My dog won't let me play the piano

[bartleby]

I am what I like to call an amateur classical pianist. I like to practice. I have a little more time to do so now that my kid is in school. Yet, I cannot seem to get my dog (a rescued beagle who we've had for about 4 months) to just settle the heck down on the couch (or wherever) near the piano while I play. Instead, he wanders around looking for things to chew up, including my piano bench (that's a BIG no-no!). I feel like we tend to rely on chewies (bones, etc.) to settle him down at other times, so I don't want to just throw him a chewie every time I sit down at the piano. How can I get him to just mellow out while I practice? I guess I don't care if he's in the room with me, but at least then I know he's not chewing up the rest of the house while I butcher Chopin!

FWIW, he sleeps in a crate at night and when we are gone from the house, but we don't put him in there on a daily basis just to get him out of our hair. I'd rather teach him to just settle down near me when I need him to.

[Ola_]

For a beagle, his crate is probably not that big, right? How about crating him close to you when you're at the piano? You can give him a toy or a stuffed Kong in there to keep him busy. And since he can't really get into too much trouble in the crate he should eventually make the link that "oh, the lady is playing piano, I may as well go for a nap cause nothing interesting is going to happen for me".

Is he getting plenty of exercise before piano time? How old is he?

[sk8boarder15]

I would put a dog bed close to where you are practicing and basically "Crate train" him to the bed. Throughout the day throw a treat on the bed and say "bed!" at first don't expect him to stay, just keep doing it a dozen or so times a day (use tiny treats!) for a few days. Then try telling him "bed" and THEN giving him the treat after he goes there. Then after a couple days of that, tell him "bed" and wait 30 seconds to give him the treat. If thats too long (beagles are notoriously hard to train, but alos VERY food motivated) then shorten it. Then over time make it longer and longer. This will take a lot of patience but will be the most effective in the end. Eventually you can tell him "bed" and start practicing and after every few minutes give him treat. And then after a LOT of work you can just give him a treat after your entire practice session! Depending on the dog this could be in a few weeks or few months.

I have 5 dogs and consider myself an amateur dog trainer and my beagle mix takes the logest to learn everything as he is just one big NOSE! Scent hounds are bred to follow their noses and ignore their ears so they take A LOT of patience!

[Arduinna]

I'd crate him anyway.

[stardogs]

What about a tether system? We did that with my youngest as he was a very nosey pup and loved to find things to play with that were not designed for such games lol. We tethered him with a light cable about 6' long tied to a heavy piece of furniture, gave him a comfy bed and some good toys and it worked quite well.

Once he was used to that set up I started to give him little bits of free time off the tether when I was busy - if he got into something I was in the same room so I'd interrupt him and re-tether him.

He's now 2yo and hasn't needed a tether at all for a good long while and he has a fabulous off switch when I'm busy.

[Heavenly]

Another vote for put him in the crate. Any sentence that starts with, "My dog won't let..." is wrong IMO. As much as you may love him he is still a dog, your pet. His behaviour should not determine what you can and cannot do. Our dog goes in his crate various times during the day, and yes, it's because it's more convenient for us. He goes in there when I am out of the house, he goes in there during dinner prep and eating time, he goes in there when we are putting the kids to bed, and any other time I can't watch him closely enough. As long as he is getting interaction and attention other times then I don't think it's a problem.

[bartleby]

I have thought of tethering. I think I'll try that today. And the training him to go to a bed. (I've tried that a little bit, but as you say, beagles are not exactly motivated to please their owners and be obedient!)

When we first got him, we had a dog trainer out to the house. He said to not put him in his crate/kennel when we wanted him out of our hair (except situations like having lots of company over, kids running around, stuff like that). He said that it's better to train him to settle near you, go to a bed, etc., because then he will be more manageable in other situations---at other people's homes, for instance, where we may not have his kennel. The trainer was insistent that we help our dog know the right thing to do in situations--i.e., lie down and chill out--rather than crating him, which doesn't teach him anything.

I was leaning toward the trainer's advice, even though it's a lot more work. Is the trainer way off base? Or just suggesting the ideal obedient-dog scenario?

[EFmom]

I first read this thread as "My dog won't play the piano."

And mine doesn't do quantum mechanics.

I'd crate him or give him a toy, like a kong with peanut butter inside that would keep him occupied for a time.

[bartleby]

Actually, he *did* play piano today, putting his paws on the keyboard in a futile attempt to get to something he really wanted to chew on top of the piano. It was a dissonant but powerful chord. I think he has potential.

He loves Kongs + peanut butter. A little too much. He's on a diet right now (not very successfully, thanks to my treat-tossing child), so I'm limiting highly caloric stuff in the Kong. I can only give him so many chew bones in a day or he starts swallowing chunks of them, which doesn't help his eliminations any.

[stardogs]

Your trainer is right that teaching them what you want is ideal, but we are human and have lives so there will be times where you can't train and that's where the crate or tether comes in handy.

I train professionally and I would never tell a client *never* to use the crate for sanity/convenience breaks (within reason). IMO it really makes dog training hard when you're given absolutes that aren't reasonable for your life.

For alternative, low cal kong stuffing, try some of the dog's regular kibble (take the amount out of your dog's daily food amount) soaked in water or broth, canned plain pumpkin or sweet potato, shredded carrots or green beans frozen in broth, or plain yogurt.