Oh dear....

[flick]

The day that she arrived, shortly before I went to bed I put Jodie on her bed in one of the store rooms, locked the door between there and the kitchen, and off we both went to sleep: not a peep out of her until she heard Mike moving around the next morning, although she'd obviously had a little bit of a scrabble at the outside door.

Last night, on the other hand....

I put her on her bed, and she followed me back to the kitchen. I put her back on her bed with a chew, and she followed me back a bit before stopping to have a drink. I went upstairs and was just getting undressed when the thudding noises started, as she threw herself against the door. They stopped after a couple of minutes, just about for long enough for her to check out all the space she had access to for alternate escape routes, then she started scratching. Then thudding. Then scratching....

I didn't want to come downstairs and let her out again, even to tell her off, because it seems like that gives her the attention she's after (even if it's negative attention). She didn't sleep in her bed at all last night, presumably she stayed in front of the door.

While we could move her bed to the spot she likes to lie in in the kitchen, it'll be far more visible if she also trashes the door between the kitchen and the rest of the house.

(Neither of us wants her sleeping in our bedroom at night, and we're trying -- with quite a bit of success -- to teach her that she's not allowed upstairs at all. I can't imagine that working once we're asleep and she can plonk herself down where she likes.)

Help! Do we just keep putting her in the same place and ignoring her, or do we give up? I am genuinely a little concerned about how long the door will hold up if she goes at it as much as she went at the frame last night.

Comments

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Two options, 1: Get her a crate as a safe place to sleep in and encourage her to go into it whenever she needs time alone (Bren still goes into his crate when he understands that he's been naughty). Keep it in the store room, with the crate door open during the day and make it clear to her that it's Her Space (if you're very lucky she may already have been crate trained as a puppy and understand this.)

2: Put her in the spare room on her own during the day for increasingly longer periods (starting with two minutes), close the door and leave. She should eventually get the message that you've not Gone For Ever.

We have a spare crate that I think would fit her, if you need.

[ramtops.livejournal.com]

Exactly what I was going to say.

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

I don't think she gets the idea of time alone, and safe places are where the humans are....

I've been trying out option two today, though. We seem to be getting a wait of a few minutes, then a little scratch, then silence when I say 'NO' through the door. When she comes out, she is the Happiest Dog Ever, which is very sweet.

(I thought we'd try throwing a stick in the garden, earlier. It was desperately exciting, but she doesn't seem to have the whole 'stop running at the stick' part down, much less the 'then bring it back again' bit.)

[flickgc.livejournal.com]

And, thank you! I was hoping you'd have some suggestions!