Help! Our puppy follows every stranger.

[Camus]

I knew that doodles were very friendly but never thought that so much. We took Camus (he is almost 9 weeks old) for a walk yesterday in the night and this early morning and he tried to follow every stranger without even been petted. He just tries to go away with everyone who passes by us. At the same time Camus is pretty shy, he walkes behind us and follows very well if ther are no people around.

I googled this and found very few discussions. It doesn't seem to be a common thing. Does anyone have the same problem? Should I worry? I read that one way to solve this is to treat him every time he comes to me. I'll do that, but Camus is not very food motivated. Is there anything else I should do about it? 

Obedience lessons? At what age should they start?

Ah, another thing. Our puppy is very calm and independent: even at home Camus doesn't follow us everywhere, only when he is interested. He doesn't cry at all when we leave him alone and feels very well  being left in his sunroom. He is happy when we come back, but not like crazy. 

As for other commands like "sit" and "down", he does them pretty well, but get distracted easily. 

Thank you in advance for any advice or comment on this. 

 

[Adina P]

I don't think you need to worry.  Over time puppy will come to prefer YOUR family as his 'favorite' people but he's young and curious and interested in the people that pass by.  As long as he's on leash and the leash isn't super long he's in no danger.  And with obedience training that bond he has with you not only will be stronger but the habit will go away because he'll learn that wandering away from you on walks is not okay (well unless that's not part of training). 

 

The 'gets distracted easily' is also because he's young.  With maturity it won't be quite as dramatic but only consistent obedience training will allow him to focus on his 'work' even in the face of major doggy distractions.

[Camus]

Thank you. Probably, I just forgot how my former dog was as a puppy (that was 23 years ago).

[Patty, Roxy & Spencer]

My two pups before Roxy, which were with me 16 yrs., were very close to me.  When we got Roxy I thought it would be the same. Not!  She like Camus is very independent.  We got her around 4 mos. old and started her in puppy classes right after she had her last set of shots which was about a week after she came to live with us.  I hadn't had much time to work with her and she was crazy in the puppy classes.  She didn't want to come to us and wanted to know every other person in the class.  She didn't much care about the other puppies at first, just the people.   I started working with her on her name recognition.  Saying her name and when she looked at me I treated.  I should have worked that training longer than I did, because it didn't stick to well, especially on recall at the dog park.  I worked more on her sit/stay and down/stay. I now work with whistle training.  I place the pup in sit/stay and walk away some distance, turn and blow the whistle with two short blows.  When the dog comes I treat.  To start this have the pup right in front of you on its leash.  Blow the whistle and treat.  After a while increase the distance.  When they know stay you can increase the distance even more.  This takes time, but if you start early, it can really pay off when you at the dog park and your dog is far enough away that he may not hear your voice calling.  I work with both pups at the same time and practice at the dog park.  It's so great when they stop playing with the other dogs and come running to me. On our walks Roxy always loves to meet everyone passing by.  Most people want to pet her because she's a Doodle!  She loves to jump up on people and this is still a work in progress because some encourage it!  If Camus starts that, start correcting early.  I wasn't consistant when she was still a young pup because she was so darn cute and everyone else thought so too and wanted to snuggle her.  Now that Roxy is older (2 yrs.) she seems to want to be around us more.  Our Spencer has always been more connected.  She has been watching him and has started coming up to us for more affection. Spencer comes almost all the time now to his name, but Roxy not always.  Usually she's doing something like digging and just doesn't want to stop!  I love her independence because she has such confidence, but I also know that I have to focus on certain training more with her than with Spencer.  After Camus has all his shots, enroll in a good puppy class.  You will learn lots of good training tools and have lots of fun training him and watching him succeed.  It's really rewarding for you and your pup.  

 

 

[Camus]

Thank you for your advice and all the tips. It's wonderful that Roxy had a good example (Spencer). :) It is obvious being around well-educated dogs helps. Dogs learn from each other and imitate each other. 

[Lynda Kamrath]

Doesn't sound like Camus has any socialization problems.  The other stuff is all pretty normal for a pup.

[Camus]

I read today a post about another very friendly young F1 standard doodle who weighs already 55 lbs. It seems to be a big problem. I am getting ready to that. 

I like the name "mango". The profile photo is wonderful. Upload more please. 

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

I would do lots of treats just for eye contact and perhaps do a little clicker training.  Eye contact at this age will get him much more in tune with you and get him listening.  Check out the Kikopup Youtube videos which are really easy to follow.  If I read you correctly you are concerned that he hasn't bonded yet and that may well be true, it's very early days yet and some puppies take a little longer than others to know who their 'people' are.

 

[Camus]

Thank you!