Squeak, squeak, squeak. Whine, whine, whine. That’s all I’ve been hearing for several weeks now. Lilly has a new attention-getting ploy. She goes and cries to Ginko, which frustrates him, so then he barks. Ginko never bothers me unless he really needs something, so at first, I’d go running to see what was up. VOILA! Lesson learned. Lilly figured out that fussing to Ginko garners attention (from both of us). STINKER!
I haven’t devised a way to undo this new attention-seeking behavior. If she fusses at me in the same room, I get up and leave. That cuts things right quick.
But, when she’s in another room, that won’t work.
I’ve tried shutting my office door, but I’m not sure she’s making the connection.
Any ideas, oh wise ones, on how to nip a remote behavior like this? It’s driving me batty.
Dogs and children really have things in common.
Thanks for the idea. I’ll see if I can get Ginko to comply. Convincing him to leave the couch may be hard, though.
I love dog_geek’s idea. I do this kind of thing with my dogs a lot, and it really works.
I take it that simply ignoring the situation hasn’t worked.
If dog_geek’s idea doesn’t work, you could try a very brief time-out (I know that you need to be careful with Lilly so as not to scare her). S used to bark and fuss at us all the time when he first came to live with us. Ignoring him didn’t work so we gave him an immediate time-out when he barked at us (30 sec in the bathroom with door closed). He made the connection right away.
Hmmm… are we sure Lilly isn’t related to L? He’ll cry to anyone who might lend an ear. When she fusses at Ginko, can you get Ginko and take him in the office with you and shut the door? Instead of whining at Ginko paying off by getting attention from both of you, she’ll get it from neither of you?