How to get your house back from the dogs

Introduction

Do you love your dogs but hate all the dog hair or dander in every part of the house? Would you like to limit your dog’s access to a room or 2 without having to keep the doors shut? Want to leave the cat food down without the dogs eating it? Tired of washing the door edges and walls every week? Enjoy your dogs in the rooms you choose and enjoy the pet free zone of the rest of the house. Yes, you can train them even after they are used to having full reign of the house.

By: chicknfillet

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Instructions

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Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Tips & Warnings:

A great time to train a dog is while dinner is cooking. The smells motivate them.
If your dog is crate trained you can train him in a day or 2. Crate him while unattended so he doesn’t stray to the wrong area.
Having a bigger or more noticeable boundary will make it easier for the dog.
Using sign language will help give the dog one more “sense” to use while training.
Get eye contact if at all possible anytime you train your dog.
Never scold or hit your dog. This will make him fearful and frightened of you.
Do not allow your dog to cross the boundaries sometimes and not others. It will confuse him.

Step1

Osa staying at the boundary Look over your home and find the area that you want your dog to stay in. It is better and easier to train the dog not to cross the boundary if it is noticeable like a door way or step. In our house, the dogs stay in the office/sunroom. We are there all day so they get lots of attention, and we keep the door open so they can “see” us as we watch TV in the evening. They will not cross the boundary, which is a step up or down. You have to decide firmly upfront and do not allow special times to cross the boundaries. That will only confuse him. We carry our smaller dog across to bathe him only. He never touches the floor of the forbidden area.

Step2

Osa is happy Start the training as you would any other commands. Get eye contact if at all possible anytime you train your dog. Use firm commands like no and stay. I use sign language to help emphasize the commands. This can be taught to puppies or older dogs. When the dog gets to the boundary that you do not want him to cross, say stay. Walk away and go back to reward him. Keep doing this. Do not call him to come into the area. Do this as many times as possible, especially at the beginning. The biggest bulk of our training was the first night we decided to start this. It got easier after that.

Step3

Osa nevers crosses over If the dog starts to cross the boundary, say NO! Call him back into the area you want him to stay. Reward him for coming. Praise him dearly. Start back out of his area, and if he follows, say stay forcefully. Keep going back to praise and reward him. Watch him; do not give him too much freedom to wander at this point. Stay around and keep rewarding him with praise, petting, and treats. He will be excited if you are, too.

Step4

Osa watches us watch TV Repeat this as often as possible. Be ready to give lots of attention upfront to keep the dog in the area you want the dog in. If the dog strays over the line, just firmly say NO, and call him back to his area. Reward and praise him often. Our older dog (10+) would every once in a while “forget” and just wander out of his area. We’d just say, “Hey," and he would look so surprised then scamper back to his area. We also found out that he would occasionally sneak out in the middle of the night to eat the cat food. We moved the cat food further away from the boundary and then he stopped. Now he never crosses. We can even call both of our dogs to come across the boundary and neither one will come across.