10/02/2022
(This is a repost because the version we posted on Tuesday disappeared from Facebook after a few hours. We have no idea why!)
Behold! The world of dog behavior problems distilled onto a single page!
Admittedly, it’s not perfect. It’s certainly not 100% comprehensive, and it doesn’t go into detail about any of the solutions, but it does cover the vast majority of common dog behavior problems and provide a pretty great big-picture view about how to resolve them. And it fits on one page!
I think we’re actually going to revamp this document soon, so if you have any feedback or suggestions, please let us know!
For those of you who prefer your words organized into sentences and paragraphs, here’s the deal:
There are three main categories of dog behavior problems, which we define by the types of solutions that are necessary for resolving them.
To figure out which category of problem you have, you should answer these questions:
1) Is anyone present when the dog is misbehaving?
If the dog is getting into trouble while they are unsupervised, then you need solutions that will work without anyone actively doing anything with the dog. Your two most powerful tools in this case are confinement and hollow chew toys stuffed with food. When your dog is confined to a crate or playpen, they can’t get into much trouble. But most dogs who have already tasted freedom will not enjoy being confined, so the first step is to teach your dog to ENJOY being confined. This is actually very easy to do using their daily allotment of food. Basically, they only get food inside their crate or playpen. You can toss the food in actively, scatter the food on the floor, or best of all, put it into a hollow chew toy. This will train your dog to enjoy spending time in their crate or playpen, and it will teach your dog to enjoy chewing on their chew toy, which will give them something to do and provide them with a naturally self-soothing hobby. When you are present and able to supervise you can let your dog roam free and then redirect them away from unwanted behaviors.
2) Is your dog afraid?
If your dog is misbehaving because they are afraid, then rebuilding their confidence is an important part of resolving the problem. You can rebuild your dog’s confidence using classical conditioning. Set up a controlled environment where you can expose them to the scary stimulus at a level that isn’t overwhelming, and then help them form positive associations with the stimulus using praise, food, toys, fun, and play.
If your dog is misbehaving because they are afraid, there is another very important question you should ask yourself:
2a) Is your dog dangerous?
When dogs are afraid, they can act out aggressively, so it’s important to consider what your dog might do if they were scared. The best way to predict what they might do in the future is to consider what they have done in the past. If your dog has ever bitten someone hard enough to cause an injury, then they could very well do so again. Your dog is dangerous and you should really consult a professional who can evaluate your dog one-on-one. If your dog has never bitten hard enough to cause an injury, it is unlikely they will do so in the future. This is true even if they look and sound very scary when they bark, lunge, snap, or even bite. In fact, if your dog has bitten people, and actually put their teeth onto another person or dog’s skin, and they didn’t cause an injury, it’s a good sign that your dog has good bite inhibition and is not dangerous, which means you can try rehabilitating your dog knowing it is unlikely (but not impossible) that you, or someone else will get seriously injured.
If your dog is in your presence, and they’re not scared, but they’re still doing something you don’t like, there’s one last question to ask yourself:
3) What do you want your dog to do instead?
So many dog owners focus on what they DON’T want their dog to do, and give little thought to what they DO want their dog to do. But it’s much easier to teach your dog to DO something, than to NOT DO something. So teach your dog to do something that, if they do it, they will be unable to simultaneously do what you don’t want them to do. For example, if they’re jumping up, teach them to Sit-Stay. If they are sitting, they’re not jumping up. Of course, teaching your dog to Sit-Stay on cue is just the first step. The real work is practicing this skill in different situations, including in the presence of exciting distractions, or when your dog is at a distance, or when you’re carrying a bunch of bags, or lying on the couch. If you don’t practice in these sorts of situations, it’s not going to work when you need it to.
Sit-Stay is a wonderful skill that can resolve a TON of behavior problems but there are plenty of other skills. Some of our favorites are Get Your Chew Toy, Go To Your Bed, Settle Down, Shush, Come, and Heel to name a few.
Teach your dog to perform these skills on cue, practice them in a variety of challenging situations, and integrate training with play, and make use of life rewards to motivate your dog so they actually want to do what you ask.
If you want to learn more, join us tomorrow (Friday Feb 10) for a live Q+A at 5pm Pacific Time. Or, even better, join the Top Dog Academy where you will get instant access to all of the info you need to resolve all of the most common dog behavior problems.
https://dunbar.info/legacy
