This article presents serious, potentially-damaging misinformation. The suggestion that using food treats to train undermines someone’s relationship with their dog is untrue and sanctimonious. If using treats is bribery, how is using toys, affection, playtime, etc any different? If that were true, it’d all be bribery on some level, and we would go back to beating dogs when they did the wrong thing rather than praising what they do right.
We got our dog a year ago (shes 2 now). When we first got her the only thing that made her anxious were thunderstorms. In the last couple months we’ve noticed she seems anxious/fearful more often, and we can’t put our finger on what may trigger this behaviour. She will no longer come into the den where we watch tv and her bed is. If we are in that room she goes upstairs. She won’t sleep in our bed, which she did every night before. She won’t go for a walk in the evening (sun still out). we can’t even get her to leave the front step in the evening.
Second, it’s easiest to ignore unwanted behavior and reward an incompatible behavior. When Rover bites at your hands, he wants attention. He wasn’t born programmed to know that you want him to sit and ask nicely for attention, so you have to teach him. Instead of scolding him, ask him to sit. When he complies, reward him with a food treat, lavish praise and petting on him, or offer a game of fetch or tug.
Hi there does anyone have any ideas, I have a 11yr old Golden retriever who has odd for him behaviour. he has started looking very scared his ears go back & he looks sharply behind him as though something is behind him, he rushes from my husband then back to me seeming to want reassurance, he pants & does pluck the hair from his front leg, he finds it difficult to settle & paces around these attacks normally last for around half an hour, I have tried rescue remedy & a herbal tranquil powder. I have now also started using a pet remedy diffuser he sometimes has a few days of this behaviour then is fine for a few weeks then it happens again. he usually is a very calm placid boy & in his old age has slept a lot he takes pain killers for a back problem & he is fairly deaf can hear high pitch & a shout Thanks for any help Jan
Hi Lee! I just wanted to leave you a message real quick and let you know we had a great first day. We went out for a little bit and he did rather well. In the evening, there are a few instances where he would jump up or start to bite and we implemented the bah and a quick flick of leash and he looked up to give us his attention. We are truly amaze...
Dogs suffer from stress and anxiety as much as people do, though it can be harder to recognize their symptoms. Your pet might try to tell you that he’s stressed by pushing his ears back, tucking his tail, salivating, yawning, licking his muzzle, or lifting his front paw. Other, more obvious signs of dog anxiety include cowering or hiding, trembling, panting, or expressing his anal glands.
If you are not able to stay at home with your puppy, you should make every effort to return home to take your puppy out to the bathroom every few hours or hire a dog walker who can do this for you. When you are not home, you should crate your puppy to prevent accidents throughout the house. As a general rule, any dog will be reluctant to relieve itself in the area where it sleeps, but this should not be used as an excuse to make your puppy hold it. The bladder of an 8-week old puppy is large enough to “hold it” for only three hours at a time.
As the puppy grows into a dog, he also experiences less interaction with his owners. Puppies require a lot of time and training. Housebreaking, walking on a leash and basic commands take time to learn. Gradually, however, as a dog grows older, his owners may spend less time working on exercises like this and simply expect the dog to behave. The dog still craves companionship and may act out to get it.
Treats should be soft and bite-sized so your pooch will immediately be ready for more. Couple all rewards with verbal praise and your dog will soon form a positive association with the sound of your praise. Once a behavior is well established, you can slowly reduce the frequency of other rewards. In time, your dog will respond to your command simply for your praise (and the possibility of the occasional treat).
Each family and dog has a unique reason for our training and behavior modification services. Sometimes a single consultation and training session is enough to set dog and owner on the right track, other times it may be very beneficial to continue behavior modification and owner instruction in follow-up lessons. 60-minute follow-up in-home consultations are $40.00 and can be scheduled at any time after the initial in-home consultation.
You must judge when your dog is able to tolerate an increase in the length of separation. Each dog reacts differently, so there are no standard timelines. Deciding when to increase the time that your dog is alone can be very difficult, and many pet parents make errors. They want treatment to progress quickly, so they expose their dogs to durations that are too long, which provokes anxiety and worsens the problem. To prevent this kind of mistake, watch for signs of stress in your dog. These signs might include dilated pupils, panting, yawning, salivating, trembling, pacing and exuberant greeting. If you detect stress, you should back up and shorten the length of your departures to a point where your dog can relax again. Then start again at that level and progress more slowly.
Don't reward the dog for whining. When a puppy whines, it may be adorable and heartbreaking, but when a grown dog whines, it can drive you nuts. If your puppy whines inconsolably, you may have left him inside the crate for too long. However, you cannot release him from the crate until the whining stops. Remember — every reward you give reinforces the dog's last behavior, which was whining in this case.
You can teach your puppy at home and I'll help you. My puppy training book is called Respect Training for Puppies: 30 Seconds to a Calm, Polite, Well-Behaved Puppy. I'll show you my proven step-by-step training schedule for teaching your puppy all the words he needs to know, plus consistent household rules and routines, housebreaking, crate training, acceptance of being handled, calmness, gentleness, and general obedience training.
Fantastic article, thank you very much. I already follow a great deal of your advice, except I haven’t trained my hound to go potty on command. I never used treats for rewards on walks simply because he never responds to treats when there’s more interesting things to look at. Instead, like you, I use praise and he’s very intune with me on walks. Treats are for inside; I play games with him, alongside our cat, using treats! Anyway, I digress. I just want to thank you for writing a wonderful article and sharing such details that will help people. Well done and best wishes.
First, teach the release word. Choose which word you will use, such as “OK” or “free.” Stand with your puppy in a sit or a stand, toss a treat on the floor, and say your word as he steps forward to get the treat. Repeat this a couple of times until you can say the word first and then toss the treat AFTER he begins to move. This teaches the dog that the release cue means to move your feet.
6. Try medication. When I tell people, “My dog’s on Prozac,” most of them laugh; they think it’s a funny way of talking about her anxiety. It’s not: she really is on Prozac. Many of the same antidepressant medications that millions of humans use have been proven to help dogs with anxiety have the confidence to try new behaviors. A conversation with your vet is the first step on this route. Your vet can refer you to a veterinary behaviorist, a DVM who is knowledgeable about both training and medication; a vet behaviorist can give you a complete prescription tailored to your dog’s needs and, ideally, liaise with your trainer or applied animal behaviorist (a professional who specializes in dogs with behavioral problems but is not a vet).
Very thorough and well written hub. I would like to direct you to the Anxiety Wrap. It is the original patented pressure wrap designed for dogs – and cats – by Susan Sharpe, a T-touch practitioner and certified professional dog trainer. I believe the Anxiety Wrap is a superior product and recommend it in my own practice with clients who consult me about their anxious and fearful dogs. In a recent study completed at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the Anxiety Wrap was found to be 89% effective in study participants – dogs with Thunderstorm phobia. I have used it on dogs with separation anxiety and generalized anxiety, including my own dog and have found it to provide consistently effective results. Check it out – I think you’ll be quite impressed too, and thanks for writing such a detailed, well thought out hub!
Expose your pup to as many scary things as possible when young. Things with wheels such as, shopping carts, bicycles, wheelchairs, etc. Pop-open umbrellas are very scary. People: men wearing hats, young children running and screaming, people walking with a cane or slowly, etc. The more they are exposed to a variety of everyday situations without anything bad happening to them, the more relaxed they will be as adult dogs.
You may enlist the help of a friend with a gentle dog to help you with this process. Find an open spot where the dogs can see each other and make sure they’re both on non-retractable leashes. Walk the dogs so they see each other but remain far enough away so they can’t hurt one another. Praise your dog if he exhibits a calm demeanor or doesn’t show aggression.
Practice getting your pup excited (which is always easy to do). Have a leash on your pup. Jump around, move your arms, talk in a high voice, then say “settle down” and use the leash to lure into a down position. He doesn’t have to stay for more than 2 seconds. This is a good way to learn how to control your pup when he gets rambunctious without you initiating it.
Desensitization is the most effective method when your dog’s anxiety is brought on by a particular trigger such as fireworks, thunderstorms, or even car rides. This method means that your dog will learn how to reduce their reaction to the trigger or stimulus that is causing their issues. In this particular situation, you would want to overexpose your dog to this trigger and train them to act calmly.
Choose your dog's name wisely and be respectful of it. Of course you'll want to pick a name for your new puppy or dog that you love, but for the purposes of training it also helps to consider a short name ending with a strong consonant. This allows you to say his name so that he can always hear it clearly. A strong ending (i.e. Jasper, Jack, Ginger) perks up puppy ears—especially when you place a strong emphasize at the end.
