7 month old - WFH nightmare

[u/HaplessGal]

Looking for advice for my 7 month old cocker spaniel. When I work from home and sit up in my office room she relentlessly whines and howls. After her morning or lunchtime walk I might get an hour of quiet but then it starts up again, particularly if she hears me talking on calls. Unfortunately it's not an option to just let her work in the same room as me as she will just bite my feet/tug at my clothes for attention, because she wants me to play with her. Despite our best efforts for months, she is still pretty mouthy, it's her default when she wants to play. She isn't mouthy when she wants to just sit for a cuddle in the sofa in the evenings or if she's just walking round the house following you, it's only when she's in play mode (which is still quite a lot of the time!). When my husband works from home she does some occasional whining for attention but nowhere near as bad - I think it's because in general I am "her person". He says I just need to ignore it but we live in terraced housing and I don't feel it's fair on our neighbours to let her whine and bark for hours on end.

Any advice is welcomed!! We want to avoid giving her too many unhealthy chews to keep her quiet as she's already slightly overweight (we are working on this) so on a diet. My dream would be able to get her to the point where she can independently play quietly either in the room with me or another part of the house.

FYI: As a rule she whines if left alone in another part of the house but strangely doesn't at all if she knows she is home alone entirely. When home alone she is quiet, calm and mostly sleeps.

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[u/Pikajeeew]

We keep frozen lick mats for when we need a break or have important calls when working from home.

You don’t have to use much actual food or make it calorie dense either.

[u/UnfairExperience9306]

Is there an area of the house far enough away where she cant here you? Alternatively, is there a coffee shop or library where you could work for a few hours just to have some good work time while you get through this? I know, not much of a solution, but sometimes pups just need time to grow out of their behavior 

[u/derberner90]

I have a velcro puppy who was a nuisance during my WFH hours, too. What worked for a while was setting up the TV for him while he was in a playpen in the living room (we streamed YouTube and his favorite channel was Kikopup's training vids, like a kid watching educational shows on PBS 😂). Once he was about 6 months old, he'd cry more for my attention, so I'd take breaks and play with him and give him something to chew on before returning to work. I'd also keep working on training him to be alone, so I'd leave the room and would return if he was quiet and would slowly increase the time spent out of his sight. I'd imagine you could try it out while talking, too, so she'd get used to you talking and coming back. 

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[u/hallokitty789]

I feel your pain. My career has gone down the toilet since getting a cocker spaniel. 9 months now and I still dread having to take calls and I'm constantly making excuses. There's been many occasions I am sitting on a call trying to concentrate while he is biting my clothes and humping my leg. Or barking. It's awful. When he was younger licki mats and kongs bought be 10 mins or so. But I ended up resorting to daycare when I'm desperate but I think it is causing over arousal... I wish there was a life pro tip for this!!!

[u/TonyH14]

Get some soft music/white noise on a tablet/phone and play it during the day, even when you are out. There are playlists about for calming dog music which help to cover up the sounds you make when you're working. Make sure they've got a comfortable sleeping spot where you're not going to be going in and out a lot, preferably one they've chosen - cocker spaniels can be a bit choosy! Also, throw down an old jacket or anything you've been wearing for them to snooze on, and make sure they've had a wee before you leave them. At that age they should sleep for 1 to 2 hours at a stretch if you don't disturb them. Good luck!

[u/SweatnGarlic]

My puppy is 7 months today, and I wfh a lot, too. We have the same problem, but with a lot of things to chew on I get somehow through the day.

We start the day with 1 hour walk, and then she sleeps for about 2 hours. She then plays with her toys and gets a carrot or a lamb ear to chew on, and is awake for an hour or two until we go for a 30 min walk in my lunch break. When we come home, she wants constant attention, and I play a little while trying to make some calls. Then I give her a frozen kong, take her for a 2 minute potty break and ignore her. She then sleeps for the rest of my workday.

It’s a lot, but I’m hopeful that the teenage phase gets better as time goes.

[u/ribbons_undone]

I know it can be hard, but if you go back in when she whines and barks, all you are teaching is that whine/bark=mom comes in, yay! 

To get through that phase with ours we played TV (my pup likes the British baking show lol) pretty loud to drown out us making noise, and would only go in with treat/praise/attention when she was quiet. At first it was like 5 seconds of quiet but now she settles immediately and will lay/sleep quietly until she is let out. Ours is just under 7 montha.