Who is that doggie on your tail!

Does your dog follow you around the house? Can you not go to the toilet without loving brown eyes staring up at you? It’s such a common problem and thanks to June for bringing the question up on the Pawsability Facebook page.

I mean, it’s funny isn’t it. Our new wee puppy follows us into the toilet and we think it’s cute. We smile, we laugh, we say, oh wee Poppy, Mummy’s just going to the toilet, you just stay there! But the furry little paws ticktack over the laminate and there we all are.

So why do dogs do things? Well, it’s very simple. They repeat behaviours that make them feel better and are less likely to repeat choices that don’t. (Please note that I’m not condoning negative interactions with your dog.)

Take a moment, then, to think about what happens here from the dog’s perspective. They clearly want to be with us and crave our attention. Telling them to stop following us results in – following us. Closing the door results in whining or perhaps barking or scratching. What’s the end result? We open the door - the behaviour worked! We are together again.

Dogs simply don’t understand us when we “tell them off”. Most often, they just keep repeating the same “mistakes” because they haven’t got a clue what else they should be doing.

“Teaching the Positive” means teaching a dog what we want them “To Do” instead of telling them off for doing something we don’t want. Thus, if we flip our present problem around, we end up seeing that we simply want them to “Stay” where they are. Here’s how to teach STAY.

Consider where your dog likes to be. Perhaps by your chair in the living room, or lying on the couch.

Get some tiny treats and with you sitting beside them, say “good dog” and give them a wee treat. Repeat a few times.

Gradually move a little, rewarding them for staying put. Then move a little more and then a step away until you can get to the door and then get to the toilet (or kitchen or bedroom etc).

The trick with this, as with any training, is practice. Repeat this exercise for a minute or so 12 times a day. For most of us, this will be enough to give us peace in the bathroom. We just needed to teach them what we wanted.

Of course, some dogs may have more deeply entrenched problems, where being separated from you causes fear and anxiety. For more help, and other ideas on stopping your dog following you, please contact anna@pawsability.co.uk or look at PawsAbility.co.uk for further help.

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