Nothing tests our patience more than a dog that continually scratches at the door when put outside. It is typically paired with whining and barking and is usually because the dog wants attention (see our Attention Seeking Behaviours  blog). Ask yourself this: Have you ever let your dog back into the house to make it stop scratching and whining just because you have had enough of the commotion? If you answered yes then what you have actually done is reward the dog’s unwanted behaviour. This is called inadvertent reinforcement. The dog thinks that this is the behaviour they have to display in order to succeed getting back inside again. The more we let this happen the stronger the behaviour gets!

The most effective way to deal with a dog that scratches or whines for attention is extinction training. We work towards weakening the unwanted behaviours in a way that decreases or stops the behaviour from occurring again. How? By simply ignoring the dog. That means completely – no eye contact, no speaking to them and no physical contact. Looking at the dog, scolding them or going out to punish the dog can inadvertently encourage the behaviour to continue as the dog thinks this is what brings you back to him. The idea behind ignoring the dog and leaving them alone is to prevent your dog from getting any sort of attention that it may find rewarding. Any kind of acknowledgement of your dog such as the types mentioned is a little win in your dog’s eyes. So to help them help themselves try to pretend that they aren’t there.

Now here comes the tricky part – following through! When we try to diminish an unwanted behaviour sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. With extinction training comes what we call an extinction burst. This is when a dog pushes as hard as it can to use whatever behaviours have worked for them in the past and after giving it everything they’ve got they hit a peak – the burst. It is once they have reached this peak that they start to give up and the behaviour tends to rapidly subside. If your dog is outside scratching and whining to be let back in we must ignore this at every cost, no matter how frantic the scratching becomes or how loud the whining gets. So be prepared to let them ride it out! This is the most crucial part of extinction training. If we prematurely submit to the dog out of frustration then the behaviour will again be rewarded, but this time at a much more intensified level. And next time the dog will be even more adamant to succeed! Therefore it is crucial that if you undertake extinction training to be vigilant about following it through every time otherwise the exercise is useless.

If you follow this through correctly and your dog does hit that burst it is important to allow the dog sufficient time to process what has just happened. It is still important to maintain composure around your dog at this stage so the picture remains constant. It takes some patience but it’s well worth it in the long run. In addition we must always ensure that our dogs are being provided with adequate stimulation, exercise and enrichment to ensure a happy mind and a healthy body.