The pup loves to lay in the sun on the deck. However, when he wants to come in, he's resorted to scratching the finish off of my patio door. I have completely ignored him hoping that he will figure out this does nothing, but the behavior has just gotten worse.

Any ideas to stop this behavior?

Open the door just a crack and spray him with water from a spray bottle set on stream.

I'm new here so just my two cents worth, here, but I have read somewhere on this site that some people teach their dog to ring a bell to be let outside. Maybe you could teach yours to ring a bell to come inside thereby correcting the unwanted behavior but still alerting to wanting inside.

I am the proud owner of a lab who figured out how to open a glasssliding door. I used an e collar and made a new rule. Don't touch the door, not with a nose, not with a foot, not leaning against it. Consistancy was the key and now the dog keeps a healthy two feet from the door and is very respectful of it.

I also find that breaking a dog of door charging also helps.

The rule is enforced by me stepping through all doors first including putting them outside, in a run, etc and also stepping outside and inviting them inside with me stepping through the door first.

My dog does this too. It was really bad, now is almost gone. What I did was teach him to speak. Then, when he would scratch to get out or in, I would tell him "NO.". He would pause and look at me and I would give the "speak" command. When he would speak, I would open the door with lots of praise, and a treat. sometimes at first, he would scratch and speak. Then I started only rewarding when he would speak without a scratch at all. He is getting it, but sometimes his excitement gets the better of him, and he will bark and scratch. Just a "NO" and he will stop, and bark only. Most of the time he just barks, unless I am too slow to get to the door....

Hope this helps.

 Quote: shody lytle

My dog does this too. It was really bad, now is almost gone. What I did was teach him to speak. Then, when he would scratch to get out or in, I would tell him "NO.". He would pause and look at me and I would give the "speak" command. When he would speak, I would open the door with lots of praise, and a treat. sometimes at first, he would scratch and speak. Then I started only rewarding when he would speak without a scratch at all. He is getting it, but sometimes his excitement gets the better of him, and he will bark and scratch. Just a "NO" and he will stop, and bark only. Most of the time he just barks, unless I am too slow to get to the door....

Hope this helps.

hmmm.... I would not want my dog barking at the back door.

 Quote: debbie bruce

Open the door just a crack and spray him with water from a spray bottle set on stream.

I don't want him to get an aversion to water. Baths and getting him in the lake are going to be difficult if I teach him that water is a "punishment".

I've been sitting on the sofa near the back door during the day when I'm working. If he sits nicely at the back door, I let him in. If he scratches, I leave the room. This seems to be helping.

 Quote: Debbie

Open the door just a crack and spray him with water from a spray bottle set on stream.

This one made me smile. We used to use a squirt bottle to correct the cat when she would sneak up on the counters. Within two days, the dumb dogs would sit in expectation next to the bottle when it was set out for our easy reach. They LOVE it! Both will get the wrinkles on their foreheads and excited eyes. Wriggling in anticipation. Now, on days that I can’t get them out for a quick mid-day walk, I will squirt it around and let the pups bite the water. A couple of misses here and there, and a couple of squirts in the mouth equals a couple of dogs with a little extra excitement in the day. (And a couple of wet dogs and kids… Note to self, send them all outside!)

If I tried to use that as a correction, I would likely get worse scratching at the door…

My vote is the e-collar. Aversion training is not my favorite way to train, but like mentioned, just going over to correct is reinforcement of the behavior, similar to a barky/whiney pup in a crate. The door scratching is just too destructive a behavior to ignore into extinction for me.

All it takes is one time of someone giving in to re-enforce the negative behavior. Just like it helps when trying to teach a good behavior (sometimes I get a tasty treat for sitting really pretty!) It hurts when talking about an annoying or destructive behavior (sometimes when I do this I get let in REALLY quickly! Maybe I just need to scratch HARDER!)
Teaching respect here is key, I think. Teaching them it is YOUR door and they have to stay away altogether will really help in the long run. But it also means no access to the door for scratching when you are not there to correct. E-collar was my method of choice for this one so they thought the behavior was corrected whether I was there or not...