Dogs driving me mad.

[Babyroobs]

My 2 dogs are so unsettled a lot of the time. I have a four year old cocker spaniel who just follows me everywhere. I am not the type of person to just sit on the sofa all evening, I am up and down doing jobs, rarely sit for more than 15 mins but immediately I get up he follows so never really goes into a sleep in the evening. He won't stay with my husband who remains sitting on the sofa. He follows me everywhere - to the toilet, round the kitchen etc. The other dog is eleven years old and you would think she would be slowing down but is anything but ! She seems to be hyper, the slightest noise she is up and barking, constantly on the look out for food, every packet that rustles she is up and alert, constantly mooching around, getting under people's feet ( big family ) . I just want them to settle down and relax !! Any suggestions? They get loads of long walks, eat well, no obvious health problems etc. Another example is even after a good evening walk they will be at the patio door wanting to go out all the time, they are in for five minutes and then wanting to go out again. There is nothing bothering them in the garden. It's so irritating. Have tried ignoring the behaviour but they are persistant.

Is this new behaviour or have they always been like this? To be honest they just sound like a pair of normal dogs to me, my dog is my shadow, as soon as I move she’s there right beside me. It sounds like you have a busy household, it’s a big ask to expect dogs to relax quietly whilst your big family are rustling packets and probably being noisy themselves, if you were just a couple sitting quietly of an evening I bet your dogs would follow suit, at the moment they are doing what the rest of their pack is doing, especially their leader who is constantly up and down and never settling for more than 15 minutes!

Probably the breed. Our Labradors sleep absolutely loads!

It sounds chaotic and they are feeding on that.
Can you build up from quiet evenings. I find it hard to sit still but had to spend time being still and calm so ddgog learned that’s what I wanted and then I’d pop and get a drink. Then pop and get a drink and load the dishwasher etc slowly building up, now ddog stays with my dh when I get up as they know it’ll be boring so don’t bother to follow me.
Or if I’m going to be in the kitchen a while they have a bed they can snooze on if they’d rather be with me.

The packet thing make sure absolutely no one is feeding her from a packet and no rustling/ packet sounds will = food.

If she is barking at noise can you leave radio/ white noise on.

They keep getting up because you keep getting up

It's normal - if you curled up on the sofa and watched a film or read a book, at their ages they would curl up with you and sleep, but if you're constantly going to be on the move, they will be too.

As a dog owner and dog sitter, I'd say about 95% of the dogs I ever looked after have been the same. If I sit and chill on the sofa (assuming all their needs are met), they will too. But if I get up and cook, use the loo or constantly keep fidgeting, they will as well. They take their cues from their humans.

Either shut them in the room with your husband while you get on with whatever you're doing, or learn to sit down and relax yourself

“ I am not the type of person to just sit on the sofa all evening”

You are complaining that your dogs can’t do something that you yourself can’t do! You can teach them to settle, but you need to drop the energy levels first. They feed of the energy around them.
There’s lots of advice online on teaching the settle, but it needs to be done when you and the household are calm. You can then start to build up the flitting about.
The other thing to be mindful of is if you don’t want a marathon runner, don’t train one. What a lot of people see as tiring their dogs out just makes them fitter in the long run.
I’d get your husband to try playing some calming games with them as well in the living room. Keep them engaged but chilled.
Might be worth a vet check for the older one if this is a new behaviour.

@MrsWinters

“ I am not the type of person to just sit on the sofa all evening”

You are complaining that your dogs can’t do something that you yourself can’t do! You can teach them to settle, but you need to drop the energy levels first. They feed of the energy around them.
There’s lots of advice online on teaching the settle, but it needs to be done when you and the household are calm. You can then start to build up the flitting about.
The other thing to be mindful of is if you don’t want a marathon runner, don’t train one. What a lot of people see as tiring their dogs out just makes them fitter in the long run.
I’d get your husband to try playing some calming games with them as well in the living room. Keep them engaged but chilled.
Might be worth a vet check for the older one if this is a new behaviour.

Yes I guess I hadn't thought of that. My aim is just to tire them out ! Thanks for the suggestions though.

@PineappleRingo

It sounds chaotic and they are feeding on that. Can you build up from quiet evenings. I find it hard to sit still but had to spend time being still and calm so ddgog learned that’s what I wanted and then I’d pop and get a drink. Then pop and get a drink and load the dishwasher etc slowly building up, now ddog stays with my dh when I get up as they know it’ll be boring so don’t bother to follow me. Or if I’m going to be in the kitchen a while they have a bed they can snooze on if they’d rather be with me.

The packet thing make sure absolutely no one is feeding her from a packet and no rustling/ packet sounds will = food.

If she is barking at noise can you leave radio/ white noise on.

Yes admittedly it is a bit of a chaotic household at times - 4 adult children/ teens coming and going all the time. Younger dog will sit on the sofa whilst I'm doing stuff in the kitchen but is constantly on alert/ watching my every move nervously. I'm going to be starting a new job soon so will be out of the house a little more so hoping they may relax a bit more in the day when I am not there for short periods of time.

I can see your dogs post on dogsnet. 'My human is driving me mad, up and down all evening. Why won't she bloody sit still so I don't have to keep getting up.'

I'd replace last walk with scent work or use a lickimat.

Id say it's dogs being dog's, all the best

We go out and the cocker has a rest. When we are gone, he lies down straight away and sleeps the whole time. Once we are back, he doesn't sleep much as our household is like yours with lots going on/adult children etc. if we watch a film in the evening he will lie down and sleep too. I think it is the breed. I have a friend with a large breed and her dog sleeps all the time in the house, even with lots going on! Ours has been trained to 'settle' but when he settles he's still alert and waiting for what's happening next. I often say spaniels have FOMO!