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Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Chewing
If your dog has chewing problems, the best way to correct

it is to fixate him/her on proper chewing toys like Gumabones,

Nylabones and Rhino toys. You can help this process by making

the toys part of your dog’s play and fun activities, like when you

use a ball, instead use these chewing toys. Encourage your dog

to fetch these toys and praise him/her when he/she does.

Also remind them of these toys by giving him/her the toys when

 you greet/leave your dog. Try soaking the Nylabone or Gumabone

toys in beef or chicken broth to increase your dog’s interest in

them.

With the Rhino or Kong toys consider putting cheese or peanut

butter in the centre.

If you do not want your dog to chew certain items, make sure

you have sprayed them with bitter apple within the past few

hours. Continue this daily process until your dog is fully trained,

also intercept your dog before he/she actually chews these items

by startling the dog, but not scaring him/her. A firm “No” or sharp

clap should be sufficient. This should get the dog’s attention long

enough for you to give him/her the acceptable chew toy. Make

sure to always praise your dog when he/she chew’s the right items.

Giving your dog premium quality kibble and exercising your dog is

also very important.                                                         

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Digging
Your dog might be digging for a specific reason, determining this

reason will allow you to solve the problem much easier.

Ask yourself if your dog is :

e)   Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Housebreaking
Most dogs don’t “go potty” close to the place they lay in. You can

make sure he/she does not eliminate until you take them outside by

confining your dog to a small area. Try to give your dog meals at the

same time every day, and take your dog to the same bathroom area

using the same route each time at regular intervals. Take your puppy outside every 30 minutes in the beginning, if he/she dos not eliminate within 5 minutes, bring her back to the confined small place. Every

time your puppy goes “potty” within 5 minutes of being outside,

praise him/her and give her another 5 minutes to make sure he/she is finished. Reward your dog  for going outside by giving her 10-20

minutes of monitored free time in the house. After 7 days without accidents, you can start lengthening the free time in the house.

Watch your puppy closely when he/she is inside the house so that

you can interrupt him/her if you see them getting restless, moving

away from the group or sniffing about.

You want to interrupt your dog when this happens, but not by

means of fright, afterwards calmly take them out to “go”.

When your puppy has an accident in the house, it is best not to

punish or scold him/her, this will only make the training part even

more difficult. Clean the accident with odor neutralizer and take

your puppy outside to their bathroom area. Some owners who allow

their puppies too much freedom in the house too quickly, will find

that their puppies have more accidents.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Nipping
To reduce nipping, try to avoid rough games and vigorous playful

petting and excitable greetings. Rough games are wrestling, chasing

and tug-of-war. Puppy nipping behavior might be encouraged through

these interactions. If you sometimes encourage nipping but not always,

you will have a difficult time to eliminate the problem.

Since this is a natural way for puppies to play with one another,

the best way to to keep this to a minimum will be to teach your

puppy another way to play with you. Teach them to play with certain

toys like Boomer Balls, Buster Cubes and Nylabones.

Teach and encourage your puppy to fetch. Constantly have these

toys available, so that whenever your puppy greets you, you have

the toys. When interacting with your puppy, keep your hands slow

and low, hold food treats in one hand and pet your puppy with the

other. This will keep her busy while you are petting him/her.

When your puppy learns to remain calm, you can gradually reduce

the treats. Freeze and say “no” when your puppy nips you.

The objective is to slightly startle but not scare the puppy so that

he/she stops nipping. When your puppy stops nipping, direct her

attention to her toys or food treats. Praise your puppy and gently

begin petting him/her again.

To develop a good relationship with your puppy, you want 99% of

your interactions to be positive. You can keep thing positive and

prevent most nipping by always having food treats and toys with you.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Jumping
Jumping is a natural way for dogs to get attention or to greet each

other, but you can teach your dog another way to greet you and to

get your attention. Teach your dog to sit when greeting you or guests

and reward him/her by giving him/her attention, praise and petting

when he/she does. Do not be too enthusiastic in praising your dog,

as this may result in further jumping.

It is very important to be consistent when teaching your dog not

to jump. Try to avoid rough games also vigorous playful petting,

as this may encourage jumping behavior.

If you teach your dog that it is sometimes acceptable to jump and

other times not, then you will almost always have problems with

eliminating this behavior.

When your dog jumps on you, immediately turn away from her.

Most dogs will continue jumping for approximately 10 seconds

before trying another approach. Typically, they will come around

and try to face you, and then jump again. If this happens, turn

the other way and continue to ignore the behavior. It takes

patience, since some dogs may continue jumping for several

minutes before they stop. After the dog stops jumping for at

least 2 seconds, you may turn to her to praise and pet her in the

sitting position. Keep your hands low and slow. If she starts to

jump again, turn away from her. When she stops jumping, turn

round and begin petting her again. Continue this until the dog

realizes you will pet her only when she is not jumping.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Barking
Dogs bark for a variety of reasons.

a)          

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

House Manners

Don't allow your new puppy to do things that you won't want him to

do when he's full grown.

When you bring a 7 or 8 week old puppy home, it may be hard to

imagine him taking over the furniture, knocking over lamps, stealing

food off counters, eating potted plants and harassing the family cat. 

Even though it may not damage anything when a tiny puppy jumps

up and puts his paws on the edge of the couch and it may even look

cute when he jumps around and barks excitedly at the cat, these are

the beginnings of that wild behavior.

You must teach your puppy house manners.

To begin teaching house manners, your puppy should be given an

on-leash "tour" each time he enters the house.  Calmly walk the

puppy through the house on-leash, allowing him to sniff. 

Praise and reward him with food treats for being calm. If he tries to

drag you through the house, simply stop and wait for him to move

back towards you.  If he sticks his nose somewhere it shouldn't be

(in a potted plant, shoes, children’s toys etc.), simply clap or make

some other sound to divert his attention.  Immediately redirect the

puppy back toward you with the food lure and continue with your

tour.  Avoid using your voice to interrupt him. We don't want him to

think he should only leave those things alone around you!  It is better

if he thinks the interruption is coming from the item he shouldn't touch

or from the environment in general.

Assign the puppy his very own spot in the house.      

After the “tour” outlined above, take the puppy to a well-trafficked

area of the house. Tie him in that area with a buckle collar and leash. (note: if your puppy might chew on the leash, properly treat it with

bitter apple or use a chain leash). Get a comfortable mat for him to

lay on and place it where you want him to lay. Give the puppy an appropriate chew toy he enjoys and invite him to lay down and relax

in that area on his mat. Ignore the puppy until he calms down and

starts chewing his toys before rewarding him for being there. It may

be difficult for him to disengage from you and relax if you don't leave

him alone for a bit.  It might take him up to 15 minutes to relax.

When he's resting, reward calm behavior.

Don't attempt to bring your puppy in the house without;

a) first giving him the opportunity to relieve himself and

b) giving him sufficient exercise to enable him to be calm in the house.

Most of you are familiar with the "puppy crazies" that afflicts most

puppies several times each day. If the "puppy crazies" strike while

he's in the house, it is definitely time to take him outside. Also, if

your puppy already has a habit of being rambunctious and playing in

the house, it will take longer for him to learn the "new" rules of being

calm.

Be patient and consistent with these exercises to develop house

manners and he'll catch on. You can help your puppy learn the rules

by not playing with him in the house. Playing should occur outdoors

only until the puppy is trained. If the weather prevents you from

playing outside, then at least confine it to one out-of-the-way

room, not the middle of the living room.

Until the puppy/dog has house manners (is quiet, calm, obedient,

stays off furniture, is housebroken, doesn't touch forbidden objects

like shoes or TV remote controls, stays out of forbidden areas of the

house etc.) he should not be allowed loose in the house.

This means that he must be monitored on leash every moment he's

not in his crate, in the back yard, or in his dog run. Most puppies

are not mature enough to be loose in the house unmonitored for

even short periods of time until they are about  6 months old.

Remember, you wouldn’t let a 2 year old child run loose in the

house unsupervised.  After your puppy understands the routine of

the calm  '"tour" followed by going to his spot to lie down, you can

start allowing him to have small amounts of freedom.  

Remember to always reward calm behavior.
 

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

How to prevent your dog from biting someone.
The following is for information only. Aggression is a serious problem

and no actions should be taken by you prior to contacting a

professional trainer.

The topic of dog bites is very hot right now. It is in the news

nightly. Dramatic pictures of the dogs and their victims are shown

to illustrate each tragedy. I’m sure the owners of these dogs never imagined they would be on the 6 o’clock news one day when they

first brought their cute little puppy home. If they had taken some

simple steps when they first got their new puppy, they may have

easily avoided a terrible situation later.

Every dog is capable of biting. Biting is a natural behavior for

dogs to engage in. It is a way for a non-verbal animal to

communicate certain things very clearly. Dogs have an extreme

and very precise level of control over their bite. Dogs do not bite

“on accident”. A dog can easily move his head four times faster

than a human can move their hand. If a dog snaps near a hand – he

did not “miss” – he did not intend to bite. He only wanted to warn.

The same is true if a dog makes contact with human skin. He only

does that if he means to. He decides how much pressure to apply

and for how long.

If a dog only bites acceptable things at acceptable times, it can

be entertaining or even helpful. For example: A trained dog that

fetches a ball by running after it, biting it and carrying it back to

his owner is cute. A police dog that apprehends a criminal and

restrains him by biting and holding onto his arm or leg can save

someone’s life. Problems occur when dogs bite the wrong thing at

the wrong time. For dogs to live in human society, they must inhibit

and modify their natural inclination to bite in order to become an acceptable member of society. Even dogs that live in the wild with

other dogs must learn to do this.

One of puppies’ earliest lessons includes learning that he can not

run up to an adult dog and chomp down on their ear. That adult dog

will let him know in no uncertain terms with a growl, a snarl, a lunge

and possibly a snap that he can’t do that. The adult may even pin the puppy for a moment.

The puppy will then be shunned until he changes how he approaches

that dog. The puppy will learn that he must inhibit his desire to chomp

ears and modify the way he interacts with other dogs if he is to

become an accepted member of the pack. His reward will come when

he controls himself enough that other members of the pack will

interact with him and allow him access to the limited resources of the

pack like food and shelter.

Problems often begin when the puppy leaves his litter to become

part of a human family.

While the puppy understood the clear and fair rules of his litter,

he is now placed in a new environment with a different species.

This species (humans) does not know how to speak his language

(dog) and often tries to communicate with him in very confusing ways (words).

Often, humans try to communicate one thing to him, but end up communicating another. Here are some examples of the different

meaning humans and dogs have for the same things:

As you can see, there is a bit of a communication problem.

This communication problem can lead to dog bites. A dog that has

not been properly socialized to understand the differences in communication, may misinterpret a persons actions as threatening

and respond by biting. This happens frequently when a dog is

approached by a stranger and the stranger attempts to pet the dog.

The stranger walks directly up to the dog (threatening), stands

still (threatening) looks directly at the dog (threatening), smiles at

the dog (threatening) and reaches out over the dog to pet it

(dominating). You can see now why proper socialization is crucial to preventing dog bites.

Dogs must learn that while certain behaviors mean one thing when

a dog does them, it means something different when a person does

them. Dogs need to learn that a person walking up to them, smiling,

looking at them and reaching out over them is not a threat. Instead,

the dog needs to learn that that means he is probably going to get a cookie and/or a pleasant pet.

The easiest way for dogs to learn the right response to being

approached by strangers is for a wide variety of people to approach

the dog on a frequent and regular basis to give him food treats.

This exercise will help reduce dog bites that occur when people

come up to pet a dog.

The second kind of dog bite that can easily be reduced are bites

that are prompted by a dogs prey or chase drive. Some dogs are

born with a higher prey drive. They react very strongly to any

movement in front of them. These dogs are likely to chase and bite

a person running or riding a bike down the sidewalk. To reduce this

natural instinct to chase, the dog needs lots of practice at sit and

down-stays around people that are running and riding.

The dog should be rewarded with food treats for staying. This will

help him remain calm. Activity and movement on the other side of

the fence surrounding their yard, frustrates many of these dogs and increases their territorial feelings each time they bark and the person continues down the sidewalk.

This is why many dogs act aggressively towards the mailman or

other delivery people. As the mailman approaches, the dog barks and

the mailman goes away. If this happens regularly, the dog believes

that his barking is driving the mailman away. Dogs who run along a

fence all day, barking at everyone that passes by can become more aggressive and frustrated.

This frustration builds their desire to chase if and when they ever do happen to get out of the yard. To reduce this frustration, the owner

should make the fence solid to reduce visibility. It would be even

better for the owner to build a secure dog run and set it up in a

quiet area of the yard where the dog is not likely to be agitated

by seeing or hearing outside activity.

Some dog bites are prompted because of the under-socialization

we discussed earlier when a dog does not know how to interpret

basic human approaches. Other bites are prompted by the prey

drive that some dogs are born with that makes them want to chase.

Both of these types of bites can be made worse by how dominant or

fearful the dog is. The more fearful a dog is, the harder he will bite

when frightened by the approach of a stranger.

The more dominant a dog is, the harder he will defend his perceived territory.

In addition to the tips on proper socialization, decreasing your dogs

prey drive and decreasing fence-line frustration you can also

decrease the likelihood that your dog will bite by increasing your

leadership. Increasing your leadership can make fearful dogs less

fearful and dominant dogs less dominant.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

Exercising your dog for better behavior
The following is for information only. DO NOT START your dog on

an exercise program without checking with your veterinarian first.

Many dog owners find it difficult to cure their dog of common

behavior problems like barking, chewing, digging or general

unruliness. Providing your dog with sufficient exercise can be an

important step in reducing or eliminating many of these problems.

The more energy your dog spends running, walking, learning tricks

or playing fetch, the less energy he has available to bark, dig or chew.

There is an old saying trainers have that goes:

“A tired dog is a good dog!”. This statement is as true as it is simple.

Many people don't give their dog sufficient exercise because they

don’t know how to exercise them in a way that is fun and safe. We

would like to give some suggestions here to help owners give their

dog sufficient exercise so they can enjoy better behavior from their pet.

Here are a number of ways you can increase your dogs exercise.

A qualified trainer can help you teach your dog any of these new

exercises. Have your dog run alongside a bike or with you while you

roller skate. Put your treadmill to good use by teaching your dog to

run on it.

Fetch is also a good way to burn off excess energy. Even dogs that

don’t like fetch can be taught to love that game with the help of a

trainer. Many dog owners have been warned to not play tug-of war

with their dog. This is good advice but the real warning is against

playing tug-of-war incorrectly! Again, a qualified trainer can help you

play this fun game correctly. Teaching your dog to pick the toy up

off the ground to start the game, not allowing him grab it from your

hands, and teaching him a command to drop the toy, will allow you

to exercise your dog playing tug, without developing bad habits.

Lots of dogs like to dig, so why not create an acceptable area for

him to exercise by digging? Loosen the dirt in one special area of

the yard and show your dog that you are burying a bone or favorite

toy there. You can also purchase rabbit scent from a hunting store,

place it on one end of a long dowel and run the dowel down through

the dirt to make a scent trail. Since dogs love to hunt, let your dog

hunt for his dinner. Instead of eating his kibble out of a bowl, toss it

out on the lawn like chicken feed. Your dog will get mental and

physical stimulation “hunting” for his food. Your dog can also hunt

for a toy or you! .

Enroll in obedience training, trick training and agility training classes.

If you are saying to yourself, “But I don’t have time to do any of

these things!” you may need to employ the help of a dog walker.

Some high school kids would love to make extra pocket change

walking your dog after school. At the very least, give your dog

extra chew toys and have a trainer show you how to teach your

dog to play fetch, tug and some simple tricks you can do with your

dog even while watching TV.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems

The 'two dog fighting' family
One of my common callouts is the two dogs in the one family that continually fight, and yet most of the time seem the best of friends.

Again most of these problems can be rectified rather quickly.

Dogs usually fight to re-establish pack order, as many dog owners

tend to interfere with the pack order without realizing it.

When problems do occur (one dog picking on the other), owners

tend to treat the situation as they would two children fighting; and

that is usually reprimand or banish the bully, and comfort the one

being picked on. Believe it or not, doing this just compounds the

situation.

Most owners can't understand why one particular dog keeps picking

on the other even though it has been reprimanded many times for

this unwanted behaviour. Well I have news for you. Reprimanding or banishing the bully, and comforting the dog being picked on is not

the way to go.

Dogs are a social pack animal, and therefore have established rules

for survival. The first rule is, the strongest and most dominant dog

is at the top of the pack. He/she is the pack leader, and maintains discipline and cohesion within the pack. All other dogs come below

the pack leader, and there are never two dogs of equal status in

the pack. Look at it like a ladder with a dog on each rung of the

ladder. There is never more than one dog to a rung.

Now all dogs in the pack respect the pack order, and know their

lawful position within the pack. We humans that have dogs living

in our pack, must abide by the same rules. We cannot decide for

our dogs which one is higher in our pack; they work it out for

themselves. It is our duty as the pack leaders to recognise that

order, and accept the order the dogs have established. We can

only dictate 'our' position within the pack, and of course this must

 be at the top. All other members of the family, including the dogs

must establish their own positions.

So once the order has been established, make sure you as the pack

leader reinforce this order in the way you socialise with your dogs.

Always remembering, the dog higher in the pack must always be

given first privileges, and never pushed aside for trying to assert

itself above the other dog.

Of course there are exceptions to the rule, and 2 particular dogs

may never be suited to living together, due to both having rank

dominant temperaments and both therefore continually testing

each other. In this case, unfortunately, the only alternative is to

maybe remove one of the dogs.

Tips On Normal Day to Day Behavioral Problems