New dog has appetite for doggie door flap

#Middlebury

DEAR PAWS CORNER: Help! Our recently adopted dog, Mollie, a medium-sized mixed breed, thinks the doggie door flap leading outside to the backyard is delicious. Rather than using it to go in and out, she grabs the edge, chews and tugs on it. She growls when she does this. And she insists that we open the back door for her to go out. How do we fix this? – Mary T., San Antonio

DEAR MARY: You’ll need to address this in two steps. First, you need to figure out if Mollie is chewing due to boredom or attention-seeking, or if she has separation anxiety due to trauma in her past. If she’s only chewing on the door flap and nothing else in the house, maybe there’s an old memory surfacing.

Second, you’ll need to repair or replace the damaged flap and train Mollie to go in and out of it confidently.

Here are a few methods:

1. Divert and distract: As soon as Mollie starts trying to chew the door, call her name to stop her and then distract her away from the door with something else that interests her, like a favorite toy or a treat.
2. Behavior training at the same time each day: Note when Mollie is most likely to start chewing on the door. Then, conduct 10 minutes of behavior training in basic commands.
3. Train Mollie to use the flap correctly: Once she’s responding well to basic commands, add “going thru the flap” to her training. The AKC has a great tutorial here: www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/dog-not-using-dog-door/ and this trainer’s video shows the clicker-treat method: www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R_k4_UHDeA.

If these methods don’t work, consider a professional trainer to help identify and work through Mollie’s fears or bad habits.

Send your tips, comments or questions to ask@pawscorner.com.

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