Preventing problem behaviour

Common problems encountered by many dog owners are: destructive behaviour (chewing things, digging or soiling) incessant barking, jumping onto people, or viciousness. Dogs don't do these things to spite or punish us. Their problem behaviour stems from you not understanding their needs, or that you're not respecting and/or following their ancient hierarchy of rank.

Destructive behaviour and barking could be as a result of lack of stimulation and exercise. Dogs need at least two walks a day. Even if you have a large garden, dogs don't exercise themselves. So, do take the trouble of taking your canine companions for walks - it stimulates them mentally and physically.

If your dogs are left alone all day, buy rawhide chews and hooves. Not only do these counter plaque; the hoof chewing relieves their boredom. Furthermore, a few interesting toys also serve to make their lives more interesting.

It's important that dogs should have a view of the street. This is their form of TV. They get to smell, hear and see what's happening in their territory. Should a wall enclose your property, make a hole in the wall and secure with burglarproof bars.

Negative behaviour patterns also could be attributed to a lack of food. Your canine friend needs two balanced meals a day. Also, leave a few biscuits for snacks during the day. But, don't overfeed - obesity in dogs and the resultant diseases are a big problem these days. If you're unsure, consult your veterinarian about the correct portions.

Dogs ask for so little in life - please honour the privilege of owning a dog by giving them a happy, fulfilled life.

Rank reversal for dogs

Many behaviour problems in dogs stem from 'rank confusion'. So, to reduce the dog's view of its rank within our canine/human pack, we need to establish certain rules. The following are not placed in any particular order, because one is as important as the other. Neither is it important that every rule is established. In most cases, by making an effort on just a few rules, the dog changes its viewpoint about its role within your household.

These rules can be laid down one at a time and in this way, confrontation is avoided. It might take a few days to establish the first rule that you decide on, but you should persevere until this is well and truly understood before moving to the next stage. As each rule is understood by the dog, the next becomes easier to establish. Remember, these wonderful creatures have the mentality of toddlers!

• Ensure that you go through doorways and narrow openings first. The simplest way is to close all doors in the house for a few days so that the dog's freedom of movement becomes dependent on the doors that you choose to allow him through. Don't tell him to stay, sit, or wait. (That's basically asking him if he minds if you go first.) Ideally he should grant you the right of rank by allowing you to precede him. If he tries to barge in front of you, slam the door shut - be careful not to trap his nose. Initially, you may have to repeat this procedure four or five times at each door, but he'll quickly get the message that when you open a door, he should step back.
• Ensure that he doesn't occupy your beds or chairs. However, you should be able to occupy the areas where he generally chooses to sleep. Besides his bed, there will be many other places around the house and you should spend time mapping these out. Deny him access to some and make a point of occupying the others.
• Eat before he does. Either change his two meal times a day to follow yours, or mix his food in his presence and then make a point of sitting down and eating a biscuit. By going through the act of eating first, you're telling your dog that at feeding time, the highest ranking eats first and thus gets the richest pickings.
• Don't allow him to occupy key areas in the house for a few days. Busy doorways, main entrances, top steps, etc, are all areas that would be controlled by the Alpha (highest ranking) figure. Making these areas inaccessible is the easiest solution and although physical barriers might be in your way for a few days, it'll be worth it in the long run.
• When you want to go from A to B, do so by the shortest route. In other words, the dog should move out of your way, even if he appears to be asleep. Attach a light trailing line attached to his collar for two days, so that you can gently pull him to one side to make the point that lower ranks step aside for higher ranks.
• Don't allow him to demand attention. Dogs do this in a variety of ways, such as nudging your arm for a stroke. Privileges should be earned first - even if it's only complying with a sit command.
• Having earned the privilege of being stroked, you should only stroke him on his head, neck and shoulders. These are the dominant regions of the dog and careful observation of two high-ranking dogs will show you that the most dominant will place his chin or a paw on the neck and withers of the other dog.
• Only allow your dog(s) five minutes to eat their food. Dominant dogs have a habit of leaving some or all of their food for long periods, almost as a visual display of their rank. Even if they start eating it after four-and-a-half minutes, it should be taken away after five.
• Make sure that he greets you first thing in the morning and not the other way around. The lower ranks should approach the higher ranks to greet them.
• Have regular obedience sessions, even if they only last five minutes a day.

Enjoy the privilege of owning a dog!

Essentials in dog training

All successful dog training methods use positive reinforcement techniques. Fortunately, intimidation, humiliation and punishment techniques have long ago been abandoned. The new, effective methods can be enhanced significantly by remembering six simple rules.

Start Young
The earlier you start training your dog, the more effective the training will be. But don't for a minute believe that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Any dog, regardless of age, can learn new things.

Puppies don't have ingrained behaviour to be un-learned. Therefore, they'll learn at a faster pace.

Act Gently
As social animals, dogs develop a strong attachment to their owners. By and large, that attachment is at the heart of successful training. A dog that trusts his owner, wanting to please him/her, is more likely to remain attentive and compliant during training. Failure to act gently jeopardises the training programme by undermining the quality of the dog/owner relationship.

An aggressive manner also runs contrary to the foundations of most dog training methods. Positive reinforcement is the golden rule. The interjection of inconsistent activity frustrates that process. Furthermore, it's ethically and morally wrong to mistreat an animal. A gentle pet owner will find an ally as trainee rather than a rival. Instead of a battle of wills, training will become a cooperative exercise, which takes less time and is more effective.

Prevention
Often, dog training devolves into a series of constant corrections for behaviour the owner finds unsuitable. This diminishes the pleasure of dog training, as well as its effectiveness. By preventing inappropriate behaviour, you'll cut down on having to apply corrections, aiding quick progress.

Prevention means to intervene before a problem is created instead of simply responding to the problem. Keep a close watch to spot imminent difficulties and then intervene timeously to prevent them from arising. This technique allows you to spend more time on positively reinforced training methods and decreases frustration both ways.

Inconsistency
In training, inconsistency is the quickest way to negate what's been learnt. Dogs thrive on predictability. In fact, their ability to grasp cause and effect is at the root of training - associating events with consistent outcomes. Therefore, consistency must be extended to the overall training process.

A dog is likely to respond best to a system in which regular actions produce regular results. Too often, dog owners fail to be entirely consistent. In the dog's mind, these lapses in regularity make it difficult for him to associate his specific behaviours with specific results - the key to training. Dogs will excel when they're taught that things happen for certain reasons. Surprises undermine the training process.

Impatience
Dog training can be quite frustrating. Concepts we believe dogs should be able to grasp easily often escape them for a while. We live in a world that's focused on immediate results and learn to expect that our actions are met by prompt responses. Dog training is not immediate gratification. It's an extended process requiring much patience.

Again, impatience results in unpredictability from the owner as he/she quickly stops a training session or abandons positive reinforcement techniques to find a shortcut to results.

Treating the dog as a subject instead of a partner
Some owners tend to perceive training as being about them, agonising about their techniques, equipment and strategies without considering their partner, the dog. When an owner approaches the dog as an experimental subject, he/she lose track of the dog's special status, denigrating the vital dog/owner relationship. Training becomes a tedious chore, rather than a pleasurable, joint activity.

Canines are sufficiently intuitive to be attuned to a trainer's attitude and are less receptive to learning when they're treated as a subject instead of a true partner. Owners who fail to see their pet's identity during training are unable to pick up on subtle clues and possible means to improve techniques.

By adhering to these simple rules, you'll be able to implement a results-orientated training strategy, plus the experience is likely to be enjoyable for both you and your canine companion.

Training pitfalls

Don't fall into these common traps when training your canine. Dogs are highly intelligent and very trainable. But don't expect your companion to learn routines overnight. This would merely set you up for downfall number two: losing your temper. Make a conscious effort never to shout at your pet. And it shouldn't even be necessary to mention that hitting is not only cruel, but also ineffective. Raising your voice to your dog will harm your relationship with the animal. It will result in a nervous dog that cowers from you.

The third thing to avoid is letting the dog become the master. This is equally detrimental to your relationship as the dog has no control and can become a danger to itself and others. Dogs are pack animals and quickly decide who the leader is and who follows. If you don't take the leadership role from the beginning, you can rest assured your pet will. A dog without a master will run amok, chasing cars and people, destroying property and making a nuisance of itself. This mistake is tantamount to animal abuse.

Fourth in line to avoid is the mistake of giving up. Many a dog owner has a pet that hasn't reached its full potential due to the owner losing interest. Dogs love to learn. Occasionally, dogs develop neuroses because of boredom from not being challenged mentally. Give your dog time to respond to your training efforts.

A fifth point to remember is consistency. If you tell the dog to sit and your pet doesn't do it, stick with it until it does. Use the same command words and enforce the same action every time. Manually enforce the command if necessary for the desired reaction and reward it with some play time, a treat or verbal praise. Consistency is the major key to training your pet. Repetitive lessons taught regularly with consistent rewards are necessary for effective training.

Knowing these five downfalls ahead of time will save you many frustrations while training your pet, resulting in a mutually healthy and happy relationship.

Incessant barking

Does your dog bark for no reason whatsoever? Most dogs vocalise when exposed to different situations, including strange people or animals entering their territory; being separated from their pack (you!); or new sounds. Dogs also may bark when they see 'prey', such as cats, for attention, food, if anxious or just very bored. If the dog's fear or assertiveness is alleviated by barking, it will learn that its behaviour is acceptable and the behaviour may become more frequent or severe.

Some medical problems may cause barking and older pets experiencing senile changes may have barking problems. Intense and continuous barking is considered compulsive. Check with your vet to evaluate your pet's barking problem. Drug therapy and behaviour training may be helpful in reducing barking for pets with medical, geriatric or compulsive disorders.

Acclimatise your puppy to different people, environments, situations and noises to help lessen anxiety as it grows. Make sure the pup spends time alone so that he doesn't develop separation anxiety when you're away. Training is essential to prevent barking behaviour problems. Karen Forsdick at TAH provides puppy training classes to try preventing these problems from developing.

Correcting a barking problem requires effective control over your dog. Once you've achieved this, you can start training him to lessen his barking by providing rewards for quiet behaviour. Begin training with controllable situations, eg a family member making a noise that causes the dog to bark, before moving on to difficult situations, such as a strange animal in your garden. When your dog barks at the stimuli, such as a doorbell ringing, immediately distract the dog, interrupt barking and reward quiet behaviour.

During training, barking must be interrupted when it begins. Repeat this process until the dog no longer barks at the situation, person or sound. Reward your pet when he's stopped barking on your request. Gradually increase the amount of time that he needs to be quiet before giving a reward. As the barking problem decreases, direct your dog to appropriate behaviour, such as play, and the problem should lessen over time. All behaviour modification should be done under the guidance of a qualified behaviourist.

Leash training

One of the most basic, but important, puppy training techniques is leash training. When your pup can walk on a leash without pulling your arm out of the socket, you'll be glad you invested in the training at a young age. Animal behaviourist Karen Forsdick gives helpful tips.

Place a soft collar on the pup as soon as possible, allowing a two-finger space between his neck and the collar. Leave the collar on - even if he scratches on the collar or hides away. Don't fuss or remove the collar - just give him a food treat or distract him with a toy. Check the collar every second day to make sure it's not too tight.

Once used to his collar, take the puppy onto the lawn. Attach a small, thin lead to the collar and leave the lead on the ground to be dragged around. If you walk away, he'll follow you dragging the lead. If the pup freezes and looks confused, just coax him with a tasty treat. Don't pick him up. Repeat every day for five minutes until he's happy to drag the lead around.

To teach him to follow the lead, have a few treats in your hand. (The leash exercise is best before meals, so that the puppy will want to work for food.) Pick up the lead and lure the pup with the treats to follow you on the lead. Don't pull on the lead. Just give encouragement and a treat when he starts following you. Now start walking around the house, up stairs and through doorways to build the puppy's confidence in following the lead. Keep the treats available as reward.

If you follow these simple tips when your puppy is still young, you and your dog will have countless enjoyable walks for years to come.

Don't dominate when training

A Science Daily article reports that in a year-long University of Pennsylvania survey of dog owners who use confrontational methods to train aggressive pets, veterinary researchers have found that most of these dogs will continue being aggressive unless training techniques are modified. Published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science, the study also showed that using non-aversive or neutral training methods such as additional exercise or rewards elicited very few aggressive responses.

The No 1 reason why dog owners take their pet to an animal behaviourist is to manage aggressive behaviour. Lead author Meghan Herron said, "Many confrontational training methods, whether staring down dogs or intimidating them with physical manipulation, does little to correct improper behaviour and can elicit aggressive responses.

"This study highlights the risk of dominance-based training, which has been made popular by TV and books. These techniques are fear-eliciting and may lead to owner-directed aggression."

Common use of dominance-based training may have grown from the idea that canine aggression is rooted in the need for social dominance or a lack of dominance displayed by the owner. Therefore, advocates of these methods suggest owners establish an alpha or pack-leader role. Herron emphasised that gentle reward-based training was by far the best approach.