As much as we love our pets, we have all known or owned a pet that has done various things we wished they wouldn’t. We often look the other way because we don’t know how to correct it, or we simply start yelling and lose our patience which also doesn’t help the situation. However, there are often more solutions to correct problem behaviors than many people realize.
With any behavioral problem, it is imperative that everyone in the family is working together, being consistent, and sending the same message. Training requires patience and a little bit of time every day.
It is also quite important that your pet has enough daily interaction and stimulation. If your pet has a positive environment with interaction and play on a daily basis it will be much less likely to have behavioral problems. Doing things like taking your dog out for a walk daily or playing with a favorite toy is very important.
When you are training your pet you also need to find something he/she really likes. In most cases it probably is a favorite treat. You want to keep the favorite treats very close to you and give it immediately after a good behavior. Treats of any sort should be saved only for training sessions and not randomly used throughout the day or they will lose their importance.
Quiet Training
The first common behavioral problem we will discuss is barking dogs. With more and more communities having noise ordinances and people living in more urban settings, this is becoming an increasingly important problem.
Instead of thinking you are training to stop barking, you should instead think of it as training to be quiet.
To teach the “quiet” command you will first have to anticipate a situation when the dog will bark (knocking at the door, a neighbor outside, etc.) so that you can be prepared to quiet the dog on command. You can even have a friend or family member help you by doing something that normally the dog would bark at (like knock on the door). As soon as your dog makes the smallest first woof, say, “quiet” and call the dog to you and ask it to ‘sit,’ and praise a quiet response.
If your dog doesn’t listen and barks after you ask it to be quiet you can immediately use a dog whistle or sound an air horn as you repeat the ‘quiet’ command. You don’t want your pet to be afraid, but it should be loud enough that it immediately stops barking and shows a slight startle response. Another alternative is to leave a head halter (like the Gentle Leader) and leash attached to the dog. If your pet does not immediately become quiet on command, then quickly pull the leash and guide the dog into a quiet sitting position. Once he/she is quietly sitting then a treat can be given to encourage the quiet behavior.
You also want to make sure throughout the day that you encourage quiet behavior. You should acknowledge when the dog is being quiet and provide attention, affection, play, or food to encourage this behavior. Barking must not be reinforced with any accidental form of praise like affection. If for some reason the barking cannot be stopped, it should be ignored until the dog is quiet.
You should avoid any yelling, punishing, or any anxious behavior that may further aggravate your dog’s barking and anxiety.
Some dogs also respond well to a bark-activated device like a citronella spray no bark collar. Barking will trigger the release of a spray that most dogs don’t like. You still, however, want to teach the “quiet” command and make sure to give a treat or reward when your dog responds to the “quiet” command.
You want to avoid leaving your dog outside unsupervised for long periods. Dogs are often stimulated to bark by other dogs and people outside or they may start to bark to attract your attention. You need to be the one that calls them inside and not let them bark to be let inside or it will only encourage the barking behavior.
Many dogs will just bark because of daily events going on around them, but there are some dogs that have lots of anxiety and are very fearful about being left home alone. If your neighbors say your dog is always barking when you are gone or you are suspicious that this might be the case then you should set up a video camera to see what your dog does when you are not there. If your dog feels stressed when you are not home then you can still teach the “quiet” command, but you will also need to address the underlying separation anxiety issues causing the barking which involves additional training information. You should and can always use your vet as an information source. They may also be able to refer you to qualified trainers and also give you additional tips to help ease your pet’s anxiety.
