Copyright

      © 2012 David Christopher

      ISBN 9781456611378

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, copied, stored, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photographic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or in any information storage and retrieval systems, without prior written permission of the author, except where permitted by copyright law.

      Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of any copyrighted materials in any form. To do so is a violation of the author’s rights.

      Terms of Use

      The author and publisher of this book and the accompanying materials have used their best efforts in preparing this book. The author and publisher make no representation or warranties with respect to the accuracy, applicability, fitness, or completeness of the contents of this book. The information contained in this book is strictly for educational purposes. Therefore, if you wish to apply ideas contained in this book, you are taking full responsibility for your actions.

      This book is not intended for use as a source of legal, business, accounting or financial advice. All readers are advised to seek services of competent professionals in legal, business, accounting, and finance field.

      Contents

      Introduction

      The Right Way to Reinforce Behavior

      When You Have a Dog Who Digs

      Digging for fun – how to get a dog to stop digging for fun

      Digging due to boredom or loneliness – how to put a stop to digging by bored/lonely dogs

      How to Stop Separation Anxiety

      When You Have a Dog Who Chews

      How to Stop Excessive Barking

      How to Stop Inappropriate Elimination

      Miscellaneous Other Behaviors

      Conclusion

      Introduction

      As dog owners, we love our dogs, and we want to do the best for them, so we often inadvertently contribute to their bad behavior, we do not mean to, but it happens.

      We tend to forget that even though our precious pets are part of the family, they do not think the way we think, and they do not react the way we react.

      Dogs are at still wild animals at heart, yes, they are tamed and domesticated, but they still have the instincts of their wild ancestors, and we tend to forget that.

      Often, when a dog begins to misbehave, we notice only the behavior itself and we do not question the how or why of the behavior.

      Often, there is an underlying cause to the behavior, such as a dog who barks at anybody at the door is usually only doing so as a warning to protect his pack, which is you.

      When you stop and think about why a dog is doing a certain behavior, then it becomes easier to correct it.

      Dog behavior that you want stopped can be digging in flower gardens or digging up the grass, whining, and crying due to separation anxiety, chewing up things in the house, barking excessively, going to the bathroom in the house and many more.

      The good news is that they are all fixable and it does not require expensive dog training classes. 99% of all behavior problems are fixable.

      The goal is to work with the dog, not against it and to do so in a positive way. We often negatively reinforce bad behavior without meaning too.

      For example, our neighbors had a dog who would throw himself at the fence, barking and snarling, every time we went into our own backyard.

      We complained to the neighbors, and when they heard the dog doing this, they would go outside and give him a doggy biscuit, and he would stop, while eating the biscuit.

      Yes, the dog would stop the bad behavior, but only because he got a biscuit for it. Pretty soon, he was throwing himself at the fence whether or not we were in the backyard because the dog had learned that when it did that behavior, it got a tasty biscuit!

      A great deal of bad behavior stems from owners who have not established themselves as the pack leader, or the alpha dog.

      Dogs are pack animals and if you do not establish yourself as the leader, then they will take the leader role and they will not listen to you.

      Yes, you want to be your dog’s best friend but you also have to be the pack leader, which does not mean that you are always stern or mean.

      You should never be mean to a dog, never punish a dog physically, ever. Being pack leader is all about respect and your dog will love you even more if you treat him with respect, he will treat you the same way.

      These methods will work on a dog who has been obedience trained or on one who has not, some basic obedience methods will be taught to you in here in order to help you train your dog to correct his behavior.

      Our methods center around positive reinforcement, as all dog training should focus on. By establishing yourself as the alpha dog, your dog will learn to listen to you and you will reinforce their good behavior.

      Sometimes it is not easy, especially with separation anxiety, you want to comfort your dog but in that case, you are reinforcing their bad behavior by telling them that if they cry and carry on, you will come running.

      This training will require a lot of patience on both of your parts, but it will be very effective.