Let’s not kid ourselves, your dog can never be perfect and nor do you want him to be! It’s the little abnormalities and quirks in their personality that make them, well….them. So let’s get our expectations straight – we want a well-behaved, well-mannered, respectful dog, not a perfect one. The key to ensuring a happy, healthy family intermixed with humans and dogs is to set strict, realistic expectations as well as establishing clear communication, both ways.

Although dogs are seen as domestic animals, they do still have natural instincts which is where common misbehaviors come from. For example, aggressive behavior, territory marking, and guarding are your dog’s early instincts to acquire food. Whereas digging and chewing are simply the result of boredom or stress (digging can also be a way of trying to cool off).

It’s important for you to recognize these behaviors as natural and innate, when your dog chews down a leg of your coffee table he is not thinking “Grrr, she left me cooped up, home alone!” Dog’s just don’t think that way, he was most likely bored. Although, your dog does need to learn the difference between appropriate and inappropriate behavior and the only way to do that is for you to be the strong leading force of your household.

• Remember it’s harder to break habits than make habits.
• Set strict boundaries and don’t waver, you don’t want to develop bad habits, both in your dog and your leadership.
• Ignore or reprimand (a look of disappointment, and a stern “Bad Dog” is usually enough) unwanted behavior.
• Praise and reinforce good behavior with treats, toys and tons of attentions.
• Make sure your dog knows that he is loved by his family and is welcome as a part of the pack.

Remember that dogs are extremely smart, no matter how fluffy, ditsy or clumsy your dog is, they learn quick in a strict, unwavering environment. Bad behavior can be made much worse with poor training or handling. Overly harsh punishments or physical force is never effective and only deteriorates the trust and bond you’re trying to develop.

Preventing Behavioral Problems

Prevention is always better than having to treat it. The key to preventing bad behavior is getting an early start on training. If you don’t have time to teach your puppy basic obedience and manners we recommend you look into enrolling your puppy in some obedience class and keep practicing with him. Keep mentally stimulating your dogs to develop their pragmatic problem solving and impulse control.

For the weeks prior to your dog turning 16 weeks old, take him absolutely everywhere and expose him to as much as possible (careful, your dog won’t have their full set of vaccines yet). This will take the excitement and fear out of the unknown, once you cull the excitement your dog is a lot more predictable and controllable. Introduce your dog to all types of sights and sounds, cars, boats, planes, playgrounds, fireworks.  Lastly, you introduce him to all kinds of different dogs so he can learn good manners and play behavior.

Stopping & Treating Bad Behavior

Providing your dog plenty of physical and mental stimulation is crucial to keeping your dog well-mannered. The more mental and physical stimulation your dog gets the less likely he’ll have the urge to be destructive.

If you leave your dog along at home all day with nothing to do you’re just inviting bad behavior and destruction. If you can’t find a way to amuse your pooch, he’ll find ways of his own weather you approve or not. We recommend looking into some sort of pet-sitter, dog walker, or even a doggy daycare. This will provide a bit of stimulation and if you send him to a doggy daycare you will also be further socializing your dog.

Although, this may not work for all dogs, some dogs suffer from more sever conditions such as separation anxiety. There are many ways to reduce the severity and even completely rid your dog of separation anxiety:

• Talk to a reputable trainer or behaviorist.
• Desensitization
• Teach Independence
• Train your dog by gradually leaving for longer periods of time the coming back and praising the dog.
• Medicine

We recommend the non-medicinal route of treatment. It will take a bit of time but with constant work with your dog you can easily break your dog away from his separation anxiety.

In Conclusion

Your dog’s misbehavior comes from his innate instincts and become more prominent when he gets bored or stressed out. Training and socializing your dog early on  as well as stimulating your dog both mentally and physically is the key to preventing and treating your dogs behavioral problems. More severe cases may require outside help such as a behaviorist or trainer. Just remember, physical force is never acceptable and will always make matters worse. Lead through