What can I do to make this look ok again?

[SugarPlumpFairyCakes]

Dog scratched away at the front door. I’ve tried staining it.

What else can I do? Do I sand and re stain the whole door?

You need to really sand it down so the wood is flat and all the scratches out. Rough sandpaper going down to fine. It might be better to paint rather than stain after that.

But what are you going to do to stop the dog re-scratching it?

Dog was 16. He died.

Paint with what?

Wood paint

Sand it back, then restrain slightly darker.
if looks crap then paint it. Undercoat first, then eggshell/satinwood finish.

You could get the whole door dipped? Cost us £15 a door I think..

Use wood filler to rebuild surface, sand, prime, external wood paint, not stain.

I'd be tempted to leave it as a memory of the dog. Just clean and stain dark.

Sorry about your dog

You can buy wood crayons to fill in the scratches with wood coloured wax.