Maxxs_Mummy said:
...I would use the Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh command deep and low and then substitute the rug for something else as Cathy has suggested.
Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh works a treat for my two and Maxx can hear it - unless he can tell by my face that he's in trouble :lol:
I use the sound, "nahhaahh," but it's essentially the same thing, i read about it in a book (Puppy Preschool) that said it's like the growl of a mother dog. I didn't really think it was, but i tried it and it's been amazing to me, how effective it's been. i'm sure it sounds overly simplistic. But for some reason, from the beginning, Zack takes that sound really seriously, even though uttered rather softly or briefly, without much ado--in fact, that was the point of the book, that the mother dog doesn't make a big deal out of behaviors, she just has a short to the point reaction that the puppy understands easily. It still perplexes me, the way it works. But using the word "No," has no effect on him. It's like he just doesn't know what it means, and he doesn't respond to it, though he might respond to body language that accompanies it. While "nhaaah" has always penetrated his little brain like a knife through butter. So when he has chewed something and i've said "nhaaah," for some unknown reason, he does not chew that thing again.
but there was one thing i didn't want to take a chance on, it was the new baby gate i put on the kitchen doorway several months ago, it's made of wood, and i found him gnawing on it and it was splintering , and since i couldn't supervise him during the night, i got something called Yuk or Bitter Yuk that is a bad tasting liquid to spray on the item in question, it's made of rosemary, and it worked, he never did it again, but he did try and found he didn't like the taste. The stuff wore off a long time ago.
zack has one behavior now that he persists in doing, even though he stops when i say 'nhaaaah,' sniffing and potentially licking the cat's butt, :yuk: Maybe i should spray Bitter Yuk on her butt?
:yikes
anyway, he's progressed a lot with the cat, he finally stopped harrassing her and lunging at her. but he still likes to put his nose in her butt.