Attachment Issues

Question
My great Dane, is 11 weeks old. I've had him for a little over 3 weeks at this point in time. I also have two miniature schnauzer's. My question is, I feel like mu Dane is attaching more to the other dogs than he is to me. Other than wanting me to let him outside or wanting food, he pretty much ignores me. If I try to play with him, or even get his attention, he doesn't seem interested and would rather play with my other two dogs. But when I put my other two dogs away, then he seems to start attaching more to me. At the moment, I'm kenneling my other two dogs once or twice a day for a few hours and trying to give my Dane a lot of time and attention. We play and work on short 5 to 10 minute training sessions, go for 10 minute walks around the block and etc. But if I'm not separating him from my other two dogs, he seems like he would rather be with them than me.
This is my second Great Dane, my first passed away about 3 years ago. I've never had this problem before and I'm not really sure what to do. Another problem I think might attribute to this attachment issue is that I can't get him to come to me when I call him. Almost all of his other commands, "sit, lay, stay," he's pretty good at. But come is a complete disaster. I've tried a couple of different methods to teach him to "come" on command, none seem to be working. I think the root issue is that he isn't attached to me and so he doesn't want to come to me when I call him, even if I have a treat for him every time. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Ashley

Answer
Ashley,

You are pretty much doing everything the right way. It is good that you are separating your new puppy away from your other dogs. If you can, I would put up gates so that he can see your other dogs, but not play with them, that way he sees that you are there for him to play with even when the other dogs are there.

Coming when called is a very advance expectation to have for an 11 week old puppy. You need to be patient. Right now is may seem as though he is clinging to your other dogs, but you have to remember that until 8 weeks he was with his mother and other litter mates, so being away from them is part of the reason why he is clinging to your other dogs. This probably means that your puppy was not one of the independent ones in the litter, but very dependent on his brothers and sisters.

You can also try the "watch me" command with him, and use some "special treats" when you want him to come to you, make sure that it is always a positive experience. Use salami or Swiss cheese instead of regular dog treats, this will make coming to you more worth it...puppies do tend to get bored of treats very easily so it needs to be switched up, remember you don't eat chicken and rice everyday and expecting your puppy to come to the same old milk bone every time can also get boring.

With the watch me command you can use a clicker and treat method, so when he hears the clicker that could be his cue to come, you have to experiment because keep in mind that like no two people are the same, no two dogs learn the same way either so you may have to try different training methods and styles to achieve what may have been much easier with your other Dane. As a whole Great Danes are more stubborn and harder to train, so don't give up, keep your spirits up and more importantly, do not get frustrated because dogs as well as puppies pick up on that...

Keep us updated on your puppies progress :)

Paula Z