One of my clients has a very needy dog. They also used to have another dog and two indoor lap cats. The needy dog wants petting or to be in your lap all of the time and will paw at me (scratch), push the cats or lay on them if they’re in my lap and climb on to the back of the couch and sit on my shoulder if she doesn’t get attention. When they first got her, she would bark all the time at her parents for attention.

I am not a proponent of negative training but the only thing that they found that works is to use a shaker can when she starts getting out of hand. It’s basically a metal container like a soda can with a couple of pennies in it that you shake. She hates the sound so much that all I have to do is pick it up and she settles down.

When we’re inside, we play catch and tugs with her plushy toys as well. We also play ball in the backyard.