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Re: scratching at doorPosted by: Heather ReidPosted on: July 31, 2001 at 14:03:09
In Reply to: Re: scratching at door
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| Question: : : I have a 2 yr old JRT and when I leave he scratches at my door leaving marks. When i get home he knows he did wrong and I show him what he does and tell him no but he still does it. What should I do?? : ------------------ Response Area ------------------- : As much as we all have a tendency to bestow human qualities on our dogs, they don't have them. You might think he knows that he did wrong, but in reality, all he is doing is reacting to your tone of voice and bad vibes, he doesn't have a clue. : Your dog cannot comprehend your anger hours after his unacceptable behavior has happened. Your timing to correct your dog must be done while he is doing the unwanted behavior. : You may have to set up scenarios where you pretend to leave just as you normally do and then once you are out the door listen for when he starts to scratch. Then you give him the correction, a firm NO! There is no need to go into speeches about how disappointed you feel, how betrayed or how angry you are, because anything more than a firm NO will only confuse him. You might want to also get the help of a second person for this exercise. : The key to successful training is to set your dog up for success. Once he knows that scratching at the door is not good you should start to reward him when he does what you want. : I once had an afghan hound that would tear the house apart when we would leave. He managed to destroy an entire couch. We knew this behavior had to stop. We set him up, we left the house, got in the car, actually drove off and parked the car around the block and quietly came home through the back yard where we spied him with his mouth on the cushions of the other couch. We burst through the back entry and gave him his firm correction. We did this several times at varying lengths of time. After that he never bothered another item in the house...because he never knew exactly when we would come home. : Remember the key is to catch them in the act! : Good Luck! : Marie ------------------ Response Area ------------------- "What should I do my neighbor came to my house and told me that my dog barks all day long when im gone. He is used to being with another dog so I know he is lonley, but there's nothing I can do about another dog. I tried putting music ot the tv on. What should I do?????Please help!!!" Marie's advice for training a dog out of a behavior is right on, except that given your additional question, I don't think this approach is going to work for you. The two questions together tell us your dog is scratching at the door and barking all day long. That tells me loud and clear, he is BORED. No amount of training him not to scratch is going to work if he isn't getting his energy out in other ways. Same goes with the barking. You need to make sure your dog is well exercised when you are home, and make sure he is not left for excessive periods of time (for an adult no more than 7 hours). This means you've got to get out and do something with him. Every day! Take him out in the yard, if it's fenced, and throw the ball. Chase each other. Play soccer. Take a training class. Talk a nice long walk or jog. If he is left for long periods, you may need to start coming home at lunch or hire someone in to let him out and play with him. |