By Marcy Eckhardt
Terrific, you’ve got a dog! But along with all the fun, excitement and wonderful companionship came with some not so wonderful behaviors – or challenges. When this happens, what do you do?
First, don’t try to fix everything at once. Pick one thing and work on it consistently until it’s solid, then start working on something else. When you try to fix multiple things at the same time, it can seem to your dog that they can’t do anything right and some stop trying.
Second, set your dog up for success. This is one of the biggest differences between trainers and owners. Trainers make it easy for dogs to succeed, then incrementally add more and more challenges. Owners often go from very simple to advanced behaviors – in one step.
By initially taking baby steps, dogs quickly learn to love the game and trust the trainer. After this rapport is built, then add difficulty. A key to getting a dog to keep trying and enjoy the process is to celebrate his or her successes. It might be something small, but it’s important to go out of your way to acknowledge their efforts.
To address a few common problem behaviors:
Barking – Use a combination of white noise and window coverings to minimize the distractions, then encourage the dog to redirect his/her energy by picking up a toy any time they start to bark. Barking can be a tough behavior to change, so it’s important to acknowledge any time the dog chooses not to bark or stops sooner than normal. By marking subtle changes in the right direction, a dog quickly figures out what’s being asked. Jumping up – Have the dog leashed and off to the side of the trail or doorway, then step on the leash so they have enough room to sit or lay down but not jump up. Acknowledge and treat all efforts to stay down. To stop a moving dog from jumping, be sure the leash clip is located under the dog’s chin and actively hold the leash low to encourage the same behavior you got when they were stationary. Lastly, it’s important to re-evaluate your dog every so often in order to recognize changes. Behaviors or actions that seem ingrained can quickly fade away with some individual attention, but if we don’t take the time to see and acknowledge those changes, we lose out on many of the benefits of training.
Having a dog can be one of the most rewarding parts of life. Take the time to work through their problem behaviors and together you can experience so much more!
Marcy Eckhardt is owner/trainer of pranaDOGS, a local dog training and behavior company. She can be reached at training@pranadogs.com.
