So our idiot dog has been doing something which has been really been driving us up the walls (Despite his innocent face pictured on the left). Plus, it's kind of dangerous for him. As such we've been trying to stop him from doing it since the first time he did it.
But for some reason, today when my wife told me he'd done it again, the first thing I thought was that Junior knows something we don't and he's just trying to save us from something worse.
So what's he been doing?
He's been chewing up the eletrical wire from a plug in the game-room. And I'm talking about a single plug, not other wires or plugs in other parts of the house. There's this one plug by our front window which is behind a bench and no matter what we do, he keeps chewing up the wire & plug completely.
He's gone through 2 extension cords, two lamp wires, and one set of Christmas lights.
We've yelled and spanked him so many times now we're tired of it. But today for some reason, I'm beginning to think there's something special and worrisome about that electrical socket and that's why Junior keeps chewing up anything that's plugged into it.
Why do I think this? Well, there are many other plugs and wires all over the house which are much more easy for him to get to than the socket in question. In fact, there's a wire plugged into a socket right where his bed is, but he doesn't seem to care about that one. What gives?
I've heard about pets sensing things which humans can't sense (like earthquakes), so maybe this is one of those situations. Now, I'm not a very superstitious person, but I do firmly believe that there are a lot of things which humans are completely oblivious to. So maybe there's something about this socket that Junior can sense and he's just got this urge in him to prevent whatever he thinks is going to happen.
The only special thing I can ascertain about the socket is that it's wired to a wall switch and that it's hidden behind the bench. As far as I can tell, there's nothing else special about it!
The other thing is that this is the only thing which Junior doesn't stop doing even after we tell him not to. He's quite the obedient dog so he stops doing things after we tell him not to. But this wire, plug, and socket thing? He won't stop!
Anyone else have experiences with any strange things that pets do and they just won't stop?
1 comment:
Yelling at, and "spanking", or such forms of physical punishment (negative reinforcement), are actually rotten ways to teach or train a pet.
You might try positive reinforcement -- such as rewarding the dog when he is doing what you want him to. Distract him from the destructive behavior with a chew toy or something, and when he goes for that, reward him with praise, for example. (Read more about this at clickertraining.com -- I'm not affiliated with that site.)
You might also try covering that wire in some kind of wire cover, available where electronics are sold, or places like Stacks & Stacks or the Container Store, etc.
I hate to think of that poor dog being yelled at and hit.
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