How To Get Rid Of Your Dog's Undesirable Behaviours - For Good!
Most great dogs still have some undesirable - or unwanted - behaviours. These can include jumping up on guests, pulling on the lead, and more. Getting rid of unwanted behaviours is easy - in principle. But like most things, hard in practice.
To eradicate an unwanted behaviour, you must make that particular behaviour extinct. How? By making the behaviour non-rewarding. Every unwanted behaviour your dog displays is because, at one time or another, you have reinforced (rewarded) it. So when your dog was a puppy, and jumping up on you was cute, you rewarded it. Now that your dog is 50 kgs of muscle and love bearing down on you, it’s less cute. But NOT WRONG OR BAD. Your dog is only doing what you taught it to do.
To make a behaviour extinct, you must simply draw a metaphorical line in the sand, and from that point on, ensure it is non-rewarding - 100% non-rewarding.
HOW TO Stop Your Dog From Jumping Up
In the case of jumping, you need to ignore it. Don’t push them down. Don’t get cross. Don’t give them eye contact even. Simply wait for them to give up and, once all four paws are on the ground, praise and reward them. If they jump up again, ignore until they are back with four paws on the ground. Rinse and repeat - 100% consistently - until the behaviour lessens and eventually dies away. 100% is the key here. If you - or anyone - accidentally reinforces this behaviour, you’re back to square one. Your dog has now learnt that jumping gets attention if it tries harder, longer. A bigger problem to resolve than you had before. As we always say, teaching dogs is easy in principle, hard in practice. It’s not the dog making it hard. It’s you. YOU must be 100% consistent and your dog will learn. That’s the hard bit.
HOW To Stop Your Dog From Pulling On The Lead
In the case of lead pulling, just make sure your dog can never get to the thing it’s pulling towards unless the lead is loose (using a slip lead will really help them learn this quickly). Remember, pulling is an act of frustration. Your dog believes that the only way it’ll get to what it wants to investigate is by pulling. You need to rewire that understanding. Teach them the ONLY way to the thing they want it by NOT PULLING and you’ll take them there. It’s a two-way street. You’re asking them not to pull. In return, if they comply, you will take them to the thing they want - if it’s safe to do so.
Dangerous behaviours - acts of aggression like biting for example - are a different matter. Of course you can’t simply wait for your dog to let go of the person’s leg to reward them. Check out our article on Correcting Dangerous Behaviour for the best way to handle more serious problem behaviours.
It’s also worth being aware of the concept of an ‘extinction burst’. Check out our video (below) on The Extinction Of Unwanted Behaviour and subscribe to our YouTube Channel for more info and useful tips!