Attention!

Dogs are attention seekers – and they will behave to get your attention any way they can.

If they can’t get your Positive attention they will be very pleased too get you Negative attention – by being naughty!

 

Typical examples of Negative attention are:

• Your dog will jump at you and you will push him away
• Your dog is barking you  and will shout at him
• Your dog will bite and you will shout and push him away

 

A nervous dog shows fear. Usually the owner will pat him and say…”its OK baby it’s OK”…which the dog will interpret as … “I like how you behave – it is good”

Completely the wrong behavior to encourage and reinforce – making your dog even more nervous.   

 

But when your dog quietly lies down near you, do just ignore him?

Why don’t you praise him for good behavior and make him want to repeat it?

 

What will a dog learn from the way he gets attention from you?

If I repeat more bad behavior, I will get more of your ATTENTION!

 

These are the problems I had with Johan, a three month old English bulldog. She is biting and barking – especially when she was crated.

 

She is very bright, very energetic, very distractive and very inpatient.

She is good on her leash she knows how to sit but her owner has a problem with the “down” command.

Teaching any dog the “down” command can be difficult.

Some dominant puppies object to being told to put themselves in a submissive position, and insecure ones may not feel safe to lie down willingly.

During my training with Johan I was using a few alternative methods and the one that gave the best results was the “Obstacle Method”. If you want to try this out:

• Sit on the floor and bend your knees up so they forms an inverted “v”
• Have your puppy sit to the outside of your bent legs.
• Put your hand holding some treats under your bent legs and move it
• The puppy has lie down to get the treat. When it does praise it and give an extra treat by saying” Down Johan” (use your dogs name), ”Good ….Down”

I also explaining to Johan’s owner how she should if Johan tries to bite:

• Make a high-pitch yelp
• stop interacting with Johan – a minute ore two with no contact

 

Then I explained how to get Johan’s attention with Eye Contact using the “Watch me” command. Johan gets a treat as soon she makes eye contact with her owner.

 

The Stay command has helped Johan become more patient.

 

After three days of training we already have good results…

 

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