How to improve dog behavior

George De Martini
Jul 23, 2017 · 2 min read

There are many reasons for undesirable dog behavior.

One of the reasons for bad dog behavior is that your dog has learned some bad habits.

Dog Behavior Problems

Simply put, the behavior is a way of acting and reacting. When a dog acts or reacts to a situation in a way that has a negative impact on her own or others, what the dog sees as “normal behavior” is considered to be “bad behavior” yet, to the dog, it’s just what she does. Eliminating undesirable dog behavior requires training to give the dog a new behavior, or habit.

Understanding Dog Behavior

One of the most common dog behaviors is jumping up on people. This habit is established when a dog is a puppy. Puppies jump at their mother to get her attention so she will feed them. Dog owners find it adorable that their puppy works so hard to get their attention as she jumps. The naive owners come down to the dogs’ level or pick the puppy up, not realizing they have just rewarded the dog for jumping and barking. Unfortunately, behavior that is cute in a puppy often becomes annoying in an adult dog. Large dogs that jump on people for attention easily knock down and accidentally injure children and older people. Small dogs have less ability to injure someone, but usually dirty clothes and snag stockings. In both cases, while you might not mind your dog jumping up on you, other people probably don’t feel the same way.

Dog Behavior Training

Training your dog to sit to be petted is the easiest way to break the jumping habit. To help her develop the “sit for attention” habit, you must ignore her when she jumps on you. You might turn your back or simply walk away. If she follows you, turn quickly and tell her to sit. If she does, pet and praise her. You can reinforce this behavior by having her sit before you put her food bowl down. Every time she sits, she gets a reward of either attention or food. Every time she jumps she gets nothing.

continue reading at https://types-of-dogs.com/dog-behavior

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