Naughty Doggies

[philip edwards Hatchling Find all posts View Profile Close philip edwards]

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop my dog jumping up and destroying my letterbox.
This is the 2nd one hes had and lost a tooth in the process. (Big vet bill)

[Juanita-(Spirit-Rainbow) Cub Find all posts View Profile Close Juanita-(Spirit-Rainbow)]

Re: Naughty Doggies

Does anyone have any ideas on how to stop my dog jumping up and destroying my letterbox.
This is the 2nd one hes had and lost a tooth in the process. (Big vet bill)

Hi Philip,

Welcome!

I really don't have an answer for you at this point, but I'm sure others will have some suggestions.

I've moved this over to the "Training and Behavior" topic; I think you'll get more response to your question here. :)

[RedyreRottweilers Cub Find all posts View Profile Close RedyreRottweilers]

The simple answer, of course, is to confine your dog in a manner in which he cannot get to the letter box.

The other answer is to set the dog up to go for the letterbox, and associate his attention to the letter box with an aversive stimulus. This can be a sound (AH AH!!! or a soda can filled with pennies dropped on the floor), a collar correction, or any of a large variety of other aversives.

The second the dog looks away from the letterbox, he should be called to you and rewarded.

Combine this with confining the dog so he can't get to the box.

[champ Cub Find all posts View Profile Close champ]

I disagrre with using punishment *as a rule*. It is not an effective teacher & comes with many side effects. It can however, be necessary in some situations, to temporarily stop the behaviour while you train something else.

I'd suggest that you first restrict his access to the box when you're not there training him. If he's not already good at some obedience exercises, teach him. Then take him out to the box on lead & ask him to sit & INSTANTLY reward that. Repeat often until he ignores the box reliably & sits beside it for a treat. Then repeat the lesson off lead until he's reliable. Then repeat the lesson with you out of sight. He can't sit & jump at the same time.

Animals don't generalise very well. That is why you need to repeat the lesson with the different criteria such as your presence.