Dog Behavior Steps
1: Distinguish what your dog is doing wrong – Not what you think he is feeling or thinking, just the actual behavior that is bothering you.
2: Keep a written record of the bad behavior for a week – Note the number of occurences, the time of day and the circumstances surrounding the occurance. This will give you clues to the actual cause of the behavior, help you see any patterns and be your baseline to measure improvement from week to week.
3: Find out if there is something physically wrong with your dog – Get a thorough examination at the vet and make sure there are no underlying physical causes.
4: Create a list of words, phrases and objects that make your dog feel good – write down the things that excite your dog the most (i.e. “Go for a walk?”, seeing a doggie treat, the sound of a leash, etc.)
5: Develop a hypothesis – a theory of why you dog is doing what he is doing, whether the behavior is filling a psychological, biological or social need and determine an alternative behavior that might fulfill this need.
6: Head off the bad behavior – Using your theory as to why the problem is occuring try to prevent the bad behavior. You can use one of the “feel good” items from your list, give him something more interesting to do, or block his access the the area where the behavior is happening and make them forget about doing the bad behavior.
7: Create a new habit – Find an appropriate behavior to fulfill your dogs needs and using positive reinforcement train him to do this new behavior as a distraction from the bad behavior until it becomes a habit. Give tons of praise to encourage the new behavior.
8: Measure results – Continue to track the incidence of bad behaviors and compare it to the original record. If you see improvement, continue to add consistent reinforcement. If you don’t, go back to your hypothesis and consider the assumptions you have made about your dog’s motivation and possible causes and start again.
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