# Looking for suggestions to curb this annoying habit



## milliesmom (Dec 15, 2012)

My dog loves toys more than anything. She loves playing fetch, stay in a corner and then find it, tug, keep away... Everything! I am thrilled that my sweet girl loves games. However she likes to try and convince us to play all the time. My husband and I will be watching TV or reading and she will take a toy or bone and chew it on our leg, begging us to play. It's actually pretty funny but it can be very annoying. I have tried ignoring her and saying no (and she does know what no means). Usually I put the toy up or tell her to go to her place(a big blanket she has to stay on until I say okay... She has bones and toys on her place). I would like her to have more freedom with playing with her toys and not having them taken away when she does this, I also hate the idea of her annoying guests in my home. Any suggestions on teaching my dog that not every second is play time? I've always had a few toys that are always laying around to enforce only chewing on her own things, I'd hate to take that away from her.


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## Qarza (Feb 23, 2013)

Bridget was, and still is like this with us. She used to be worse when she was about 8 months, so DH said she needed a playmate. We got Poppy. The demands on us didn't stop. She still brings us her toys to toss and for her to fetch, find etc. if she gets to demanding we eventually say to her "That's enough Bridget No more". She has learned that that is the time to stop and she will usually settle down, curl up on a couch and go to sleep. Luckily, she hasn't tried getting our guests to play with her, but if she did I would say "no more" and expect her to stop.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

You might try this. Each time Millie pesters you to play, ask her to do some exercises; sit/down/sit/down, etc., and praise her as she complies. Repeat this _every_ time she comes back to pester you. She should soon decide it's not worth it and go off and play with an interactive toy (stuffed kong, puzzle, chewie) on her own. This is what I did and Chagall learned to either "settle" quietly (making certain to give me a very exaggerate *sigh* as he did), or to go amuse himself with a toy. You have to be _really _consistent, _never_ give into the pestering even when that pretty poodle face is lovingly looking up at you. Others will have better suggestions, this is just what worked for me.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

I think I would try a dual approach. Firstly, I'd have toys that are for play with humans, and toys that are for playing with alone. Every time she asked to play with me, I'd insist it was with a "human play" toy. If she asked to play with an alone (AKA usually on the floor) toy, I'd try Chagall's Mom's idea, or simply ignore her (your comment that it is funny implies that you may be finding this hard to do consistently!). Once she had grasped the difference, I would put all the "human" toys away, and only get them out to play when I chose to. You do need to be fair, of course - if the only fun she has is playing with you in the evenings, then of course she wants lots of it, and the answer is more fun and exercise during the day rather than trying to limit it in the evening. But if she has had several hours walking and playing outside, a ten minute nap, and now wants to start again, then you deserve a bit of down time!


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## milliesmom (Dec 15, 2012)

Thank you for all the wonderful suggestions! I will try the suggestions for separate toys and ask her to do some commands when she begs. She gets a lot of exercise. So it's definitely me who needs a break. The only time she is wiped out is once a week when we go on a long off leash hike in the woods, followed by a run in circles like a crazy dog session while my husband and I grill, followed by a swim and run in the sand at the campground we go to, followed by a bath. She is very active because she is only 7 months so she still has that puppy energy which I know also contributes to the extra play drive. =)


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Ah - seven months! The age when you wonder why puppies aren't born with an Off switch...


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## hunny518 (Jun 5, 2012)

Aria does this to me, every single night. The minute I lay down on the couch and lay my feet on my husbands lap so he can massage them (yes he really does every single night )
Aria goes and gets her toys and brings them to me to fetch. It does get annoying at times because I'm tired, but sometimes that is after a loong day at work where she spent the day in a kennel at my work sleeping. So I feel lucky that Aria is completely content with me throwing her toys actress the room for an hour as she goes and retrieves them back to me. 

I'm not worried about her doing it to guests because she never does it to my husband or son. It's our thing I guess.

Sometimes she brings it to me to throw for her, others is because she wants to play tug. What's really hilarious is if I ignore her she will drop her disgusting slobbery stuffed toy on my chest or up against my face and then sit and wait patiently. If she wants to play tug and I'm ignoring her she will literally try to push the toy in my hand or in my mouth!!!! (And for the record, I never play tug with the toy in my mouth.. Lol so I don't know why she tries that)

I'm sure I'm just reinforcing Aria's bad behaviors by letting her get away with this stuff, but if I'm the one who has to live with her, so what? RIGHT? Lol

I do notice though I I tell her it's enough, she will give up and go lay down.




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## WhosMyFluffyPuppy (Jan 12, 2013)

I do what Chagall describes, the DH calls it "down till he's done." If Darku is pestering me to play when it's quiet time, I keep telling him to down and praise him when he does it. And when he gets up, it's a down again. Eventually he sighs, gives up, and settles in for quiet time. It definitely requires consistency to work, but it works well.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Lily is very persistent in her play requests. She still is at 4 1/2 years old. She can be the worst when it is time to go to sleep. She will bring toys up onto the bed and then hop off, expecting us to throw them for her to fetch. She had trained us very well. We would throw the toy a couple of times, then when we had enough we would toss it up on top of the higher dresser out of reach. She would go find another toy and that process would repeat. I have broken this pattern by gathering all of the things up and putting them in a covered plastic bin before bed time. She now understands that toys away means time to sleep. She also likes it when I take the top off the bin in the morning. She gets to shop for her favorite toy.

When we play fetch she always has to do something to get the throw. Right now I am using this as a fun way to practice the utility obedience signals.

When I don't want to play at all (like right now), I generally just ignore her "requests" until she figures out that this isn't going to end with what she wants. Right now we are at a big four day dog show doing rally, obedience and agility. We are in our hotel room and I really want her to relax. We did some fetch with her favorite stuffed duck that came on the trip with us, but when I got out the computer I just stopped taking the duck from her when she brought it to me and she went over and sacked out on the bed.

Be consistent now. Your puppy looks fairly grown up at seven months, but mentally is roughly the equivalent of a tween (rebellious and difficult to talk to). Your persistent application of how you handle things now will set you up for success through the life of your dog. With Lily (a very smart girl with lots of drive), it is easy to tweak things to get them back to how we want them because we worked hard to be consistent when she was young.


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