what's with the vaccumm

E

emmygirl

Forums Enthusiast
Ok!!! What is with the vaccumm??? I cannot even bring it out without my 5 month cutie attacking it!!! What now! I cannot even vaccumm! I tried throwing her treats and just moving it with no noise. IT TOOK ME A 1\2 HOUR TO VACCUUMM ONE ROOM! I still did not get to the other rooms!! I thought I might wait until she goes out for her evening walk tonight!!!

:confused2: IDEAS??? ANYONE!!!
 
I just wanted to say, I have to crate my dogs to vacuum, sweep, or even mop. they dont just attack it, they will nip me too!
 
Put your dog crate in one of the bedrooms. Put a few treats in the crate and lock your girl up, then close the bedroom door. You can now vacuum everywhere except that bedroom. Then move the crate into the front room, lock her in the crate and vacuum the bedroom. Our baby, Buddy wants to kill the vacuum, but he prefers trying to kill the broom when you sweep. We have an old broom that we use to play with him sometimes. Hope this helps.
 
forgot to mention! of course I cannot mow the yard with them outside....
but I cannot rake or use a leaf blower either :P

oh the wonderful world of shelties!!
 
My housekeeper solved this herself.

She tried crating the dogs but they just barked themselves hoarse. So now she just leans over and shakes a finger at them and in a deep voice, says: "Ah! Ah!" They back off immediately.

It worked for the vacuum and now it works for my blow dryer.
 
How much is your housekeeper??? I want her!!!

!!!
barbv said:
my housekeeper solved this herself.

She tried crating the dogs but they just barked themselves hoarse. So now she just leans over and shakes a finger at them and in a deep voice, says: "ah! Ah!" they back off immediately.

It worked for the vacuum and now it works for my blow dryer.
Click to expand...
 
I vacuumed for the first time today with McKinley. Ron entertained him and "Ah ah"ed him whenever he looked that way. Let's see if that works.

I guess my suggestion is to try a tag team with your pup if you can.




Did you tip your housekeeper for the dog training? She is definitely (sp?) a keeper for that!
 
Gavin doesn't mind it

When he was a pup, I would vacuum while holding him. I guess he got used to it because he doesn't bark at all. He avoids the vacuum, but that's it

-Cindy
 
I saw the vet behaviourist over this one. I live in a townhouse so there isn't much room to lock mine somewhere else and Deska would scream the house down if I did anything without him (vacuuming, mowing - I hand mow now, raking, sweeping etc).

So the behaviourist says this is really common behaviour in herding dogs, and if they are big time herders it is really hard to break. So instead of stopping the behaviour all together you need to control it. You start with teaching the dog to wait, then you get them to wait while you are doing the activity (its best to start with a broom or rake rather than the vacuum) and when you say okay (or whatever your release word is - the behaviourist suggested teaching them the word attack) they are allowed to attack the apparatus. It does take time to build up the amount of waiting they will do but after a while it means you can do a whole room of vacuuming or sweeping without a dog attached to the vacuum/broom. We started with a couple of sweeps at first, thats all Deska could manage, then I would sweep crazily and say okay to get him revved up. Then we moved on to 5 sec, 10 sec, 20 sec etc. The only problem I had was getting 2 dogs to wait.

We even used to use the attack broom game as an inside stormy day game (until one of the neighbours complained about the barking - winge-er).

I have saved my vet behaviourist reports, and as soon as I figure out where I saved them I will pm you with her exact words.
 
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