Behavior Problems in Dogs

Your dog may be a darling to you, but it can be quite a handful to handle when it starts misbehaving. As a dog owner you will have situations when this dog behavior problem becomes a cause of concern for you. Typically this problem is exhibited as non-stop barking, leaping on chairs, tables, even visitors, gnawing things and biting people.

Given that we live in a society and such behavior can be dangerous for you as well as people around, you have to take steps to correct this problem. The fundamental thing in this regard is to change your perception about your dog. However close it may be with your family, it is still a beast and not a human.

They cannot be be civilized, they can only be tamed and trained. Their canine behaviors have to tempered to ensure that they act socially and curb their natural instincts. Remember that every dog is born wild, it is your responsibility to pay more attention to the dog behavior problems in order to tame it.

After the psychological shift, the next step is to get an expert opinion from the pet doctor on your dog behavior problem. This helps you eliminate the possibility of any health related issues for the behavior problem. Simultaneously you also need to start planning on domesticating your dog. A typical problem is the non-stop barking which can be a pain to you and others. This can be a tough problem to solve but with good behavior conditioning or with special collars, you can teach the dog to bark at right times.

In most cases, you’ll find that the dog barks to get noticed. Hence, a good solution to such behavior problem is to ignore the dog when it start barking. The special collars can cause the dog discomfort when it barks unnecessarily. This could be either spraying a repulsive material or sending minor electrical shocks. Over a period of time, this dog behavior problem can be controlled with these approaches.

Another common behavioral problem is leaping. Dogs go through phases of hyperactivity where they leap on furniture and even people. In such cases, you need to condition the the dog’s behavior to make it realize that its behavior is not acceptable. Even this is usually an attempt by the dog to attract attention, so ignoring it when it leaps is a good training step. Issue common commands that it understands and responds to like “stop” or “sit”. Most dogs understand these simple instructions and would stop leaping to follow them.

Lastly, the problem of biting and gnawing. You must understand that this is an intrinsic behavior for dogs. The only problem is that when indoors, they chew on things that you value like furniture and other possessions.

Chewing and biting are generally indications that the dog is getting bored. This can take serious proportions especially if you have to go to work, leaving it at home alone. A good solution is to allocate a space particularly for the dog and allow it complete freedom just in that region. Another solution is to give it a chew bone or toy so that it gets conditioned to gnaw such things rather than the rest of  house.

In conclusion, dog behavior problem must be tackled with care. Take expert advice from pet doctors to unearth any medical problem. Adopt steps like those mentioned above to condition the dog behavior.