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How To Correct Behavior That Only Happen When I'm Away?
Fri, 07 Apr 2006 20:34:09 -0500 rec.pets.dogs.behavior
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mystified...
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I have a 5 year old rat terrier I adopted a year ago. He's basically
well behaved when I'm home but not when I'm away. I'm normally home, and rarely away for more than 3-4 hours at a time. When I'm away he tears up things. He tears up trash containers, tears open anything in a bag (cloth or plastic or paper bag, etc.). He can open virtually any container -- Tupperware containers, cereal boxes, even tin boxes. He uses chairs to get up on tables and sometimes kitchen counters, sometimes chews on upholstery, but basically it seems like he is trying to get "into" things. I'm at a loss to know how to correct behavior that happens in my absence. Acquaintances say to use the "rub his nose in it" technique. That it, press his nose/face into the rubble he made and scold/punish him. I'm not willing to hit him. I'd be willing to scold him this way if I thought it would do any good, but I can't see how he would be able to make a reasonable connection between tearing open a bag an hour ago and the scolding. We can't have a conversation about it, and I'm inclined to believe that any correction must be directly connected with the act (within 15 seconds or so) for an animal to make the association. I've tried putting hot peppers in the trash, but after the first time he learned to leave them alone. So, how does one correct behavior that happens only when one is absent? MauiJNP...
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