Cooper is...special. And he has some interesting quirks that I am completely baffled by. One if which I would like some feedback on to see how in the heck I can get him to stop doing it.
So here it is:
Cooper has to be kicked before he will go outside.
Yes, you read that right.
If he has to go outside to potty, he'll come up to you and make little wookie noises. You get up to let him outside and he runs away from the door, typically to his crate, or just outside of his crate, and lies down. You then have to go up to him and nudge him towards the door with your foot. Then he runs to it, all excited and happy, and will go outside without an issue.
If he's running back to the crate and you are standing in his way, you can literally stick your foot out and nudge him to the door, and he reacts the same way - running to the door all excited and happy and going outside without an issue. So it isn't the place that is the trigger, it is literally the action of pushing him towards the door with your foot.
I can't think of anything that has lead him to believe this is the appropriate sequence of events to go outside. I just want him to go outside like a normal dog.
The other night I decided to call his bluff and every time he would run away after asking to go out, I'd sit back down and ignore him. We literally did that for almost 30 minutes with no change before I started to get worried he'd mess in the house and finally caved and went and booted him towards the door to get him outside. So ignoring him and waiting for him to offer an alternative behavior to reward epically failed in that instance.
So. Help? Anyone have any insight on Cooper's brain (or lack there of)? It's just getting really annoying.
So here it is:
Cooper has to be kicked before he will go outside.
Yes, you read that right.
If he has to go outside to potty, he'll come up to you and make little wookie noises. You get up to let him outside and he runs away from the door, typically to his crate, or just outside of his crate, and lies down. You then have to go up to him and nudge him towards the door with your foot. Then he runs to it, all excited and happy, and will go outside without an issue.
If he's running back to the crate and you are standing in his way, you can literally stick your foot out and nudge him to the door, and he reacts the same way - running to the door all excited and happy and going outside without an issue. So it isn't the place that is the trigger, it is literally the action of pushing him towards the door with your foot.
I can't think of anything that has lead him to believe this is the appropriate sequence of events to go outside. I just want him to go outside like a normal dog.
The other night I decided to call his bluff and every time he would run away after asking to go out, I'd sit back down and ignore him. We literally did that for almost 30 minutes with no change before I started to get worried he'd mess in the house and finally caved and went and booted him towards the door to get him outside. So ignoring him and waiting for him to offer an alternative behavior to reward epically failed in that instance.
So. Help? Anyone have any insight on Cooper's brain (or lack there of)? It's just getting really annoying.