Correcting Dog Behavior

Having a faithful and friendly animal like a dog for a pet is something that everyone longs for. A pet dog serves the purpose of a guard, protector, friend and companion. Sometimes, a dog is also kept as a status symbol, for those who consider it to be so. However, we should not forget that it is an animal after all and no matter how much friendly it might be; a dog requires proper training and caring, just like a small infant, for it to display permissible behavior. Dogs in their young age require a lot of attention and careful upbringing. Every aspect of a dog’s training needs be taken care of properly to ensure that your pet grows to be an obedient and decent dog, instead of a brat who embarrasses you in all situations. This article provides you with certain dog behavior training aspects that need to be taken care of to keep the behavior of your pet under a check.

 

 

Make sure that you do not beg your dog to behave well. Your dog’s bad behavior can be the result of its natural instinct, improper socialization, careless upbringing, boredom or a desire to seek attention. Therefore, it is important for you to first find out the reason for your dog’s such behavior. If you continuously beg your dog to behave well or listen to the commands, it will get more and more stubborn. Instead, be stern and make sure that it does follow your commands. While interacting with your dog, you should have the right mix of affection and sternness. Whenever your dog does not pay attention to whatever you say, just switch over to the stern look.

 

Provide proper training session to your dog to get rid of any bad and aggressive behavior. Dogs tend to respond well to training session, especially when there is an award attached to it. They like to please their master and will do anything to get the treat or the toy. Just like humans, dogs too respond well to positive reinforcement. Punishment, on other hand, will instill fear in your pet, thereby getting the dog negatively associated with the owner. Punishment will never provide you what you want out of your pet; instead it will make it more stubborn and add up to the negative behavior.

 

A clicker training is also an effective tool to drain out any bad behavior from your dog and provide positive reinforcement. Whenever the dog does something right and what you desired for, make a click sound followed by a reward or a treat. This habit of click sound will make the dog alert and learn what action make it earn rewards. The dog would automatically associate the ‘click’ sound with positive reinforcement. The clicker can also be used in the reverse way, i.e. to stop or refrain the dog from doing something wrong. Every time your dog does something which is not expected, make a click sound followed by a stern correcting command.

 

You might have come across your dog chewing and munching upon whatever it comes across. This is an element of a natural teething process in the puppies. It can also be a habit arising out of boredom, separation, anxiety, undernourishment, lack of exercise and due to thunderstorms. Give your dog a chew toy so that it does not look out for something else to chew upon. You can spray bitter apple or pepper sauce at the items that the dog loves to chew. This will prevent your dog from getting nearer to that item ever again. Make sure to provide enough physical exercise to your dog so that it does not have much time to divert its mind on such activities. Consult a vet in case of a diet problem.

 

Shaping is another simple way in which you can get rid of certain bad behaviors in your dog. Shaping involves a technique of working towards reaching a specific goal in a step-by-step manner, with smaller goals being accomplished in the beginning. Shaping can help you encourage complex behaviors, such as bowing and working with smaller puppies, in your dog. Reward each small step that your dog takes towards the broader goal. This will lend an encouragement to your dog to respond well and try hard to achieve the goal behavior. Another type of shaping is by luring the dog with a treat to perform and teach it a certain behavior. While a lure shaping can help the dog to learn a particular behavior, free shaping encourages cognitive and creative development, since it works with the dog’s own initiative and problem-solving measures.