Help! my dog is obsessing over a guinea pig!

[twinkle242]

Hello I have a 1 year old golden retriever named Twinkle who is very well behaved but does have a tendency to get a little to excited sometimes. Today my friend brought over her guinea pig for me to watch while they are on vacation. Twinkle was very excited so I put the guinea pig in a room and closed the door for fear that she might hurt it. This was at 1:00 today. She has not stopped trying to get through the door since. She will not be distracted from it; not even to eat! I tried to let her sniff it thinking that she might calm down but that didn't work. She just paces, whines, barks and scratches at the door. I even moved it to another room then let her in the room it was previously in to try to trick her into thinking it was gone. but she could smell it in the other room. I don't know what to do to stop this behavior! any suggestions would be amazing! thanks!!!!

 

[lizzybeth727]

The only thing you can really do is to work really hard at distracting her every time she goes over to sniff the room. Even if it means putting her on a leash, and asking her to do a down-stay until she relaxes again.

 

[MyDogSkip]

Hello I have a 1 year old golden retriever named Twinkle who is very well behaved but does have a tendency to get a little to excited sometimes. Today my friend brought over her guinea pig for me to watch while they are on vacation. Twinkle was very excited so I put the guinea pig in a room and closed the door for fear that she might hurt it. This was at 1:00 today. She has not stopped trying to get through the door since. She will not be distracted from it; not even to eat! I tried to let her sniff it thinking that she might calm down but that didn't work. She just paces, whines, barks and scratches at the door. I even moved it to another room then let her in the room it was previously in to try to trick her into thinking it was gone. but she could smell it in the other room. I don't know what to do to stop this behavior! any suggestions would be amazing! thanks!!!!

I was trying to think of some Cesar Milan type of answer, but couldn't think of one. :lol-sign:

It sounds like territorial and jealousy issues maybe? You just gotta be firm with her and make her stop. She may continue to that until the guinea pig is out of your house.