Does Your Pet Have Behavior Problems?

If your pet is not taught the rules of the household right from the start then you could end up with some behavior problems.  Some behavior problems can result in the pet being removed in the home and in bad cases the pet being put to sleep.  This result is a very unfortunate one and a very hard decision for a family to have to make.  If you are seeing any behavior problems start to emerge then it is important to act on it immediately before those problems get out of hand.

You need to remember when dealing with pet behavior problems that they are animals and so you need to deal with them as animals and not with human solutions.  What may work for your child may not work for your dog.

One common behavior problem with dogs, particularly when they are just puppies, is urinating on the floor or carpet. If when you catch your dog doing this, you yell at him or hit him the dog may see this as you paying attention to him and although it is negative attention, it is attention. If you are not paying a lot of attention to him generally and therefore this negative attention is better than no attention at all then he may keep urinating on the floor just to get that attention. As a result you are actually reinforcing this bad behavior and you may then have real difficulty in changing the behavior.

A better way to react to this situation would be to give your dog a firm ‘NO’ and pick him and put him outside in the designated toilet area. He is then hearing the command ‘NO’ which he will begin to recognise what it means and also since he is being put outside he is not getting attention from you.

It is important to train your pet right from a young age if you want to prevent possible bad behavior problems down the track. Problems such as aggression or biting are problems that you cannot tolerate at all and if they continue they could end up doing some serious harm to someone.

Dogs that lay claim to the leader of the pack role can act aggressive toward other dogs or people? Dogs in the wild live in packs and they always have a leader which earns and keeps its place by showing his dominance with aggression. A pet dog may also try to claim this leadership position as leader of the family and it is extremely important that you teach him immediately that he does not hold that position. A dog’s position in the home is at the bottom of the pack and once you have taught him that he will accept it.

If there is any sign of aggression or growling from your dog you need to put a stop to it straight away. You do not need to physically hit your dog to enforce his position but you do need to show authority. If he growls or acts aggressively toward a member of the family then stand over him, hold his head in your hands and tell him very firmly ‘NO’. When you are standing over him to discipline him you are putting him in the inferior position and yourself in the superior position. Your dog will learn very quickly what this means.

Set your ground rules as soon as your puppy or dogs joins your family and let him know immediately where he stands in the pack order. Keeping your dog under control from an early age will help prevent bad behavior problems in the future.