# Jasper has more energy but....



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

So the good news is my little boy Jasper seems to be out of his funk. He has so much more energy and is spending more time with us and playing much more with Cash. But....with this energy, he has become a bit more demanding. 

He has decided that it is time to get up at 6:18 every morning. He starts grumbling and pawing (not gently) at my husbands side of the bed (from the floor) and ignoring him does not help. He is very persistent. This is a dog that can and will hold his biz for a very long time - (his record is 28 hrs when he would not go in the snow) He used to need coaxing out of his crate when we get up at about 7:30 or 8 on weekends. 

He is also becoming very demanding at the dinner table. Our boys have been allowed to look up at us longingly while we eat - but not allowed to jump up-- Jasper has been doing the same aggressive pawing and grumbling that he does in the morning. 

Perhaps we have encouraged the pawing-- it is how he lets us know he wants to go out and we thought it was cute. He starts by sitting directly in front of us-- and stares at us--- if we don't acknolledge him, he will grumble, and then start the pawing-- that usually gets us to get up and take him as we know he is serious. 

So is any of you have any thoughts on how we reset his clock and address his pushiness I would appreciate it.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Hmm..

That's a pickle!

Okay, I've been there with the "cute" behavior turned "annoying". Guch used to lick on my leg/foot to let me know she was hungry, well...when I started wearing jeans that changed to pulling on my jeans, which I did NOT like..

So I basically had to *ignore* the behavior, that and keep to a stricter meal time and not 'cave in' if she skipped a meal and give her something else to eat!

I think if you start ignoring this behavior, that'll help him stop. (well, you said that doesn't work in the morning but what about dinnertime?) What about Cash? How does he act at dinner? Is he quiet? If so, maybe give him a little praise for being quiet and well mannered and not Jas if he is acting up. You may even consider putting Jas in another room (like time out) if he continues. They hate to be ignored and miss out on anything!

6:18 am???? LOL, Quirky! Hmm....Missy, grab a brush and start grooming him! LOL (Or does he *love* grooming time?) Will he go back to bed after you take him out, or does he just want everyone to get up?

Sometimes, Gucci will wake me up at 5:14 on the weekends (which is what time I get up on school mornings) but NOT weekends, egads! And of course, I guess she is trying to be "helpful"...and fill in for my alarm clock, but I'm not getting up that early on Sat-Sun..so I will just roll her over on her back and cradle her head on my shoulder and give her a belly rub and it will settle her back down and she will fall asleep. So far, that has worked well for me. If that ever fails, I'll start grooming her because she hates that! 

I hope someone has better ideas than I do!! I think we have these occasional stumbling blocks in training and they do try to 'test us' from time to time, and that is completely normal. They just want to see what they can get away with , so we have to reinforce the alpha and let them know that they aren't taking over ALL of our jobs (or the alarm clocks!!)

hugs,
Kara


----------



## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Missy, I'm not sure exactly what you can do other than what you have been doing. I would think your only option would be to ignore him. Or do you have a command that you use to make Jasper stop what he's doing no matter what it is? Kubrick responds very well to either a aaahaaah (short sound I make) or a simple "stop." There was one weekend that my fiance and I slept in both on Saturday and Sunday (we were up late helping out my sister). Anyway, around 9:30am Kubrick starts barking in his crate. I get up to let him out, knowing that he needs to potty. I did wait about a minute after he barked, but he figured out that he barked and I let him out. So on Monday he barks at 5am! I know he does NOT need to go to the bathroom, he just wants to be let out. So I told him "enough, shush" and he stopped. I tried ignoring it at first, but he went on for 5 minutes straight. When I said something, he immediately stopped and went back to sleep. Perhaps if you say something to Jasper it might help?

Sorry I'm not the most helpful, and I hope you will figure something out soon!


----------



## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

Could it be that Jasper has taken you feeling sorry for him as a weakness in you..This did start after you felt he was depressed...

His being pushy with you..This is his way of telling you what to do..

I would have a crate ready and the next time he pawed at me to get me up. I would give a firm no...If he didn't stop, I would put him in the crate...If he barks..move the crate in another room..I would repeat this every morning until he got the message...


If he pawed at the dinner table I would do the same, tell him to stop.. if he doesn't, back in the crate he would go, or if you have a fenced in yard he could go there, until you are done with dinner..


I guess now you have seen the two sides of Jasper...Jasper the leader :evil:and Jasper the follower..:angel:

Which one will you choose


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Oh Kara, Jasper hates HATES grooming. But I would be wide awake after that LOL. we started by pulling him up on the bed- and we get a never ending shower of kisses-- if we (mostly DH because he is the walker) roll over and cover ourselves with blankets- he will sit above our heads and lick any exposed area- if there is no exposed area he starts the pawing hard. Yesterday I held him so tight and scratched his head to keep him from bothering DH who really wanted to sleep--- He was just a furry ball of tension trying to get at Alpha (what we call DH) We've started taking them downstairs in the morning- but the goal would be to not have to get up. I need to work on a word-- No doesn't seem to be working anymore.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

LOL! Well, the grooming suggestion was a bit of a 'joke'...just thinking that it would be funny to respond to that behavior with the thing they hate MOST. Grooming! ound:

Paige has a good idea, why not try the crate? Or taking him to a different area of the house to be 'alone', assuming he'll behave?

Yes..he is challenging your alpha and pushing his will.

Gucci always falls back to sleep if I rub her tummy and I usually fall asleep while doing it, well...I'm half asleep already, lol

Are you on a different schedule or going to bed earlier than usual?

Kara


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Yes- I think we may have to try the crate thing---I think I hate the crates as much as they do (well jasper actually prefers his crate to sleeping on the bed) they are always in the way-- I have been trying to eliminate them. But I think we will have to go back to it. Yes we are seeing the two sides of Jasper Paige. The communicator did say he was a "depressed Alpha" LOL


----------



## Leeann (Feb 28, 2007)

Missy this happened to us with Ry. We finally started letting him sleep in bed with us but any movement from me ment the kiss fest was on. I was getting no sleep so as soon as he started kissing me DH would put him in his crate. Ry will tolerate the crate but does prefer to be in the bed. After a few times of getting put in the crate he realized he better leave me alone. Now when I wake I always find him sitting just staring at me and if I roll over he leaves me alone but if I pet him that means O.K. I'm up.


----------



## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

How old is Jasper now? I noticed that the closer Kodi got to his 2nd birthday, the more vocal and pushy he has become. I think it just might be a sign of them coming into their adult stage. Luckily, they don't bother me during the night and will sleep until I get them up.

Also, Kodi has always been a very picky eater. However, I think he has finally gotten taste buds, because he wants to eat everything, or most everything, and will make those whiney noises at us. I try not to feed them from the table, but will put it in their dish.


----------



## lfung5 (Jun 30, 2007)

HAHAHA. Missy, Freddie does the same thing with the grumbling, whining and pawing at me. He will sit there are scratch with 2 paws very fast. He normally does it to my back when I am kneeling. Sometimes it the only back scratch I get all day!

He grumbles and whines if he wants a toy that one of the other has. He will walk up to me and paw me as if to say, get the toy for me. When I ignore him, he just grumbles. I try ignoring him and he does stop, when he feels he is getting no where with his actions. The problem is, I feel sorry for him so I end up reacting to his bad behavior. I can't help it, he is just to cute. I think I will try harder to ignore him!

He doesn't wake me up anymore. He use to wake me up every morning between 5-6am. I was exausted! All of a sudden, it just stopped and I now have to wake him up in the mornings. Phew! Good luck.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

I thought about you this morning! Gucci decided to be the 'alarm clock' and she woke my up by licking my lips at 5;20 (4 min. past the time I get up on weekdays!) But I put her on her back again and scratched her chin and neck and she fell back asleep and so did I!

Did you try anything different today? 

Kara


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Michele, Jasper will be 2 in January- so yes he could be coming into his own. 

Kara, this morning it was Cash who jumped off the bed and started whining at the door--- LOL- Jasper was quite content sitting in his crate. 

Linda, sounds like you know exactly what I am talking about with the pawing with freddie. Jasper will occasionally come to as and paw to intervene and give him the chew that Cash has. It is so hard not to give in-- after all they are just trying to communicate with us... and they are sooo cute.

The hard thing for us- is that we are loving how much more animated Jasper is-- So I don't want to discourage that in any way. 

But - The crates are ready--next time in the crates they go. Jasper doesn't like sleeping in the bed - but we leave his door open in case he gets too hot-- Cash has just graduated to sleeping in the bed-- he is a dream-- stays right at the foot of the bed and doesn't move at all during the night-- when he sees my eyes are open he will move up and lie on his back right next to my face so I can rub his ears and belly. 

On another note- just came back from the vet- Cash has an eye infection again- and both my guys could stand to lose a few pounds.... So I am to cut back on a half a medallion a day. And give them more veggies. Maybe I will also try to weight the ration of my EVO/Innova mix more towards the Innova too. Oh yeah and cut back on snacks. Cash was 19.4 lbs, Jasper 17. Cash always ate- but how did Jasper go from not eating anything to having some extra fat aorund his ribs?


----------



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Sorry to hear about Cash's eye infection  Bummer! And the 'diet', lol..I suppose they won't be thrilled about that, ehh?

How did the boys do this morning? *I* was the early bird today, this time change always throws me off. LOL, But Guch was a trooper and drug her butt outta bed to follow me down for coffee and water! 

Between the 'pawing' and the 'grumbling'...these havs are TOO cute. I swear Gucci tries to talk with her grumbles. LOL, Now I know why Barb Walters says her dog 'talks'! 

Kara


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Well this morning was lovely. We decided to switch and let Jasper stay on the bed if he wanted to, which he did. And we wanted Cash to know that he slept on our bed at our pleasure so he was in his crate last night. Jasper stayed snuggled between our two heads all night- and this morning he started to grumble but I said NO Shshhhh- -- He then turned to DH- who grumbled and pulled the covers over his head-- and I told DH to tell him NO --- I stroked him firmly to calm him-- and then closed my eyes again - he grumbled a drop and then he calmed down for another hour. 

Jasper's Crate is on DH's side of the bed- and he hates his sleep disturbed- so he is real grouchy and pulls the blankets up and pushes him away. I was wondering if maybe Jasper see's this as play and the simple NO will work better-- time will tell, it was a miserable rainy day all day and night yesterday- and they both slept all day- so maybe it was just a fluke- But I would love to think that I am more Alpha than DH.


----------



## Lynn (Jan 2, 2007)

Missy said:


> The hard thing for us- is that we are loving how much more animated Jasper is-- So I don't want to discourage that in any way.


Hi Missy,

It is great that Jasper has come out, and is so much happier. He is kind of developing his personality. But you still have to let Jasper know you are the alpha....when he does unacceptable behavior.

I am having the same issues; at dinner time and morning bedtime with Missy. My Missy has a very persistant personality. She knows just what she wants, and when she wants, and she wants it NOW! Very vocal little girl! Tells me everything on her mind

At dinner I have been putting Missy back in her exercise pen, because she is too disrupting at dinner. Could you separate the Cash and Jasper from the dinner table area?


----------



## Lina (Apr 26, 2007)

Missy, glad to hear that using NO helped out a bit with Jasper. He just needed someone telling him what to do.


----------



## Jane (Jun 2, 2007)

Missy,

I'm sorry to hear about Cash's eye infection  Hopefully it will clear up soon - did you get antibiotic drops? 

Is Jasper rising early because he is hungry? Or just because he wants you to get up too? Scout was an early riser and we had to "reset" his internal clock by feeding him later in the morning. It took a few weeks. After he got used to later breakfast, he didn't pester us so much in the morning. Now, he gets up as soon as my alarm clock goes off, and comes to my hubby's side of the bed to be lifted up. He gives us all morning kisses and will then plant himself on one of our chests/throats to get rubs. Then he goes to the foot of the bed and lays there until we REALLY get up :biggrin1:

Maybe the daylight savings time change will help?


----------



## Paige (Sep 12, 2006)

So sorry to hear Cash has a eye infection..I hope he is all better soon..

I have had to cut their kibble down to a half cup a day...Reece and Nigel started to get pudgy on me.


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Thanks gals for all your support. 

Jane, I think he just wants up to go for his walk with "alpha(DH)" at the park which is the highlight of his day- he really loves to walk. Jasper doesn't eat in the morning- we try,but he just won't. 

But tonight, day 2 on "the diet" My little pudge Cash decided he wasn't getting enough treats-- so he created his own little tootsie roll and gobbled it up. ewwwwww. I really thought he was done with that. But there he was dragging it in from his potty room and savoring it like a delacacy. I washed his mouth out with doggy breath spray. 

The bad thing was I heard him come in from his room thru the doggy door so I said "were you a good boy Buddy?" and it wasn't until I went out there and smelled something but didn't see anything that I realized what the deal was. so I he didn't even get corrected. 

Please tell me he will magically grow out of it when he turns 1 on Friday. 
Do you think he did it because he was hungry? He hasn't done it in a long while- he still gets pineapple everyday.


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

We tried the crate thing this morning--- Jasper slept in his crate last night with the door open-Cash slept on the bed-- but Jas woke us up at 6, which got Cash up- so they both got put in their crates with the door closed. Cash went to sleep. Jasper pawed the door, but stopped after a few NO's.


----------



## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

Glad its working! But..ICK on the turd eating. uke: gross! lol, I guess he's not digging the 'diet', ehh?

Kara


----------



## Missy (Nov 6, 2006)

Big BIG ick... I really thought he was done with that. There is always kibble down that he could eat...


----------

