We all want a "good" dog, right? Possibly have some bragging rights with the friends and family about our awesome dog?
Of course we do!! But what about when we take our dog in public or have people over our house and our dog embarrasses us? In public especially people can make us feel very ashamed with their judgement and sometimes comments when our dog misbehaves. It's disheartening and oftentimes discouraging to dog owners and ultimately the one who pays the price is the dog; because now instead of going with you, they get left behind. Your confidence in your ability to lead your dog comes from a place of knowledge and your faith in your dog is paramount to their success.
The best way to increase our knowledge and our faith in our dog is through owner education and training. Here are some simple tips that may assist you to begin shaping better behavior and confidence today.
Tip #1 - Leaving the House - Don't do it with a HYPED UP CANINE! Seriously! Whether you are wearing your Nikes or not just don't do it!
How likely would you be to tell your four-year old that you were going to see Mickey Mouse, right before a five-hour drive to Anaheim, to go to Disneyland the following day? Not likely or you are going to get asked 1,000 times over the course of the day "are we there yet". I'd call that setting yourself up for torture. In the same way, we make going on a walk or heading to the park to throw the ball around the equivalent of a Disneyland trip to our dog. We foster the hype that sets up the scenarios that make us feel like our dog is bad. So, when we walk out our front door and someone is walking a dog across the street, and our dog starts barking and jumping, we are discouraged and just want to go back in the house because our dog is already misbehaving and we haven't even made it past our lawn.
If you had the knowledge to solve it; you'd do it today. Well, put on your fedora because you are about to play detective and investigate what is the trigger that causes your dogs excitement. Once you determine where the problem starts then you can work to normalize it so that your dog can walk out the door and go with you in the right frame of mind.
If you get out the leash and your dog starts going full throttle excitement mode..then try getting the leash out numerous times throughout the day and leaving it where your dog can see it. Later get it out and put it on them throughout the day and just let the dog wear it and drag it around (with your supervision to make sure your buddy doesn't get caught on anything).
Maybe their excitement ratchets up when you use a trigger word like "go". Try and break it down to a point of failure. Many times the effect is the result of a cause that happened several steps prior to the end result. Keep in mind dogs see things much simpler than we do and their ultimate goal is to please you. You can't just fix the picture; you must fix the problem.
Tip #2 - Visitors at Home - Does anyone do that anymore?
What about when a friend we don't see that often shows up for coffee? They ring our doorbell and our dog goes nuts, barking and jumping on them because they are so excited. Well, again let's go back to the mindset of the dog and the over-excitement they are dealing with. We need to normalize a visitor, which, in our still living in the pandemic world, can be difficult. We may not be able to simulate a visitor, but we can teach our buddy how to be relaxed at home.
Crate time can have a huge impact on the mental well-being of your dog. Dogs are naturally den animals and once taught the importance of their crate; they crave the security and privacy of their own little space. We have three dogs and what we have found that works best is to have all our dogs either on their bed (place) or in a crate when visitors arrive. The visitors are usually in our home for at least an hour before the dogs are allowed to say hello. The dog gets to stay in a space they know is safe, because we've taught them that and re-affirmed it over and over, and once the visitor's presence in our home is normalized then the dog can say hi. There is training involved in all aspects of this method, but the end result is well worth it. It builds our dogs confidence in us - since we tell them where they are safe and then we don't let people mess with them in their space - and it builds our confidence in our dog. Dogs need to be crate trained. I heard this recently on a podcast and it's so accurate.
"If you treat a dog like a human, they will treat you like a dog." – Not sure if it's an original, but I heard Jay Jack say it on the Dog Trainer's Podcast
Hopefully these tips give you a starting point and provoke some ideas. These are not intended to be specific advice to your dogs and your home so seeking professional training advice for precarious
situations is always your best course of action.
Breakdown Steps to Make them Achievable
The most important thing to remember when training a dog is consistency. The most effective training is the small, consistent messages you send your dog with accurate information. Keeping the steps small will encourage both you and your dog with wins along the way. The small wins stack up and before you know it we have a huge victory to celebrate!
Feel free to leave a comment. We'd love to know your thoughts and anything you struggle with along these lines.
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