Dog Behavior Problems

dog behavior

a little about
behavior theory

a little about reinforcement of behavior

the importance of
social reinforcement
and
communication

classical and operant conditioning

dog aggression, aggressive dog behavior and reactive dogs

Once you accept your dog as a dog, you must decide if you are willing to change your behavior and how you interact with your pet.

Humans are the ones who control the dog's environment and therefore it's humans who must accept the responsibility for teaching and maintaining the behaviors we desire.

The first thing we must understand when dealing with problem behaviors is that they are perfectly normal behaviors for the dog. As far as the dog is concerned, it doesn't have a behavior problem. Your pet is just trying to adapt to its environment.

Most problem behavior is related to one or more of the these factors.

Problems related to Fear
Low stress thresholds and the associated fear can lead to a great many behavior problems. One of the goals of a training program is to raise the stress threshold of the dog so that it is less sensitive to fear eliciting stimuli. Some problems associated with fear are separation anxiety, fear aggression, submissive urinating, house breaking, not coming when called, excessive barking, jumping, and chewing.

Canine Communication Breakdown
If we understand that often people have a difficult time communicating with other humans, then it's not hard to see why interspecies communication can present such a challenging endeavor.

Some problems commonly associated with canine communication breakdown are jumping, barking, wild behavior, not coming when called, chewing, house breaking, pulling on the leash, and scratching on doors.

Basic Needs
Dogs have certain basic needs and if these needs are not met, behaviors frequently develop that the dog's humans may find difficult to live with.

Some of these problems are wild behavior, chewing, jumping, running off, barking, and house breaking.

The Social Environment
The social environment is a very important part of your dog's life and will make a big impact on your dog's behavior. The dog's social environment can influence all the other variables that have been mentioned.

One of the key elements of the social environment is the dominance subordination hierarchy of the dog's family (pack). The people in the family should be dominant over the dog(s). This does not imply that the dog needs to be afraid of those who are dominant. Dominance does not necessarily need to be worked out in direct confrontation. Dominance is frequently established during play or regular daily activities.

The other area of the social environment I wanted to touch on is trust. Trust is related to dominance in a well balanced relationship. If a dog has complete trust in its owner, many of the behaviors owners consider objectionable are more easily controlled. Having trust in the handler can greatly reduce the mental and emotional stress of the dog and this can influence the control one has over problem behaviors.