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Cleaning!
Submitted by mlg39 on Aug 14, 2007
My dog hates cleaning. When we go to the cupboard to get out a rag or cleaning bottle, she barks, and attempts to take the stuff from us. In addition, she cannot stand vacuuming, sweeping, or using the swiffer! Our vacuum cleaner has numerous tooth marks in it. Other than this, she is a very good dog. She listens to everything, except when it comes to cleaning. I don't know what to do to make her stop attacking items associated with cleaning! Any suggestions?
Answer:
If you think about it from your dog’s point of view, there is no redeeming value in vacuuming, sweeping, etc. All it does is remove all the interesting tidbits on the floor and counters that the dog values. And, in the case of a vacuum cleaner, it makes loud, weird noises. And the motions humans make while using these items, such as thrusting the vacuum cleaner around the room, can be frightening to a dog.
Herding dogs can take it a step further in viewing some of these items as something that should be contained because it’s on the move. And some dogs will attack because they feel threatened by the cleaning device.
The dog needs to be desensitized to each of these items independently. Although, we view the vacuum cleaner and the broom, for example, as similar cleaning devices, to a dog, these two items are totally unrelated. So the dog must be desensitized to each of the cleaning items separately.
I’ll use the vacuum cleaner in my examples, but you would follow the same process with the broom, the Swiffer, and the other cleaning supplies.
Leave the vacuum cleaner in a room. We don’t want it to appear threatening to the dog, so be sure to leave it off and, at first, to leave it with everything “tucked in” where all the attachments are put away, the cord is away, the hose is away such that it is not occupying too much space. Now, reward the dog with high value treats every time she calmly approaches it. If she can’t be calm in the same room as the vacuum cleaner in this non-threatening state, then put her on leash for the behavior session. Put the vacuum cleaner in a much larger area such that you can keep her at more of a distance from it. And reward with those high value treats at the distance where she is comfortable. As she is able to get closer and closer to the vacuum cleaner while still remaining calm, continue to reward. Depending on the severity of her current reaction to the vacuum, this could take quite a long time. However, you MUST work this at her pace. If you force her to get closer to the vacuum cleaner than she is ready to get, you will take several steps back in this process and you will also break the trust she has in you to protect her.
Once she is able to calmly get next to the vacuum cleaner, the next step is to follow the exact same process but this time the vacuum cleaner should be on. Again, be sure to start her the distance where she is comfortable with the noise of the vacuum cleaner.
Once she is fine with the noise, the next step is to have the vacuum cleaner in motion. In the initial stage of the motion, be sure to have the vacuum cleaner off. She won’t be ready to take both motion and noise at first. These must be desensitized separately.
And, finally, once noise and motion have been successfully desensitized separately, combine them. Again, she will need to be a distance from the vacuum cleaner. Treat her with a high value treat at the distance where she is comfortable. And SLOWLY ask her to calmly take a step closer to the vacuum cleaner in this new and potentially frightening state.
The process with cleaning supplies in the cupboard is similar. At first, just leave the cupboard open. Don’t take anything out. Then continually walk by and open and close the cupboard. Change the “predictor”. Just because the cabinet is opened, it no longer means that the cleaning supplies are coming out. Then take one of the supplies out and just put it right back in. Again, changing her ability to predict that cleaning is about to take place. Take out one of the spray bottles, spray something and put it away immediately. Break the cleaning process into a lot of small steps and have her get comfortable with each of these small steps one small step at a time. As with the vacuum cleaner, be sure to reward her with high value treats for all displays of calm during this training.
Whenever desensitizing a dog, it is critical to take it at the dog’s pace. Think of how you would feel if someone dragged you toward something you were afraid of. Or if someone kept yelling at you while something you were afraid of was “threatening” you. Show your dog in very small increments over a very long period of time that there is nothing to worry about. Her trust in you will go a long way in helping her overcome this obstacle.
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