Excessive attention seeking

Jumping up, pushing in, constant nudging, barking.

Attention seeking - what does this actually mean? After all, it appears that most dogs are show offs’, most dogs love attention and dogs wouldn't be dogs unless they did. In fact dogs which seek our attention are the most trainable and many trainers develop a plethora of methods to attract a dog's attention in order to teach them obedience and general sociable manners. However, when the attention seeking dog interferes with your lifestyle or stops you from getting on with your daily chores - then this behaviour becomes unacceptable.

This problem is often a result of spoiling a young puppy. It may have been allowed to sleep in its owner's bedroom and given constant attention. It may have attracted a lot of attention from visitors because it looked cute and cuddly. These situations can produce a dog which thinks it has a right to seek attention whenever it wishes. Dogs which go everywhere with their owner, day and night, can also turn out to be excessive attention seekers though more often than not they develop separation anxiety another common behavioural problem.

During the consultation, the attention seeking dog generally displays all of the learnt routines of soliciting attention, moreover often the owner responnds to all of these.