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Behavior Training

A dog’s behavior may be modified at any time in the dog’s life, although the older the dog, the harder the prospect. Generally, it is better to nip behavior problems in the bud; to modify the dog’s behavior before potential problems raise their ugly heads, or before incipient problems become full-blown. Without sufficient guidance (behavior modification), the dog will be left to improvise in its quest for occupational therapy to wile away the long hours it is invariably left at home alone. And no doubt owners will deem the dog’s improvisations as quite unacceptable. Yet in no time at all, the dog’s inappropriate expression of its normal behavior will become an integral part of its daily routine, i.e., the behaviors will become habits. - bad habits.

This is unfair to both dog and owner, because for the rest of the dog’s life, no doubt the owner will frequently be irritated by the dog’s behavior and hence, the dog will frequently be punished by the owner. Moreover, to reeducate a dog with existing and well-entrenched bad habits, it is necessary to first break the bad habit, before retraining the dog. For example, getting a dog to relinquish a ten-year barking habit is equivalent to convincing a person to quit a forty-year smoking habit.

It makes so much more sense to educate the dog as a pup so that it does not habitually reinforce itself for barking excessively. A vital ingredient of any puppy class involves educating owners how to prevent common and predictable behavior problems - how to teach their dogs appropriate and acceptable alternatives for their normal doggy behaviors, i.e., what to chew, where to eliminate, where to dig, when to bark, when to jump-up and when to be active etc. In particular, it is essential to immediately address any incipient behavior problems which crop up in class, even at the expense of delaying to teach how to heel and sit.

Indeed, mastery of obedience skills can wait, whereas for behavior problems, the sands of time are already quickly running out. For example, rather than allowing a barking pup to deafen everybody in class for six weeks, (i.e., setting a precedent for the dog to chronically irritate its owners and engender the wrath of neighbors for the rest of its life), during the first week of class, teach the barking pup to “Shush” for progressively longer time-periods. Teach the owner how to teach the dog to shush for its supper.

Similarly, house soiling problems in class should be dealt with immediately; Do not even waste time clearing up the mess, the owner must learn to hustle - mistake… instructive reprimand! “Outside!” - all in less than a second. A single word conveys to the dog, you’re making a booboo and you could rectify things by doing that outside. “Good dog!” Now clear up the mess. House soiling problems especially present such a frightening prospect. Not because of the small puppy puddle on the floor, but because one small puppy mess in training class is usually the harbinger of a myriad of messes of adult proportions in the home. If the dog soils the home, it stands a good chance of being relegated outside, where of course it will begin chewing, digging, barking and escaping to relieve the boredom of solitary confinement, whereupon the owner finds the dog a bore and tries to find it another home.

It is helpful to bear in mind that behavior problems, even simple behavior problems such as house soiling, effectively kill more dogs than any virus or bacteria. If the dog’s presenting problems are not resolved pronto, in all probability the dog may not be around to teach it to heel and sit.

Ian Dunbar PhD, BVetMed, MRCVS
SIRIUS Puppy Training
copyright 1999 Ian Dunbar

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