The Dog Behavior Problem Solver. Teoti Anderson
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the common use of the word “No!” If your dog steals your socks, you yell, “No!” You intend “No” to mean “Don’t steal my socks.” But he might interpret your “No” to mean don’t chew the sock or don’t lie down with the sock on the couch. So he still steals your socks. Worse, he brings you a sock and your sharp “No!” could teach him not to bring you a sock. So he will still go on stealing your socks, but now he’ll hide them. “No” can certainly indicate to your dog that you’re displeased, but it’s not very specific. It doesn’t tell him what you want him to do instead.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever say “No” to your dog. If you haven’t trained your dog and he’s doing something wrong—and definitely if he’s doing something that can hurt him or someone else—go ahead and use “No.” Just be aware that it’s not the best way of communicating. For example, if you teach your dog to sit, you could cue “Sit” to prevent him from jumping up on the kitchen counter. If you teach your dog to leave things alone, you could cue “Leave it!” when he’s headed for your socks, and he would understand he’s to leave them alone. “No” is just vague—it isn’t instructional communication.
Unpredictability
Another example of miscommunication is when you reward your dog for performing behaviors sometimes but not others. For example, when Linda plays fetch with her terrier mix, Fritz, he barks until Linda throws the ball. He barks and Linda tosses the ball. Linda is paying him for barking with the reward of chasing the ball. Fritz starts barking for other things—his food, his leash, and Linda’s attention, for example. Linda yells at him for this. Well, she’s already taught Fritz that barking is a good thing. She’s been paying him for it. He doesn’t understand why he gets paid sometimes for barking and not for other behaviors.
It’s simple. Linda accidentally has miscommunicated to her dog that she likes a certain type of behavior. He doesn’t understand it’s only appreciated within a specific context. If you reward behavior sometimes but not others, the unpredictability can only make behavior get worse.
There are a lot of other ways that people can miscommunicate their expectations to their dogs. Until everyone in the family gets on the same page and starts communicating consistently, problem behaviors will not go away.
If you encourage your dog to jump up in play, you may have trouble controlling this behavior in other situations.
Unrealistic Expectations
Do you have realistic expectations based on your dog’s species, age, and breed (or breed combination)? If not, this can often lead to problem behaviors. Here are some common examples of unrealistic expectations:
•An 8-week-old puppy can hold his bladder and bowels all night without a potty break.
•A 4-month-old puppy can hold his bladder and bowels during a typical eight-hour workday without a potty break.
•Dogs should be able to tolerate any behavior from children, including when kids climb on them, pull their ears or tail, or hold their heads and stare into their eyes.
•Dogs should know not to chew on certain things, like couches, cabinets, children’s toys, shoes, etc.
•Dogs who have taken a training class on leash should always come when called off leash.
•Dogs should always do what they’re told no matter what’s going on around them.
•Shy dogs will get over their fears just given time.
•A dog should just work for you for praise—that’s all the motivation he should need in order to comply.
Do you get frustrated when your Retriever puts everything in his mouth? Or your Border Collie chases your children? Or when your Boxer has so much energy you think he’s nuclear? These are breed-specific traits. You may or may not want to do the things your dog was bred to do, but that won’t shut off his DNA. If you have a mixed-breed dog, he will share a combination of breed traits.
Having unrealistic expectations can make inherent problem behaviors worse because your dog can’t live up to them. Before you start any training plan, make sure you fully understand what your dog should be able to do. If necessary, talk to a professional trainer or your veterinarian to be sure you are setting realistic goals. Take a look at the more realistic picture of these expectations:
✗ An 8-week-old puppy can hold his bladder and bowels all night without a potty break.
✓ A normal puppy this young will need to pee and poo at least once, maybe twice, during the night.
✗ A 4-month-old puppy can hold his bladder and bowels during a typical 8-hour workday without a potty break.
✓ A normal puppy this young will need at least one break mid-day for a potty break. In general, you take a puppy’s age in months and add one to determine the amount of hours he can hold it when confined. So four months plus one is five. That’s the maximum time he can spend in confinement until he needs to potty.
✗ Dogs should be able to tolerate any behavior from children, including when kids climb on them, pull their ears or tail, or hold their heads and stare into their eyes.
✓ While some dogs do tolerate these types of behaviors, and some even enjoy it, not all dogs do. Dogs are not jungle gyms or horses. They should not be ridden or climbed on. It is cruel to pull a dog’s ears or tail. Holding a dog’s head still and staring into his eyes is also an extremely assertive gesture in canine language and could be interpreted as a threat. That’s why children get bitten. We certainly don’t tolerate being manhandled by everyone we meet, so why do some people expect their dogs to put up with it?
Also note that while this is unfair on the dog, it’s also unfair to the child. A child who grows up crawling all over a dog and grabbing at the dog’s body parts ends up thinking it’s OK to do this to all dogs. Young children have difficulty understanding that their dog may behave differently from other people’s dogs. A dog is a dog is a dog to a toddler or small child. Allowing a child to interact with the family dog inappropriately can cause that child to do the same to another dog who is far less tolerant. This can have disastrous consequences.
✗ Dogs should know not to chew on certain things, like couches, cabinets, children’s toys, shoes, etc.
✓ Dogs can learn not to chew on specific items, but you need to teach them. They will not automatically know what is off limits for chomping. Chewing is a natural canine behavior. While you see your leather shoes as stylish, your dog sees them as delicious.
✗ Dogs who have taken a training class on leash should always come when called off leash.
✓ Just as we learn new things, dogs learn by starting with the basics and gradually moving on to more challenging lessons. There is too great a gap between on-leash and off-leash behaviors. Your dog can learn to respond to you off leash, but you need to build up to that level of learning with transitional steps. If you haven’t trained your dog with the intermediate steps, this is an unrealistic expectation.
✗ Dogs should always do what they’re told no matter what’s going on around them.
✓ This is another example of something that needs to be taught. It’s not automatic. Your dog may sit when you cue him, but will he do it when the doorbell rings? If you dropped a plate of hamburgers next to him? If a squirrel runs across his path? Teaching your dog to perform behaviors while experiencing different distractions is called “proofing.” If you haven’t proofed your dog’s behaviors, then it’s unrealistic to expect him to perform around distractions.
✗ Shy dogs will get over their fears just given time.
✓ Fear is a powerful emotion. Dogs need help overcoming their fears. They won’t go away without proper intervention. Instead of time, a dog may need behavior modification and maybe even medication, depending on the severity of the problem.
✗ A dog should work for you just