Dog following me around the house

[nunnun]

Our oldest dog is 9yo and his knees are very bad. When I'm busy around the house he follows me around and lays down in the room I'm in but then really struggles to get up again when I go into another room. I just want him to stay where he is on the settee and not follow me around because I hate to see him struggling so much (he's on painkillers and anti-inflammatory from the vet and has been for years). I end up just sitting on the settee with him all day until my DH comes home and he stays with him. Tbh I find this all very frustrating because I end up getting nothing done and hardly ever going out unless DH is here to take over. This has gone on for quite a while.

Has he always been like that? What happens if you just shut him in the room, does he get distressed? Have you tried a DAP diffuser or similar?

Does he have arthritis? If so then there are things you can do to make it easier for him. If you have hard floors it will be especially difficult for him but mats or non slip vet bed will help a lot.
It's sweet that he wants to follow you around, though can also indicate that he's in pain.

He's always done it but it wasn't a problem until a couple of years ago when his arthritis got worse in both knees. He doesn't get distressed if I close the door but he's been deaf since birth and I think he does it partly for reassurance. We've done all we can to make our floors non-slip.

I'm going to try closing the door to the living room (it's a half-glazed one so he can see through it). It will probably be my DH getting distressed that I've closed the door on our dogs, but you can't get a plug-in diffuser for that, can you ?

It is really hard 🌷

Even if you shut the door he’s likely to get up to look for you, but maybe when he realises the door is shut he’ll settle down. Then you can try to get loads done and go back in when you have time to sit with him for a while. If you’re consistent he might learn not to even get up if the door is closed and just wait for you.

Does he know the wait there command? Could you teach that? Bella follows me unless I specifically tell her to wait there. Not a problem for her but I don't want following to the bath or up the stairs or into the kitchen when I'm cooking.

No diffuser for DH though, but at least he understands what you’re saying to him. ‘Ffs yes I shut the door so DoggyNunNun doesn’t move around too much, I can get shit done and retain some of my sanity. DoggyNunNun is perfectly fine sleeping in there’. Failing that, slip something into his coffee or use a frying pan.

See I’m thinking that if he just follows you because he likes to - then he should be able to, I mean it might not seem like the best use of his time to you, but he clearly wants to do that.

I’d be looking at managing his arthritis more so that he can move about like that tbh...

Because to me it seems like you’d be taking away a big part of his day. (I totally get that it’d for the right reasons btw) and if he can’t do something on that low a level, his arthritis isn’t ok...

I’d just let him follow you if that is what he’s happiest doing but perhaps help him out by assisting him to get up / get on the sofa etc .Have you tried some different supplements for his arthritis .

Thanks for that Incredibly I needed a laugh!

We do help him to stand up all the time, putting our hands underneath his back end to support him and he's okay with that. He has glucosamine and turmeric as supplements.

We've never used any hand signals with him as commands because he's always been in the company of other dogs and has just gone along with whatever they do. But it's not a bad idea to try this to get him to stay where he is. That would be particularly useful when I'm just nipping into another room to fetch something - sometimes by the time he's got laid down in room I've gone to, I'm coming back out
again .

Thanks all for your comments btw.