#1 Way to Improve Your Dog’s Behavior

November 11, 2009 on 10:39 pm | In Dog Behavior, Dog Training | No Comments

Dear Dog Lover,

Any dog can and should be a well-behaved dog. It does not matter if your dog is 8 weeks or 8 years. It is not too early or too late to work on better behavior. Even if you do not want to have a well-trained dog, you probably want a well-behaved dog.

In order to have a well-behaved dog, you need to do some type of training. Usually that training goes by the name of behavior modification. The key component of behavior modification is replacing unwanted behavior with desired behavior - and that takes some know-how with five simple steps.

1. Exchange Behaviors. Decide what behavior you want to replace and what behavior you would rather have.

2. Learn to Anticipate. Find a way to get your dog to do the desired behavior before he has a chance to do the unwanted behavior.

3. Give a command. Create a positive command to name the desired behavior and use it.

4. Be Consistent. Be consistent in getting the desired behavior before he has a chance to start the unwanted behavior.

5. Give Rewards. Reward your dog every time he does the desired behavior - at first use praise and a treat, but later praise should be enough.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say that every time your dog goes outdoors when the neighbor’s dog is outside, your dog starts barking like crazy and you want that behavior to stop. What do you want instead? Is it okay with you if your dog barks a couple of times and stops? Do you want him to not bark at all? Or do you want him to be able to bark if he stops when you tell him to stop? As you can see, you have to decide exactly what behavior you prefer so that you train to that exact behavior. If you start by deciding this, you won’t confuse your dog by doing several different things such as rewarding him when he refrains from barking as well as when he stops barking.

Let’s say you have decided you don’t want your dog to bark at the next-door dog at all. How will you let him out and keep him from barking? The best way is to change the routine or control the routine. How can you do this? You can do this by taking your dog out on his leash every time the dog next door is out. Before letting your dog out, look to see the neighbor dog is out. If he is, get your dog’s leash and put it on him and take him outdoors.

The minute your dog draws a deeper breath or opens his mouth or plants his front feet or lunges toward the fence, tug sharply on his leash and give him a pre-determined command. In this case, the command could be a single word like “Quiet.” Give it in a happy but firm voice and give it loudly enough that he can hear it even if he has started to bark. If he acts like he is going to bark again, repeat the tug and command. Then, using his leash to guide him, move him away from the view of the neighbor’s dog. Walk all around your yard, repeating the tug and command every time he starts to bark.

Soon you will learn the little signs that your dog is ready to bark and you can anticipate on a consistent basis. At that point you are truly exchanging his barking for your quiet command. If you are also being consistent in taking him out on a leash when the neighbor dog is out, you have cut down on the barking behavior considerably.

The last piece of this is giving rewards for the correct behavior. Start by putting several treats in your pocket when you put your dog’s leash on him to go outside. Every time you tug and command and he is quiet, give him lots of praise and a treat. By doing this for several days, he will start looking at you to see if he should bark or if he will get a treat if he refrains from barking. When he looks at you, give your “quiet” command. If he is quiet, give him praise and sometimes give him the treat. In this way, he will get used to the praise as a reward and not know when he will get the treat reward.

After 2-4 weeks of this type of behavior modification, you can begin to take him out on the leash but drop the leash. If he starts to bark, start by using the “quiet” command and a treat with the praise when he is quiet. If he does not get quiet, grab the leash and give a tug with the “quiet” command. Once he obeys the command consistently, you are ready to let him go out with the leash again.

Congratulations! You have learned how simple behavior modification training can be. Now you are ready to modify other aspects of your dog’s behavior.

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