decrease Elbie's level of anxiety when left. Heh, ok mostly kelpie then. With the extra bits of border collie (and any other bits) he's still supposed to be a tough old boot of a working dog As to his bonding issues, I fear he's just going to have to deal with it. He's being left alone for increasing periods of time and is doing well. From what we can tell from the webcam, when left alone he only whinges (no barking) for half a minute at most before going off to chase his orange juice bottle so the sookiness is probably just him being a spoiled brat rather than any real distress. As to the monkey noises he makes when we leave a room, we'll just keep ignoring him. Given that he only bleats for a few moments, we suspect it's not serious - we just always thought that a male kelpie x wouldn't be quite so sooky. Edited July 28, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Elbie ain't a kelpie anyway. He's crossbred and IMO he's got a few breeds in him.I'd say you've got some [over] bonding issues. You could implement a program to decrease Elbie's level of anxiety when left. Heh, ok mostly kelpie then. With the extra bits of border collie (and any other bits) he's still supposed to be a tough old boot of a working dog As to his bonding issues, I fear he's just going to have to deal with it. He's being left alone for increasing periods of time and is doing well. From what we can tell from the webcam, when left alone he only whinges for half a minute at most before going off to chase his orange juice bottle so the sookiness is probably just him being a spoiiled brat rather than any real distress. As to the monkey noises he makes when we leave a room, we'll just keep ignoring him. Given that he only bleats for a few moments, we suspect it's not serious - we just always thought that a male kelpie x wouldn't be quite so sooky. Being left alone in a strange place is very different to being left alone at home. If he's to be a dog sports dog, he's going to need coping skills for that. Have you been crate training him. If not, I'd recommend you commence immediately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 Being left alone in a strange place is very different to being left alone at home. If he's to be a dog sports dog, he's going to need coping skills for that. Have you been crate training him. If not, I'd recommend you commence immediately. He's crate trained and loves his crate - he sleeps in it at night and goes in there at various times during the day for a rest. He also goes there to hide from the vacuum cleaner I'm not sure how far we will take him with obedience etc. He is going well and a lot of people have said that he would be very good at agility but we're a bit uncertain about that given that it was unfortunately necessary to have him desexed at 10 weeks, thus his bones probably aren't as strong as they would be in a dog that was desexed later. Hopefully we can find him a nice active activity that won't be too hard on his bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poodlefan Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Being left alone in a strange place is very different to being left alone at home. If he's to be a dog sports dog, he's going to need coping skills for that. Have you been crate training him. If not, I'd recommend you commence immediately. He's crate trained and loves his crate - he sleeps in it at night and goes in there at various times during the day for a rest. He also goes there to hide from the vacuum cleaner I'm not sure how far we will take him with obedience etc. He is going well and a lot of people have said that he would be very good at agility but we're a bit uncertain about that given that it was unfortunately necessary to have him desexed at 10 weeks, thus his bones probably aren't as strong as they would be in a dog that was desexed later. Hopefully we can find him a nice active activity that won't be too hard on his bones. His bones will be strong enough for agility.. its how they fit together that's the issue. No reason why he should be unsound though. Lots of early desexed dogs compete. The issue then becomes one of husbandry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 If he is good at agility... you should get him into it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Mine (5 years and 8 months) both sook when the other is taken out of sight on a walk, or if one of the humans walks away on a walk. Satch *screams*. Also in my experience... males are the sooky ones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Monster Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad..... sorry, carry on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genabee Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Something must be in the water.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 (edited) somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad.....sorry, carry on... Bwahahaha - that is SUCH an hilarious skit Edited July 28, 2010 by koalathebear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 Mine (5 years and 8 months) both sook when the other is taken out of sight on a walk, or if one of the humans walks away on a walk. Satch *screams*.Also in my experience... males are the sooky ones Hahaha! So glad Elbie's not the only sook around. He is such a little drama queen sometimes. We feel bad laughing at him but we don't think he's genuinely upset, just trying to get attention Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Sibs Posted July 28, 2010 Share Posted July 28, 2010 Mine (5 years and 8 months) both sook when the other is taken out of sight on a walk, or if one of the humans walks away on a walk. Satch *screams*.Also in my experience... males are the sooky ones Hahaha! So glad Elbie's not the only sook around. He is such a little drama queen sometimes. We feel bad laughing at him but we don't think he's genuinely upset, just trying to get attention i laugh at Charlie all the time then he gives me a sadder look, that I have to sit down so he can come over for a cuddle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
koalathebear Posted July 28, 2010 Author Share Posted July 28, 2010 i laugh at Charlie all the time then he gives me a sadder look, that I have to sit down so he can come over for a cuddle... haha. But does he like Elbie does? It's so hard NOT to laugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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