October 26, 2007

Key idea to remember during training

Focus on being proactive, (i.e. praising the dog whenever he performs any acceptable alternate behaviors), instead of reactive, (i.e. leash and collar corrections, yelling, etc)
Many dog owners ignore their dogs when they are behaving (i.e. lying quietly).
As the dog receives attention when he is engaging in inappropriate behavior, the dog figures out that “bad” behavior gets them attention.
For a social animal like a dog, negative attention is often viewed as better than no attention at all.

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Be consistent in your training

Dogs are happier, confident and secure in an environment where the rules and exceptions are consistent.
Owners that teach a dog that a behavior is acceptable sometimes, and then gets angry at the dog for the behavior at other times will almost always have a difficult time eliminating the problem.
Consistency is crucial in treating behavior problems because the problems that we want to eliminate (jumping, chewing, digging etc) are self-rewarding behaviors for the dog.
The dog will not want to miss out on an opportunity, if given one, to partake in them.

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