Alternative behaviour

Teaching Dogs Alternative Behaviour

Dogs need to be able to understand what we require of them, if they don’t understand then we can’t expect them do as we ask and quite often without realising it we send them mixed messages which they find confusing.

When a dog barks at a knock on the door it can be seen as doing what a dog might be expected to do, so it receives praise for it. Good dog for barking and letting me know there is someone trying to get into my house. To begin with the dog may be allowed to greet the visitor and as far as the dog is concerned this has now set a pattern for all future visitors. But with each visitor the greeting gets a little more exuberant and the dog begins to think that maybe the visitors are really only there for his benefit, and while he thinks he’s in charge his owner is becoming more exasperated.

The dog has been told clearly that he is a good dog for barking and then he’s been told ‘no, leave, down,’ and countless other commands, coupled with ‘please just ignore him he will stop jumping up eventually’. But in the dog’s eyes he’s clearly been told that is good for acknowledging the fact that the visitors are there and after that a lot of mixed messages - but no alternative.

In a pack situation a young dog would alert a senior canine if he suspected an intruder near at hand, but he would never be allowed to go forward and investigate while a senior dog was present. This information tells us that we should praise our dog for barking at the knock on the door, but not let him go up and take over by trying to get to the door first and meet and greet.

Once a dog is an established ‘greeter’ he may stick to just being a bit friendly, but manageable, or he may start jumping up and this could lead to excited nipping. Not all visitors will like exuberant canine greetings and they certainly won’t like being pushed over or nipped. Rather than a lot of mixed messages the dog needs a clear understanding of what is expected of him.

It’s very easy to tell a dog ‘no’ but we often fall short of the alternative to the behaviour we are saying ‘no’ to. If a child is doing something disagreeable, from interrupting conversations to throwing a tantrum, a parent rarely just says ‘no’. They give them the alternative – which means ‘no’ is followed by what is expected which could be to sit in a certain chair, read a book, turn the tv on quietly, go their bedroom. So many alternatives but it’s much simpler with a dog as it only needs one but it must be consistent.        

If a dog is not to misbehave when visitors arrive then it doesn’t get to greet them, but preventing this can cause a problem as the more the owner tries to stop the dog the more he will argue. The usual method is to get hold of the dog’s collar and try to remove him to another room, and all the while he’s barking and still straining at the door. But think about dogs and what grabbing the collar means to them.   If two dogs are fighting over the same prey one will jump on the other and sink its teeth into the back of its neck. Two dogs in a domestic situation arguing over food will do the same think but with not quite the same ferocity. When a person grabs a dog’s collar to remove it from a situation it will generally serve to the fire the dog up even more as his instinct will kick in that he has opposition, something trying to get the better of him, and he’s not going to take it quietly.  The dog is still near the door so he is mentally in fight distance and because he is able to argue with the holder of the collar he has options. 

Simple moves that are not dominant and take away his options will diffuse the situation straight away.  If he gets to the door he will be harder to move and if you try to catch a lead on his collar he has option again as he tries to wriggle free and once again you are fussing around his neck

 

As soon as the dog barks he needs to know that his job is done so be ready with a slip lead which goes calmly over his head and take him to another room.  Make sure the lead has a ‘prevention’ knot in it so it doesn’t tighten up on him and as soon as he’s in another room make calm fuss of him – don’t over excite him. The secret is to not wait until a visitor arrives, a family  member or a friendly neighbour knocking on the door will give you all the time you need to manage your dog calmly and get him used to a new routine. The main thing is to remember that when things don’t happen in a pack it’s because the pack hasn’t allowed it to happen, so to turn a dog’s behaviour round you step in to stop the old routine before it starts and introduce the one you want. The secret is to make sure you are consistent as one deviation before the dog understands the new regime will set him back weeks as it jogs his memory of how it used to be.