Understanding Pet behavior & Dog Training Tips By Certified Professional Dog Trainer

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“Bow-Wow, Touch Me Not!”

Dogs have a mind of their own. Sometimes they do things that are the complete opposite of what we expect them to do. For instance, your dog may run away without any reason, bark at you expecting you to understand their language, steal things or dig up the garden.

Just like humans face behavior problems, dogs also face similar behavioral issues.  In this article, we will try to unravel the mystery behind your dog’s behavioral problems and provide training tips to reinforce etiquette into them.

Running Away

“Sammy, do not run!” If you often say this to your dog, this one is for you.

If your dog runs away, the first thing to do is to get her back. The most important thing to do is to never scold your dog for coming back to you. Do not let your dog think that coming back to you will get her in trouble.

If your dog is playing a ‘catch me if you can’ game, get down on one knee and start to focus on a spot on the ground like you’re looking for something.

Dogs are focus animals and if you take your attention away from them, they will surely come back to you wondering what is more interesting than them, for you. Remember to keep the dog in your peripheral vision while doing this exercise. Also, try some of these tips:

• Make sure your dog gets enough exercise at home.
• Walk your dog every day, at least 3 times.
• Increase her social interaction both inside and outside the house.
• Take her to new and interesting places two or three times a week.

Unnecessary Barking

Dogs cannot talk like humans, so barking is their way of communicating. If your dog is barking too much too often, it might become a nuisance, also, might get you in trouble with the neighbors, hassle alert!

The first thing to do is to understand why your dog is barking unnecessarily. Well, if your dog is healthy, she might be barking to get your attention because she is bored. This behavior is quite easy to resolve. A few key pointers:

• Take your dog for regular walks.
• Play with them on a daily.
• A training session with your dog for just 10 minutes will do wonders when she is causing a nuisance.

Garbage Stealing And Counter Surfing

The root cause of this problem is boredom and opportunity. If your dog is bored she will look for something interesting to do. Food is a major driving force in the life of a dog.

The smell of food drives the dog to go on a search mission, which usually ends up in the garbage. There are certain things that you can do in order to curb this behavior:

• Play with your dog regularly. A quick 20 to 30-minute workout will go a long way in keeping your dog happy and content.
• Teach your dog new tricks. This will give a good workout to the dog’s brain and remove boredom.

If your dog lacks attention, she might show certain attention-seeking behaviors. Dogs learn from our body language and reactions. Most dogs will pick up something which belongs to you in order to grab your attention.

If this happens, do not chase your dog. This will only reinforce attention-seeking and becomes a fun activity for the dog. Crate training can also help curb such behaviors.

Chewing

If your dog is older than 6 months of age and still chewing on your expensive shoes, it is most likely due to stress. I say this because dogs stop teething related chewing by the time they are six-and-a-half to seven months of age.

The first thing to do is to figure out why your dog is stressed. Removing the stress factor will always stop chewing behavior. Also, be careful with the kind of toys you provide your dog to play with. For instance, understand that your leather shoes taste like rawhide bones and have the same texture.

Go through these pointers for a way out:

• Give your dog a variety of chew toys and mental games. You can easily find these in any pet store. Always buy appropriate chew toys.
• Emphasize toys that provide not only mental but also physical well.
• Two to three obedience training workouts per day are enough to tire out your dog.

Coprophagia In Puppies

Puppies usually eat poop if their body is lacking protein. There is an undigested protein in the stool, so your puppy seeks it out and devours it. Prevention of this behavior is necessary and the things to keep in mind are-

• Change the brand of You may not be feeding her a nutritious diet if she is craving extra protein.
• Always supervise your puppy during poop time. Once she poops, do not allow her to come near the poop.
• Don’t leave poop lying around. This will give your puppy an opportunity to devour it.
• Take your puppy for bathroom breaks only on a leash.

Read More: Why Dogs Eat Their Own Poop?

Jumping On People When Greeting Them

Dogs usually jump on guests to show affection and get affection in return but not everyone is tolerant of this behavior. This is because of the sheer excitement of having a new person in the house who also brings a whole host of new smells.

There are a few things that we can do to curb this behavior.

• Never meet your dog when she’s in an excited state. This will teach her that her excitement will not be rewarded. It goes without saying that you should never let your dog meet your guests either when she is in an excited state. Always wait for a few minutes for your dog to calm down before introducing her to new people.
• Always call your dog back to you within a few seconds of her meeting this new person. This is done so that the dog doesn’t get excited and start jumping again. Always praise your dog for coming back to you.
• Make your dog sit near you and then tell your guest to approach you and your dog. If the dog gets excited, tell your guest to go back to the starting point. Repeat the activity. Do this multiple times till you dog stops getting excited and greets your guest calmly. This will help your dog to realize that she will not be allowed to meet a new person until she is sitting calmly or lying down on the ground.

Remember that dog training is a task that requires patience and consistency. Practice makes perfect!

Dogmatix dog training is aimed at providing positive reinforcement training to dogs of all ages. Some of the services include obedience training, behavior rehabilitation, calmness conditioning, therapy dog training, TV show training with tricks, and general dog behavior advice.

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