cavalier king charles problems

[fgr]

Will try and keep this as brief as possible. I am at the end of my tether with our 5 yesr old cav. We tookhim on at 6 months from people who said they could not afford tokeep him. He was pretty hyperactive but we thought he would calm down after being castrated and mature. 4 years on with a new baby I am at the end of my tether. He is so needy and wants constant attention, wants to be on my lap, follows me everywhere worse of all shits in the kids roms and no matter what I do to correct him he acts like an arrogant git. I cannot do more for him, he gets walked for an hour everyday by me, I let him on my lap if the baby is asleep but my dh travels a lot for work so am on my own with the kids a lot of the time wnd the dog is harder and needier than the kids. I know That maybe I should rehome him but feel guilty as dh and ds would miss him. Any advice welcome x

Have you done any formal training classes? If not find a behaviourist who runs training classes and get enrolled.

I would love to but physically do not have the time as I am on my own during the week with the dc and no family nearby to babysit. I have employed a dogwalker who was also a behaviourist but she said he is just a needy dog and to give him more attention. When my dh is home he has constant attention and last night had an hours walk with him but he still messed in ds room.

My concern is that you need training as your comment of 'if I correct him' suggests that you are not using positive reinforcement training.
To be honest it is training classes you both need together. If you are going to rehome him use the breed rescue so he ends up in a home that will commit to the training he needs.

Lonecat, thank you so much for your replies. Could you clarify what you mean by positive reinforcement training? How would training stop him shitting in the kids room or being in your face constanly? He does have a loving secure home but like I said I don't have time to go to evening trsining classes and have nobody to look after the baby in the day. If I do rehome I will do it via cavalier rescue. He really does need a home with retired people with the time to give him the attention he constantly needs.

I think you need to return to basics with everything. Toilet training so you go to the garden with him and reward performing outside. Ignore when he goes inside at the moment by admonishing him when he goes in the kids bedroom he gets a reward. This is going to take months of consistency to fix, short term I would shut the kids bedroom doors and keep him with you so can pick up on his need to go out signals, then as I say going with him don't engage with play, but praise him when he goes outside and he gets his reward then.
Back to really basic obedience training to make his brain work as well as his body on walks and he is also getting attention while you are doing this.

Was your dog trainer a member of the ADPT? I suspect not but would be happy to be corrected. Did you get a behaviour programme to follow and a follow up meeting etc?

Your dog is not being arrogant, he is a dog, he has no concept of being arrogant, dogs are amoral, they will do what works for them.

Have you ruled out any medical issues that would suggest a reason for the toileting inside? Otherswise, this may be a learned behaviour, it may even be stress. What do you do when he toilets inside?

When you say you correct him, what does that entail? If you are telling him off or punishing him, that may very well be the reason for the toilet issue and 'needy' behaviour.

Grab a bag of treats, everytime you spot him doing something that you like, reward him, even if it's just laying quietly. Dogs will work for reward, be that food or cuddles or a play with a toy etc. Ignore the behaviour that you don't like or want, the dog will hopefully soon learn that this doesn't produce anything meaningful for him and display behaviours that do get him something he wants.

When you walk him, what do you do? Is the walk exciting for him? I took our two out this afternoon. We took a toy, we did some training, I did some scentwork with them, they focused on me for an hour. They are knackered now, so that was worth an hour of my interaction.

How about some toys that gets his mind working? Kongs, puzzle toys etc?

I might be wrong, but your post doesn't sound terribly enthusiastic about this dog, and he might be better with another home, dogs do require time and commitment, and that is hard with a young family, it's just your language is so negative.

CKCS were bred to be companion dogs in the first place. Maybe being on your lap is not so much needy but he is doing what his genes are telling him to do.