How To Stop Your Dog From Scratching Doors

 

Door scratching could be annoying and frustrating as a pet owner, because it doesn’t only destroy your personal property, but it also endangers your dog’s health.

As a new dog parent, it’s crucial to do lots of research and studies about dogs to guide you through this journey.

Personally, as a dog parent, I made a couple of regretful mistakes when I first started out; and trust me, the outcome wasn’t any less.

My puppy would really drive me insane by digging her paws into virtually everything on her path, be it the floor or the door and I just didn’t know what to do about it. 

Reading alone seemed very uninteresting, I joined an online dog parent group and I tried learning from their experience.  I realized that some of the habits my dog developed could have been totally avoided if I took necessary precautions.

Being a dog parent, I feel all parent should be able to learn from others mistakes and try to avoid them as they relate with their dog

Why Do Dogs Scratch Doors?

This question always runs through my mind whenever my little princess begins digging. 

The noise from all the clawing action isn’t even harmonious in any way, and I certainly bet my dog wasn’t even enjoying the sound but why couldn’t she just give it a rest?

Too many things to know as a new dog parent which was getting too overwhelming. 

In order to tackle the problem at hand, identifying it isn’t enough.

I really wanted to understand why my little princess would damage some of my property and injure herself on those rough surfaces.

Anxiety

This is a behavioral psychological problem due to your dog’s attachment to you.

My little princess would dig her paws into almost anything at home if I were to leave her home alone and go out for a while.

From research, I realized I wasn’t exactly helping my dog to get over her anxiety, but was only adding to it due to my counter behavior towards my dog whenever she was anxious. 

Dogs are sometimes (or most times depending on the level of training received) scared of being left alone or being away from their owners.

If proper precautions aren’t taken, then your dog’s behavior cannot be controlled.

 

Boredom

Just like humans, dogs have an extremely high capacity for being bored when left alone. 

It’s important to help your dog cultivate or develop good habits to replace play when you are too occupied.

It’s likely that your dog would prefer to scratch the door as a source of entertainment rather than chasing their own tailor play with a toy.

Dogs are very energetic animals and can’t be blamed if they decide to exhaust their energy scratching your door.

My dog would do that a lot, too; my dog has her play toys, but sometimes just prefers scratching the door whenever I’m not giving her as much attention as I usually do.

How Exactly Can I Stop My Dog From Scratching My Door?

Well thanks to research and the internet, I have discovered 4 unique and extremely effective ways to help keep my dog from digging into my doors and furniture.

1. Trimming your dog's nails

Yup, trim those wild nails off.

At the early stage of dog parenting, I was scared of trimming my dog's nails.

I felt it was impossible and even if it wasn’t, I was definitely going to hurt my dog, but the result was the opposite.

I purchased a pet Dremel tool as recommended on a blog and tried it out.

The result was splendid!

I was able to smoothen those sharp edges without hurting my dog.

As a pet parent, I advise all pet parents to check out the nearest mall or pet shop and get a Dremel tool for your dog.

2. Develop healthy hobbies/habits

In dog psychology, scratching can be seen as habitual.

It is necessary to pay close attention to your puppy or dog and help them to develop healthy habits as earlier stated.

A friend (a fellow dog parent) suggested attractive puzzles like food puzzles to me when I first complained about this scratching habit.

Though I didn’t believe it at first, it worked like magic!

My little dog now goes back to her puzzle anytime she is less occupied or I’m too busy for her, instead of pawing around the house.

3. Apply the ‘no’ card

Saying no to these cute dogs isn’t exactly very easy, but it’s necessary. Dogs tend to adhere more to firm voice corrections.

It’s important to speak out your disapproval for your dog's action any time he does something contrary to how trained dogs are supposed to behave.

Sometimes randomly yelling at your dog can make them a bit confused.

If your dog is scratching your door, firmly yell ‘NO’, wait for them to calm down, then reward them for their good behavior.

This would help your dog understand what is expected of them, and helps establish which habits to do away with.

4. Try being away from your dog for a while (separation)

This is in order to help your dog deal with anxiety.

It’s possible your dog hates being away from you and only knows how to channel this anxiety into other habits like scratching your door.

Try an anti-anxiety training for your dog and try to help your dog live away from you for some time. 

After departure for a while, it’s important to reward your dog to build its independent mind.

It’s important to continue this separation circle for as long as possible until your dog learns to live without you.

It’s important to never forget to reward your dog after every method application. 

This would help your dog realize the training or exercise carried out is of great benefit to them.  

It’s important to make your dog independent enough to survive on its own