Are You Training Your Dog to Have Bad Habits?

When you are interacting with your dog, you should always be thinking about what behavior you are rewarding and what behavior you are discouraging.

For example, how many of us get tired of being pestered for treats, and finally give the dog the treat? What are you training your dog to do? You are training the dog to be persistent and to keep pestering you, because eventually you will give in.

A better way would be to give the dog treats when he is not pestering you, when he is being good or just behaving neutrally.

When your dog does something annoying, like barking a lot, whining, or pestering you, do you give the dog a lot of attention, by yelling, getting mad, etc.? Remember that to your dog, even negative attention from you is better than no attention at all. You are training the dog to repeat the negative behaviors to get attention.

Try giving your dog attention when she is not being bad. Then she will not be so likely to try getting attention in a negative way. Take her for walks, play with her, pet her and call her a good dog, and so on. Dogs need attention, just like children. Give them good attention instead of negative attention, and you will have a better-behaved dog.

Tags: Behavior, Dog Training