Dog Behavior Training MN | Happy Easter from The Dog Whisperer of MN | Holiday Tips

Easter is here and the family and friends will be arriving soon. You are running around like a chicken with their head cut off as you try to make sure everything is perfect. The ham is not dried out, the potatoes are not too lumpy, the cherry pie is not burnt so on and so forth. Then there is your dog.

He is pacing excitedly step for step with you. Getting more and more intense as your anxiety and anticipation rise together. The one thing you forgot while preparing for the

blessed occasion of your family and close friends are coming over for the wonderful Easter meal, your dog goes bananas when people come over. Jumping and barking, acting like a child walking towards the entrance to amusement park after drinking a Red Bull. You try to think on your feet as your guests are expected to arrive soon. What do you do? How do you handle him? What if he tries to jump on counter while the pies are cooling. What do you do? You have less then 15 minutes to get this under control. Well, luckily you are reading this because, although this information will not solve all of your dog’s hyper active problems, it potentially will make things a little bit easier to manage for the big event!

The first thing I suggest, calm down. The stress and anxiety you feel is multiplied by 100 to your dog. “Zenning” your self will make your dog that much easier to control. You will better represent someone who will is effective as a direction giver. You will not be seen as someone who has no clue what you are doing, making your dog less willing to try to control the situation or qualify people at the door or feel entitled to the food on the counter. With the proper mind set, this should not take more than a few minutes.

The next step I would suggest would be to find a way to quickly burn off mental energy. If you have the time, I would highly suggest taking your pooch for a short, yet intense, walk. Keeping the pace high enough to get him (and you) breathing heavy. Keeping him in a following position, engaging his brain by asking him to follow you as you create a new route for your walk. He wont be able to go into auto pilot mode because of the new and unique path you took, hence putting him into a state to follow and ensure you both make it home! The walk should last about 5-10 minutes, if you can give more time to the walk the better off you are.

After the walk, run through some basic exercises ranging from simple obedience to more challenging boundary tests, focusing on the entryway and door. Putting into your dog’s already following mind, that the usually exciting event of the door bell ringing no longer means get crazy and excited but to wait for someone to give them commands and direction. Although at this point, he will still be excited, but the goal is to make him manageable and ready to listen as more people arrive. After the first people arrive, you should notice the door/doorbell ritual will lose a lot of it’s excitement because the things you went through earlier has put him into more of a following/working mind set, you should be able to at least keep him from embarrassing you completely!

After the first one or two door cycles, I would suggest giving him something to occupy himself with. A hard food or marrow filled bone should take enough of his time until the craziness of the door. Most of your guests should be present by now so you should not have to worry about that trigger any more, giving you a calmer presence in turn chilling your dog out that much more as he finishes his bone.

Now, as people are moving around setting them selves at the table, leaving the table etc, everything that has gone on over the past how ever long, you could expect some happy tail and some wanting to socialize from your dog since this would be considered normal, as he is usually a social wacko. You should stay open minded about how he goes about interacting with your guests, not assuming he will be crazy which reinforces your positive mindset as he follows, you should notice him to be more tolerable and not as obsessive or crazy. This should be rewarded in some way or another. Inviting him into the group allowing him more intimate access to the surrounding but correcting any sign of his energy level escalating or if he is getting too antsy or anxious. An obvious sign of this will be him putting his face in someone else/him forcing himself into someone’s personal space or you will see him pacing quickly back and forth pausing in front of people. Make a quick sound and call him to you. Using another (or the same) bone to redirect him.

If at anytime you see him flip flopping from manageable to excited over a short period of time(every couple of minutes), you can resort to retiring him in his kennel or letting him outside ONLY if you do this while he is in the “calmer” portion of his cycle.

I hope that this helps those of you that may be faced with a similar situation this Easter. This is a good practice for any occasion you plan to have people over. Please, leave me some feed back if you are presented with this situation!

And remember, if you are located in Minnesota and you are dealing with this type of behavior or any unwanted or negative behavior, The Dog Whisperer of MN would love to guide and teach you through one of our Dog Behavior Training programs, making you  how that role model and leader for your dog and to mold your dog into a balanced, calm and obedient pet!

http://www.dogwhispertraining.com

Contact The Dog Whisperer of MN today!

About these ads

Can Your Dog Learn Bad Behavior From Other Dogs?

By Linda Cole

Dogs are social beings that patiently sit and watch us and other pets, observing what we do. I never had a problem with my dogs digging up their pen until one of them dug a hole one summer to lie in the cool dirt. When I found the hole, I filled it in to keep the dogs from hurting themselves if they stepped in it while playing. The next day, the hole was back, so I filled it in again. This went on for about a week and then more holes started to appear. My other dogs had learned from the first dog that digging a hole in the shady areas of the pen would give them a cooler place to lie down in.

A door separates my living room from the dining room, and we built an escape window in it so the cats can move between the two rooms and get away from the dogs if needed. One day my dog Keikei was watching the cats jump through the window and I almost fell over laughing when I saw her fly through the opening behind them. I have to admit, I was amazed with her grace and the athletic ability it took for her to actually jump through a small window in a door. Now, I wouldn’t call that bad behavior, but it certainly wasn’t something I wanted or expected her to learn just by watching the cats.

Dogs learn by watching, and if one dog gets away with bad behavior, other dogs in the family may follow their example. To them, it’s not bad if their behavior isn’t corrected. If a dog’s behavior changes, that’s cause for concern because it could be due to a medical issue or behavioral problems like separation anxiety and food aggression. However, a dog that is copying bad behavior is a completely different situation. It’s important to be able to tell the difference between bad behavior and an actual behavioral change.

Keikei was eight weeks old when my neighbor gave her to me because she wasn’t housebroken. Apparently this neighbor thought puppies came housebroken. Keikei has a very strong yet sweet and loving personality, but as she grew, she developed food aggression. I’ve never had a dog that was food aggressive until Keikei’s behavior changed whenever food was available. Food aggression is a change in behavior; it can be learned by other dogs and it won’t go away on its own. It needs to be corrected before it becomes a major issue and leads to other bad behavior.

Barking is another unwanted behavior dogs can pick up from each other. My “yapper” is a Beagle/Terrier mix named Alex. When she’s outside and feels lonely, she goes to the far end of the pen and barks as she watches the office window to see if she has my attention. The other dogs have learned that she gets attention when she barks and will join in. They stop barking when I tell them to, but Alex doesn’t. The beagle in her just has too much fun barking when she’s bored. We are working with her to correct the behavior, using positive reinforcement and CANIDAE TidNipsâ„¢ treats.

Dogs are just like us and can pick up bad behavior from each other. Even if you only have one dog in the house, they can learn unwanted behavior at dog parks, at a friend’s house, or even at a kennel while you’re away on vacation. Fortunately, all of the above can be corrected with consistent training and patience to stop unwanted behavior before it becomes a serious problem.

Separation anxiety is a serious behavioral problem that can cause a dog to damage a home or severely injure himself trying to escape through a window or a door. Why some dogs develop separation anxiety and others don’t is a question that has no answer. However, most dog experts don’t believe dogs can develop separation anxiety from watching another dog that has it. I have dealt with separation anxiety in one of my dogs, and he was the only one who had a problem.

One thing I’ve learned as a lifelong dog owner is to never underestimate the observation ability of dogs. They can learn unwanted behavior from watching each other, but they can also learn good behavior as well. My dogs are different ages, breeds and personalities, and it’s a joy watching them interact with each other. Learning is a trial and error process. By making sure dogs are treated in a positive matter, the bad behavior can be quickly corrected while good behavior is rewarded with positive reinforcement – and that’s how dogs learn what we expect from them!

Photo by toomanycats99

Read more articles by Linda Cole

Stop Rottweilers From Digging – Changing Your Dog’s Behavior to Prevent Digging

Some dogs will do what they want to do just because they weren’t trained to do otherwise. Whether they live in the wild or in your apartment, they will follow their instinct and do what is necessary to survive. But nobody would want them to do some of those things because it wouldn’t be proper if they were to be allowed to live in a house with humans. While it would be perfectly alright for rottweilers for example, to poop or pee where they want to, or dig to bury bones or to escape a predator in the wild, these behaviors are not acceptable at any home. They would have to learn proper behavior. And if they start to exhibit unusual manners, like digging, then their owners have a big problem. They would have to find a way to stop rottweilers from digging if they want to continue living with each other.

The first step to stop rottweilers from digging is to find the reason behind this behavior. Not all dogs enjoy digging but if your rottweiler seems to enjoy it, then he will dig if nobody is there to prevent him. Rottweilers will dig the ground to get your attention, or he may simply be bored and digging is a way to stimulate his brain. Some dogs like to dig under the fence and experts believe this is a sign that he is looking for another dog or a mate. Dogs are natural hunters and they dig to hunt for small critters living underground, or they dig to bury the remaining bones from their meals. Understanding the reasons why dogs dig can help you stop rottweilers from digging and destroying your garden. Your next step is to change your dog’s behavior in order to prevent him from digging. Bored dogs should be provided with lots of physical and mental exercises to help them burn excess energy. If your rottweiler tends to bury bones, then the simple answer is not to give him one at all. Chewing toys would both entertain him and provide a way to clean his teeth.

Roman Deluna, author of this article is also interested in how to stop Rottweilers from digging and recommends you to please check out Rottweiler obedience training if you liked reading this information.