Cocker Specific Discussion > Behaviour & Training

Excitement re door

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niqnet:
Well we seem to have hit our first stumbling block with Astrid. She’s progressing very nicely in most areas but has seemed to have attached a lot of excitement to our internal porch door. Two things about this door:

1) The porch is the cat’s area so naturally this is exciting to Astrid as the cat might be in there
2) This is the main way out of the house so school run in the morning etc is done via the porch and this door (kids are very hectic and high energy before school)

Astrid has a pen in the lounge which she settles in if we are upstairs etc and she has a crate in the utility where she goes when we are out. She settles beautifully in both of these. The problem seems to be in the following instance:

One parent is staying in the house so Astrid gets put in her pen so kids can go into the porch to get coats and shoes with the other parent. Astrid goes nuts in her pen at this point as she is excited at either the prospect of a walk or ride in the car or the cat coming into the house.

Any ideas on how to manage this? I’m really worried we’ve ruined her as she is such a brilliantly laid back pup in every other way.

Help!

bizzylizzy:
 :luv:
don’t worry, you won’t ruin her, she just wants to be part of the fun! I‘d try by making her think the pen is more fun than being in the porch.  :lol2: You could try giving her a special favourite treat  or a particularly fun  toy that she ONLY gets while the children are in the porch getting ready, it‘ll probably take a bit of practise with the remaining parent providing the distraction but hopefully she‘ll eventually realise that getting boots on in the porch is really boring compared to being quiet in her pen with  her extra special  very favourite treat/toy! (In theory anyway!  :005:)

niqnet:
Thank you. I will give this a try.

russ-g:
It sounds overly simple, but as a general rule I aim to ignore behaviours which I don't want to encourage. It's not always possible, but its very easy to accidentally reinforce things. In this instance I think ignoring would be the right option. Completely ignore her and pay no attention to her excitement. She'll soon realise the difference between time for walkies and what's happening in the mornings, especially if you pair walkies with a word or action she can recognise.

If you can't ignore her for some reason, try not to reinforce the behaviour. I.e. don't speak to her, make too much eye contact, or treat her when she's excited.

The moment she's quiet or sitting nicely in her pen, treat and reinforce. She'll learn quick.

Joules:
I would try something like a snuffle mat in her pen with some yummy treats in - just keep it for the pen. I usually crush up some treats into crumbs and put them in - keeps them busy for ages

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