Six ways to change your dog's behavior now

Eric Goebelbecker | Wed, 10/07/2009 - 04:53

Is your dog making you crazy? Are you dealing with jumping up, chewing, barking or pulling on leash? Maybe all of the above? Or are those four things just the tip of the iceberg?

Here's 6 things you can do right to change your dog's behavior now:

Establish consistent rules - before you start anything make sure everyone in the family is reading from the same play book. No amount of training is going to work unless the entire family is following and enforcing the same rules. Get it together!
Reward the good stuff - yes, the essence of positive reinforcement is rewarding the behaviors we want so our dog offers those behaviors more frequently. But are you doing this when you aren't "training" or "practicing?" Start rewarding your dog all of the time, and you will see those behaviors more often.
Ignore the bad stuff - if it isn't unsafe, what's the risk? Try ignoring the undesirable behavior and it may go extinct. But read that link closely, if you are not prepared to really and truly ignore a behavior, it's not going to go away.
Time out! - at your wit's end? Calmly and firmly give your dog a "time out." Pick out a spot - contrary to popular belief the crate is just fine - and place your dog there for a time out. Time outs are not loud, scary or very long: the point of a time out is social isolation, only for 30 seconds or at most a couple of minutes. Make the connection between the undesired behavior and the time out clear, and you'll see an improvement. As a bonus, you'll get a chance to regroup yourself.
Exercise - are you seeing a lot of rambunctious behavior? Chances are your dog is not getting enough exercise and is a little bored. Dogs, especially adolescents from 6 months to 2 years old, need a lot of exercise. Play some fetch, find a place to let your dog run, trying feeding from toys like the kong, canine genius or tug-a-jug, and you'll hit the daily double: a tired dog and a happy human.
Training - this is a trainer's website. You knew this was coming, right? But training is on this list for a specific reason. There's a lot more to training than just teaching a dog new behaviors. Good dog training helps you learn how to communicate with your dog. You'll learn how to read your dog's cues more effectively and how to send her more effective cues yourself.