You have to correct them. If they are behaving undesirably then you tell them to stop and calm them down. Anti scratch products doesn't teach the dog anything.

So as I understand it your dogs live outdoors and when you start moving around they want to come in? The obvious answer for me would be to let them in first thing, but I assume you have you reasons for not doing that.

You can't just "correct" everything a dog does like their brains come with easily accessible on/off switches. If they are motivated to be with you, they will try to get to you. It is easier to remove the motivation the teach the dog to suppress it and just sit their calmly when they are excited. So maybe don't make it easy for them to know when you are up or choose that time to give them something else they want like their food.

If the dogs are willing to scratch up a wooden door 99% of the deterrents will not work and the other 1% are things I would consider cruel and will probably just mean they scratch up the wall, start barking, or do some other annoying thing to express their motivation to get in.

Well, yeah, naturally I would like to correct this behavior and not having to rely on contraptions like these ones to save my door.

The problem is that correcting the behavior takes time and meanwhile I just painted the door, all it takes is a scratch to ruin the whole thing once again. They are usually very calm and lazy dogs that don't give many problems the door thing being the only thing that give us trouble, so, if I could add some clear plastic film or something to the door to protect it I would be a happy camper.

It is easier to remove the motivation the teach the dog to suppress it and just sit their calmly when they are excited. So maybe don't make it easy for them to know when you are up or choose that time to give them something else they want like their food.

Since we walk them on a very regular schedule, they become anxious at the exact same time every morning, so much so that I could use them in lieu of an alarm clock. The only thing that I could do is to walk them on a not so regular schedule, but I don't want them to miss any walks. They are usually so calm and relaxed because we take 2 very long walks every day.

Correcting behavior may or may not take time--I very much prefer options that are quick. If you are just going to yell at them, it may take forever. But training is not about adding rewards and punishments blindly to a situation. If instead you change the situation so that the dog wants to behave differently the effect is often instantaneous or at least very rapid. For example: if you feed the dogs before you start your own morning routine they will be eating not scratching immediately. If you engineer the situation to not cause the problem behavior, the problem behavior goes away without you having to do things that make your dogs stressed, and vice versa.

I think you need to think whether it is "walking" thy want first thing, or whether it is just being in your presence. If the dog is bonded with you, it will want to be with you regardless of the activity and anticipate that opportunity. Ad randomizing when you get up in the morning is not really realistic or likely to work. My dogs are super excited as soon as I wake up whether it is 3am or noon. I just let them in.

Correcting behavior may or may not take time--I very much prefer options that are quick. If you are just going to yell at them, it may take forever. But training is not about adding rewards and punishments blindly to a situation. If instead you change the situation so that the dog wants to behave differently the effect is often instantaneous or at least very rapid. For example: if you feed the dogs before you start your own morning routine they will be eating not scratching immediately. If you engineer the situation to not cause the problem behavior, the problem behavior goes away without you having to do things that make your dogs stressed, and vice versa.

I think you need to think whether it is "walking" thy want first thing, or whether it is just being in your presence. If the dog is bonded with you, it will want to be with you regardless of the activity and anticipate that opportunity. Ad randomizing when you get up in the morning is not really realistic or likely to work. My dogs are super excited as soon as I wake up whether it is 3am or noon. I just let them in.

That's the problem, there is no way for me go downstairs before they start scratching because they start doing it around the time I get up or even sometimes before that, I have no problem letting them in, that's actually what I do, but by the time I open the door, it is too late. They do this again around 5 o clock in the afternoon, once again, because this the exact time we go for our second walk, the rest of the day they are happy running around the yard by themselves.

I fail to see how putting a piece of plastic over the door is cruel (It also covers part of the wall), if anything, they are more likely to hurt themselves scratching the wood with all those splinters.

I would agree with putting a piece of plastic on the door at least it won't get scratched. Maybe even a gate so they can't get up on the porch?

I would agree with putting a piece of plastic on the door at least it won't get scratched. Maybe even a gate so they can't get up on the porch?

I like the plastic thing because is something that (I think) can be easily removed, because, quite frankly, it looks quite ugly. I still have this nagging feeling that they are going to rip the thing apart and destroy it though.

Well, yeah, naturally I would like to correct this behavior and not having to rely on contraptions like these ones to save my door.

The problem is that correcting the behavior takes time and meanwhile I just painted the door, all it takes is a scratch to ruin the whole thing once again. They are usually very calm and lazy dogs that don't give many problems the door thing being the only thing that give us trouble, so, if I could add some clear plastic film or something to the door to protect it I would be a happy camper.

Try pleurisy glass, it will protect the door, while you figure out how to make them not want to scratch the door.

Every morning, when the time comes to walk them, but before I actually step outside my house and start making coffee, my dogs scratch the front door of my house because they become very anxious.

It is a wooden door, so they practically destroyed it, the cuts are so deep that I am afraid some day they are going to be able to make a hole and enter the house! 😀

I don't know how to handle this, I saw some kind of anti scratch protections screens that you apply to your door on amazon, does anybody has any experience with such a contraption? Please let me know.

I have in door dogs, so first thing before any thing they go out. People often forget that dogs need to go as much as you you, so are they wanting there walk for that reason are they trying to rush you because they got to go, or do they just want to hang with you, before you can correct it you need to know the cause.

I have in door dogs, so first thing before any thing they go out. People often forget that dogs need to go as much as you you, so are they wanting there walk for that reason are they trying to rush you because they got to go,

Yeah, but in my case, it is the opposite, the dogs sleep outside and don't really use the walks that we have to relieve themselves, as we have a huge yard. They are simply bored or feel like walking so they can look at other people, cars, and try to chase cats and squirrels.

Yes I had one like that when I was a kid just wanted to go see what was going on in the world out side his place. He was a golden lab, always seemed to be bored. Carried a stick every where he went, I am not sure why.