by Bad dog behavior is not because your dog is mad or being spiteful. They don’t chew, bark, jump, dig or destroy things to get even. They do these things because they’re excited or bored.
A dog’s life is really quite uncomplicated. Dogs need physical, social, and mental stimulation and if these needs are not met, behavioral problems can develop.
Bad behavior is often a sign of boredom so it’s important to always provide natural outlets for your dog’s physical and mental needs.
So don’t worry too much if your beloved dog develops some bad dog behaviors because most of these can be fixed by eliminating the cause, reward training and automatic corrections.
Eliminate the cause of bad dog behavior
The first thing you’re going to want to do is to identify the most likely cause of your dogs unwanted behavior. If you can identify the cause then you can work on minimizing the chance that the problem you’re having will happen again.
Some examples of eliminating the cause are as follows:
- If your dog keeps going through your trash can, then move the garbage can out of his reach.
- If your dog keeps eating snacks from your cat litter box, move the box somewhere so that your dog can no longer reach it.
- If your dog insists on drinking out of the toilet, simply close the lid.
- If your dog is being destructive when left alone put them in a crate or get them in a room with a chew toy or something to occupy their time.
Use Rewards
It’s important to try to understand the reason behind your dog’s bad behavior. This is easy to do when the rewards for a certain behavior are obvious like if your dog begs at the table you give them a treat. Your dog is being rewarded for doing this behavior.
Sometimes, however the reward is not as obvious. If your dog trembles when it sees another dog you may pick them up. You may feel like you’re reassuring your dog in this situation but in fact you’re actually rewarding your dog for trembling.
If your dog jumps on you to say hello, you may laugh and say “down”. This might seem like a punishment to you but to your dog this is a form of a reward because their getting a reaction from you.
The best way to deal with a dog jumping up to say hello is to train it to sit when you come home and reward them with a treat for sitting rather than yelling at them for jumping. They will quickly learn they would rather get a treat!
Use Automatic corrections for habitual bad behavior
Another helpful tool to assist with your dogs bad behavior is to use automatic correction. You can create circumstances where your dog will teach themself to stop doing something.
Some examples of automatic correction are as follows:
- Use bitter apple or Tabasco sprays, or any other safe but disagreeable taste, to prevent your dog from chewing things you do not want to be chewed. You can spray this on furniture to prevent your dog from wanting to chew on it.
- Invest in some inexpensive vibration sensitive alarms. You can put these on windows, beds or even the sofa, to prevent your dog from jumping on these in your absence. The dog will learn that if they jump up on a couch an annoying alarm will sound so they will think twice about doing it again.
- If you are at home with your dog and you see them doing something you do not want him to do, use a squirt bottle or a water pistol to stop the behavior. Squirting your dog at the exact time they’re doing the bad behavior can teach them not to do it again.
- If you have a dog that likes to counter surf, meaning they puts their paws up on your counters and looks for goodies, you may want to fill an aluminum can with coins and attach a string to it. Put this on your counter and when your dog accidentally knocks it over the noise from the coins will startle them and they will be less likely to get on your counter again. This works!
Conclusion
Almost all of your dog’s bad habits can be diminished or corrected by following a few basic steps. You may need to go all the way back to basic obedience and make sure your dog understands basic commands like sit, stay, and down.
Make sure your dog does something for you like sitting or lying down before you give them any kind of reward. Eliminate any satisfaction your dog may get from its unacceptable behavior.
And most importantly have patience and perseverance. Do not expect overnight miracles. It can take about three weeks to overcome the most common behavior problems.
