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WHY UNDERSTAND YOUR DOG’S BEHAVIOUR?

Knowing why your dog does the things it does – what is natural as opposed to what may have been nurtured – is vital for enduring harmony and mutual understanding between you and your pet. In fact, it is worth understanding a dog’s behaviour even if you don’t have a dog, for it is highly likely that at some point you will be interacting with one, be it at your local park or when a family member or friend acquires one.

With this knowledge, you will be better able to shepherd your dog along the path to adulthood and be in a much better position to limit or even prevent unwanted behaviours from developing in the first place. And if they do occur, you will be able to deal with them quickly and effectively, in a manner that your dog comprehends, as well.

The result will be a happier, more trusting pet, secure in the knowledge that his caregiver truly understands him.


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Quick Links to Page Contents:

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UNPACKING DOMINANCE & PACK THEORY:

The notion that the essential social structure of all dogs is that they form packs, and that those packs are hierarchical by nature, expressed through acts of dominance and submission, is both widespread and completely wrong.

The theory of dominance was borne out of the observations of the behaviour of wolves in captivity, while the notion of a pack structure was based on research of wolves in the wild. The social structure of wolves may seem a reasonable basis from which to draw conclusions for how dogs interact, owing to their ancestral kinship – in fact most scientists view both as sub-species of canis lupus – but there are in fact two fundamental reasons why both assumptions are wrong.

Firstly, overt displays of dominance and submission, as seen in the captive wolf community, are rarely observed in wild wolf packs and have been categorised as atypical behaviour brought on by wolves with little or no kin affiliation being thrust together to self-organise.

Secondly, through the process of selective breeding we have in effect neotenized our pets, or in other words caused them to retain their juvenile characteristics into adulthood.

Why do the vast majority of our dogs enjoy playing throughout their adult lives? Why are they so eager to please, desiring only to remain in our company? Why are they willing to take direction from our cues and smother us with affiliative gestures such as licking our faces? It is not that they have simply been tamed or domesticated, but rather because they have retained the juvenile mindset.

This is most apparent in dogs with shorter snouts and broader heads, while those that retain more wolf-like features – such as the Akita and Malamute – tend to display less of these juvenile characteristics and far more of the independent mindset that must have been true of the original, primitive dog. These more wolf-like dogs tend to have a broader repertoire of both vocal and body-to-body communication, and hence are better at self-organisation, which lends itself to both pack formation and cohesion.

Hence you are more likely to find Siberian Huskies working as a group than you would a collection of King Charles Spaniels!


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This neotonization of dogs through the process of selective breeding is a powerful argument for their continued protection and welfare at all levels within society. No other species has been so deliberately bred for the explicit purpose of evincing trust, loyalty, and companionship to the degree of our canine friend. We, in effect, have created them. They are a product of our ingenuity and ability to direct the course of evolution, and for this reason they are also our collective responsibility. For more information on dog welfare, please refer to our page: ‘Dog Welfare Issues’.


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Wolf packs in the wild tend to be familial, having alpha leaders – a male and female – who, while dominant over others in the pack, do not dominate them punitively. They are responsible for both breeding and maintaining pack cohesion. Pecking orders may change within the mid-ranks, and those that are constantly picked on may in fact leave the pack to become lone wolves (not something you would want for your dog to decide, should he feel constantly picked upon by you!).

Rather than rigid, top-down hierarchies, multi-dog households tend to display a more value-based system, in which animals assert themselves over those things they deem to be of most value to them. In other words, dogs are more resource-driven than they are status-driven. For one dog it could be a favourite toy while for another it might be a preferred sleeping area. For nearly every dog, it will be their food bowl!  Some dogs tend to be naturally more assertive, while others will strike a more submissive tone.  When taken to the extreme, it becomes resource guarding (see below).

It may then be that the more assertive dog becomes more dominant within the group, but this is more down to a blend of personalities, hormones, and access to resources, than because of any conferred rank within the group.  Dominance, in this sense, is more about facilitating harmony within the group than it is about top-down suppression, for submission amongst canids is almost always freely given.

Because of these two incorrect assumptions – that all dogs operate under a pack mentality, and that it is based on a top-down hierarchy – we have tended to view our position within that paradigm as that of pack leader. So when we find ourselves with a dog that may be naturally assertive or imbued with a bold personality, we immediately presume that it is directly challenging our authority, when nothing could be further from the truth.

The greatest harm we can do is to challenge that confident dog and demand that it submit to our will. Rather, as with all juveniles, it is better to establish consistent boundaries from the offset and provide that as a safe-space in which each dog can express its individual personality. The role of a responsible owner, therefore, is not to dominate or to punish, but to provide guidance and assert clear parameters within which there can be room for both self-expression and a sense of security.


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It is important to reiterate that dominance is neither a personality type nor fixed trait but is a state of mind or a reaction to external stimuli.  In short, dominance is an expression at the point of interaction.  If aggression then occurs, it is classified as dominance aggression.  This only occurs when a dog is taken out of balance, where it is given no boundaries so that it feels the need to take control of its own resources or space, or conversely, where it is restricted too heavily or punitively and so feels that the only way to protect itself and its resources is to guard them.


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PUPPYHOOD:

While a dog’s personality and traits are partly dictated by genetics, through its breed and parentage, much of its character will be borne out of its experiences through its first year of life. Factors such as sociability (both toward humans and other dogs), fear, fight or flight response, as well as overall stability and capacity to learn, will all be formed and can be influenced at this early stage.


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Parental Factors:

A puppy’s parents will have each come from respective breed lines, even if they may be mixed breeds themselves. Depending on the purity of those breed lines, that puppy may exhibit varying degrees of breed-associated traits. The general rule of thumb for mixed breeds is that whichever line the dog most resembles, the more it will display characteristics associated with that line. So a Labrador-Collie Cross, were it to have a greater resemblance to a Labrador than a Collie, would tend to exhibit behaviour associated with that of a Labrador breed.

The parent’s respective temperaments can also come into play. To what extent this is down to genetics or the puppies mirroring their parents’ behaviour is not entirely understood, but calmer parents are more likely to beget calmer puppies than not. This is, of course, with all else being equal in terms of each puppy’s upbringing. A puppy’s experiences from birth through to its first year, both within and without its litter, will take primacy. In this instance, nurture trumps nature.

Two contributory factors to the temperaments of female puppies is whether their mother experienced stress during her pregnancy or if they were born in a litter of mostly males. In both instances, female puppies of those litters may tend to display more masculine behaviour, and in the event of an overly stressful pregnancy, even display aggressive tendencies. There is also the risk of increased fearfulness and a reduced ability to focus and learn in litters from stressed mothers.


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Neonatal Period – 0 to 2 Weeks:

The first senses to awaken in a newborn puppy are those of smell and taste. Both these senses help the newborns to imprint on their mother and litter mates as they establish what can only be described as a ‘family smell’.

This primacy of smell should not come as a surprise, considering that dogs take in the majority of their information from their nose. The average dog nose has approximately 40x as many scent receptors than a human nose, and the cerebral area that interprets those scents is just as proportionally large by comparison. Of course, certain breeds are better at scent detection than others, as they have been bred for such a purpose. Dogs with shorter muzzles have reduced scenting ability, but even a Pug’s nose puts the average human nose to shame when it comes to scent detection.

The puppies will spend the first two weeks of their lives sleeping, suckling on their mother’s teats, as well as wriggling around, bumping into litter mates as they climb under and over one another to seek warmth within the litter.

Some gentle handling can be done at this early stage, and can even be beneficial. By raising the puppy up, tilting it ever so slightly head-up then tail-up as in a slow rocking motion, and introducing it briefly to both a warm and cool (not cold) touch – one can begin to introduce new sensations even at this young age. It is important, though, that hands are cleaned thoroughly both before and after handling, and you should ensure that the mother is happy for you to handle her young. This gentle handling should be performed only by an adult, as there is always the risk of a child dropping the puppy, which could prove fatal at such a young age..


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Transition Period – 2 to 3 Weeks:

It is during this stage that a puppy’s eyes and ear canals will open. While born deaf, a dog will ultimately be able to develop hearing that is four times greater than ours and discern sounds both well below and far above what is discernible to the human ear.

While our visual acuity tends to fare better under bright light to that of a dog, what they lack during the day they make up for both during twilight and at night. Dogs with longer skulls tend to come from hunting and herding lines, and have better motion acuity than dogs with shorter skulls and flatter features, which may explain why the former are more given to chasing squirrels in the park. They are not simply genetically predisposed toward that behaviour; their visual sense is structured to accommodate for it. That’s not to say that all dogs with long skulls will chase squirrels. Some might prefer the blur of a tennis ball whizzing over their heads, instead!

With the addition of these two senses, it is a good time to stimulate the puppy further, by introducing both soft vocal sounds and gradually introducing varying shades of light.

First Social Interactions:


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Puppies will begin to display their first overt social interactions with one another toward the end of this period, perhaps even beginning to play and communicate through barks and growls. It is at this stage you may be able to spot the formation of personality types – those that may be more bold to those that are submissive or less socially active.

© Busy Animal / courtesy of BusyAnimal.com


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Canine Socialisation Period – 4 to 7 Weeks:

This is the stage at which puppies become fully socially engaged, play fighting and biting one another. It is during these activities that they learn to moderate the strength of their bite – what we called their ‘bite inhibition’ – and other social cues, such as the play bow and tail wagging.

Puppies that are removed from their litter too young or that don’t have the opportunity to engage with other puppies at this formative stage generally tend to bite harder and more readily, and tend to be poorly equipped for interacting with other canines. They may misread or be completely oblivious to cues from other dogs, which can lead to unsolicited engagements and spats. Essentially, these dogs grow up without having learnt how to speak ‘Woofish’.

It is therefore imperative that puppies remain with both their litter mates and their mother throughout this period. For shelters that receive abandoned puppies, they should endeavour to socialise those of a similar age together, so long as they have all been medically checked and cleared of disease.


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Late Socialisation / Juvenile Period – 7 to 12 Weeks:

This is an important period in a puppy’s life, as it is usually around this time that they leave their litter mates for their new home. For that reason, it has also been called the ‘Human Socialisation Period’, although, as noted before, that process should have begun within the first two weeks of the young dog’s life.

This period also covers the First Fear Imprint Phase, which is when the puppy is especially susceptible to fright and trauma. Negative experiences at this stage can scar a dog for life, so it is vital that all introductions and experiences be as positive for the puppy as possible.

While it was mentioned that a puppy’s personality begins to be formed from experiences stemming from the Late Transition Period, that personality is still quite malleable. Puppy testing and screening is recommended, but this will simply show you where the puppy is at its current stage in life, and not what it may ultimately develop into with your nurturing and gentle instruction.

It is best that the puppy comes into contact and has positive experiences with all types of people (men, women, and children), people wearing and carrying all manner of paraphernalia (hats, rain coats, walking sticks), and traveling in all modes of transportation (bicycles, cars, wheel chairs).

These experiences can be positively reinforcing when the puppy is given the opportunity to engage with each person of its own volition and without being comforted when it shows signs of fright or panic. As much as our instincts would tell us to console the young pup, it can actually be counterproductive, for it both rewards and reinforces that negative emotional state. Rather circle away from what is bringing on that fear and then slowly reintroduce at a more gradual pace.

This is also a great time for your puppy to see the vet, but equally it is essential that this be seen as a positive experience. It used to be the case that vets would recommend against puppies being socialised with other dogs at this time, owing to their not having received full immunisation, but many are now coming around to the idea that it is actually beneficial for them to maintain those canine social interactions during this latter part of their Socialisation Period. To that end, many practices have started up their own puppy parties, to include those that have received their shots and can play in a secure and sterile space.  Only puppies of a similar age should attend and their interactions should be carefully managed.  While no formal training would occur here, such as in a puppy class, it would nevertheless be beneficial were a professional dog trainer or behaviourist be present.  For more information on how to prepare your puppy for handling by a vet, please visit our page on ‘Training for Visits to the Vet’.

While most people love to have young puppies clambering all over them and jumping up, it is also at this stage that one should gently usher the puppy down with a very gentle ‘off’ instruction. If you neglect to do so at this stage, it is not too late, but it will take longer to instill and may not be to as great effect.

Different breeds have varying endpoints to their Socialisation Period. Those breeds that are more wolf-like in appearance have a more immediate end, at 12 weeks, while the more neotenised breeds tend to have a less defined end with opportunities for further socialisation to carry on through into the next phase of their life.


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Seniority Classification Period – 3 to 4 Months:

Welcome to teenage angst and rebellion! The solution: Focus your puppy’s energies with some puppy class training. What was before simply play can become formalised into lessons. Don’t believe for a second that your young pup won’t try to push his luck and test your boundaries, but this is the time when gentle discipline and consistency is key.

Your puppy will want to make friends, of course, and most likely with every single dog in the park. Don’t be too taken aback if some of the older dogs snarl or snap at him. They’re simply doing what they would expect any other respectable adult to do with a young upstart: To put him in his place and remind him to respect his elders.


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Flight Instinct Period – 4 to 8 months:

And then all that beautiful training goes out the window…

Just when you think you have got it all sorted – sit, stay, toilet in the garden – it all seems to disappear, along with your dog, who no longer responds to your recall cue. But don’t fear, it simply means a return to basics, to remind your dog of what he has hitherto learnt, and very soon he will be back on form, so long as you maintain consistency and remember to praise, not scold, him when in fact he does come running back to you.

Midway through this stage, as the dog begins to enter puberty, it will experience its Second Fear Imprint Phase. Again, it is vital that it not be exposed to stress or trauma. Even a stern reprimand can have a negative impact on your dog’s future relationship with you and may determine its character for life. You may find yourself having to reintroduce familiar people and objects, but remember to not console when your dog is expressing fear, simply withdraw from the cause and reintroduce more gradually.


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ADOLESCENCE:

Congratulations! Your dog has made it through puppyhood and to adolescence! But now is not the time to give it the keys to the car. You are still in the driving seat, and to that end all the good upbringing that you have instilled in your dog needs to continue, so be consistent with the boundaries that you have set, the training your dog has learnt, and the security that you provide.

Never give up on an opportunity for your dog to socialise with others – humans as well as dogs of varying breeds, shapes, and sizes. The broader your dog’s interpretation of what a ‘dog’ is, or what it considers to be a ‘human’, the less of a threat they will seem, and the more stable and outgoing your furry friend will be.

It will be during his adolescence that your dog will develop an active or passive defence reflex, or in other words whether he responds instinctively to a challenge with displays of aggression or submission. A lot of this will have been seeded throughout his puppyhood, but it is now that these displays will come to the fore.

This is also the stage in your dog’s life when he or she will reach sexual maturity. Males will remain sexually active throughout the year, while females will have two seasons per year, each lasting anywhere between two and four weeks. It is at this point that you will need to decide whether to have your dog neutered or spayed. At exactly what age one should have this done, whether to allow a bitch to experience a first season, and even if such procedures should be carried out at all, remains hotly contested. Advocates maintain that the result is a temperamentally calmer dog, while opponents argue that it results in the exact the opposite. What is undisputed is that carrying out a spay or neuter when your dog is too young can stunt both its physical and mental development. No female dog should be spayed until just prior to its first season at the earliest, and ideally males should only be neutered once they are beginning to show signs of sexual maturity, such as cocking a leg to mark. For more information, please read our page on ‘Neutering & Spaying Your Pet’.


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THE ADULT DOG:

Having now matured, your dog will continue to learn from and be affected by experiences throughout his adult life. But having been properly nurtured through his growing years, he will be in a much better position to deal with them.

Should you decide to adopt a dog that may not have enjoyed such a beneficial upbringing, you may be able to discern from his behaviour what issues he may have faced during his growing years and what aspect of his upbringing he may have missed out on. It may even point toward the type of corrective training required to help ameliorate his poor behaviour. At the very least, you will be better able to understand and protect him by not inadvertently placing him into confrontational situations that could trigger poor responses.

Either way, it will now be his turn to tell off those upstart puppies that come bounding over to him in the park!


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PROBLEM BEHAVIOURS

Behavioural issues in dogs come in many forms and for many reasons. Some may be a result of poor upbringing while others may stem from an intense, negative experience during one of the two Fear Imprint stages of development. In fact, it is worth remembering that a number of behaviours that we view as problematic are in fact perfectly natural to a dog. Whether it is barking, chewing, digging, or even stool-eating, these natural behaviours cannot be corrected but only re-directed with some measure of success.

It is also worth remembering that there is a very important distinction between training and correction – a fact that many dog trainers get wrong when they promote positive reward training as the salve to all canine ills. Certainly training comes into it, but training a dog out of an ingrained behaviour can be very different from training a dog into one, particularly if the cause is deep-rooted and formed from a trauma.

When it comes to training, it is perfectly possible for owners to train their dogs themselves, although it may be preferable to have a trainer on-hand to provide both guidance and support. However, when it comes to correcting behavioural issues, it is a absolute necessary that the owner seeks support and guidance from a qualified dog behaviourist.

Some of the tools that a dog behaviourist will use to correct unwanted behaviours include:
• Counter Conditioning – training the dog out of a conditioned or association-based response
• Desensitisation – reducing a negative association to external stimuli through gradual, low-threshold introduction (Note: this is very different from flooding, which is exposing a dog directly and forcefully to a negative association, and should never be done as it can lead to anxiety, stress, and learned helplessness)
• Habituation – reducing a conditioned response to an inconsequential event
• Redirection – transferring one set of responses to another set of stimuli

It is always worth remembering that while dogs are influenced by past events, they nevertheless live in the present. Reprimanding or punishing them for something done only minutes before, or for behaviour they are presently doing, but that is based on a history of negative associations, would not only be unsuccessful but also counterproductive. In effect, it can easily make matters worse!


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Aggression vs Fear:

It would be incorrect to say that no dog is born fearful or aggressive.  As noted before, puppies born from a stressed pregnancy may be more prone to express such tendencies than otherwise would be the case.  But it is pretty much all but true. The vast majority of aggressive and/or fearful dogs come to be this way because of their upbringing, most usually owing to a lack of proper socialisation or due to a deeply negative experience during one of their sensitive periods.

Fear Aggression in Dogs:


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Often but not always, aggression is a manifestation of a dog’s fear, as the dog has learnt that by responding aggressively he will get what he wants, which is for the object of his fear to retreat. This is what we call Fear Aggression.  For more information on how to read a dog’s body language, refer to our page on ‘Dog Body Language & Communication’.

© Busy Animal / courtesy of BusyAnimal.com


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Aggression can also be manifested through frustration. A dog that is tethered and unable to greet another dog or person may begin by barking, but this can quickly escalate to growling and snapping. Given time, the dog will learn to associate these aggressive displays with the presence of other people and dogs. This is especially so in cases where a dog has been tethered or chained for an extended period of time. Sadly, this capacity for associative learning is abused by disreputable guard dog owners, who may chain their dog for hours on their own in order to channel the dog’s agitation into aggression.

Aggression in the form of bullying or overly rough play most likely stems from poor canine socialisation. Dogs may have been removed too young from their litter, or not had similarly tempered litter mates to play with, and so never had the opportunity to learn bite inhibition. While some dogs will begin to play rough from the off, others will ramp up their play and may not be able to read the cues of the other dog attempting to calm the play down. This breakdown in communication, again borne out of a lack of canine socialisation, can result in a fight breaking out.  See below for more information on rough play.

While resolving aggression and fear issues will take time and require the input of a dog behaviourist, there are things the owner can do to mitigate these situations from arising. The owner should learn their dog’s stress threshold, and should never put him in a situation that challenges him. In other words, don’t set your dog up to fail. That is not to say the owner should practice absolute avoidance to whatever causes the fear or aggression, but that he should simply maintain a suitable distance from it so that when the dog does notice he can be ushered on with a treat and high praise for not expressing a negative reaction. Involving a dog behaviourist will give the owner an opportunity to establish exactly where that stress threshold lies, and then guide the dog through a process of gradual desensitisation, counter conditioning, and confidence building, to the point where the issue, if not completely resolved, is at least substantially reduced.


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Begging:

Have you ever fed your dog off your own plate, or given it scraps from the dinner table? Don’t worry, we’ve all been guilty of doing it at some point or another. But it is exactly these ill-judged behaviours on our part that leads our dogs to begging, if not cajoling us for a portion of our meal. Why not, when we’ve done it before?

The best practice is simply not to do it, and your dog will quickly learn there is little reward to hanging around the dinner table. But if you are going to give in to those soulful, pleading eyes, then when you have handed over that final tidbit be sure to give a firm cue that there will be no more to come. Simply say: “That’s all!”… and stick to it!

The issue here is that the scraps that we give are generally given at the end of each meal, which means from a dog’s point of view hanging around the dinner table will ultimately be rewarding in any event. Really, the best solution is that any scraps are given well away from the main table and after all dishes have been cleared, preferably in the dog’s bowl and not directly off your own plate!

A simple way to turn this unwanted behaviour to your advantage is to make your dog work for that treat. Even if it is learning the simple ‘down’ command, you will be instilling something positive into your dog as it pleads for your grub. Just remember to gradually delay the reward so as to extend the period that he has to be down. As an added boon, you may find that he will be all too happy to assume that down position whenever you’re sat eating dinner at your table!


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Chasing & Herding:

These are two natural behaviours to most dogs, particularly certain breeds that were designed for such purposes. To that end, the best solution to the problem is to redirect your dog’s actions and energy. Find something else for him to chase, like a frisbee, tennis ball, or other toy.  Be sure that your dog  finds this item irresistible.   That means you will need to prime it.  Both you and he will need to engage with it often and in as fun and rewarding a way as possible.  Each time your dog engages with it, be sure to praise him and provide a high-motivating treat, such as cocktail sausages or strips of chicken.  Build up positive associations and plenty of rewards.

Interestingly enough, this approach can work to alleviate herding, as well.

The important thing is to gain your dog’s attention and to stop the inappropriate behaviour before it occurs. By teaching your dog the ‘No’ and ‘Look’ commands (see ‘Training Your Dog’) and issuing them as he is about to begin, you will be able to then redirect him to the action that you deem appropriate, such as your next cue word being: ‘Ball!’ or ‘Toy!’ as you throw it. You will not want to set your dog up to fail, so it would be best to at first practice in a low trigger environment, well away from any cats, rabbits, or squirrels.

Complete redirection may be especially difficult with ex-hunting dogs. You may not be able to redirect in each and every instance, but by training your dog to remain close to you and to pay attention to your signals, you will be in a better position to control his chasing and herding behaviour.


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Chewing:

Dogs invariably will go through two teething periods: the first is around 3 to 4 months of age, when adult teeth replace puppy teeth, and the second is around 6 to 12 months, as the adult teeth begin to settle in the jawbone. It is perfectly natural for dogs at these ages to want to chew, so the important thing is to give them a good alternative and to reward them for chewing on those.

That’s not to say a young dog won’t find other items (shoes, furniture, TV remotes…) more tantalising, but it’s a good start! Such items should be removed where possible, while those that cannot be removed can be sprayed with an anti-chewing spray, which will leave a bad taste in puppy’s mouth.

However, if your dog is older and chewing objects, then there may be other factors at play. Does your dog appear bored, stressed, or anxious? These are three main reasons why a dog will turn to destructive behaviours. He may require greater stimulation and distraction, or if stressed and anxious, then you may need to delve into what might be causing this and mediate those concerns for him.


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Coprophagia/Stool Eating:

Coprophagia, or the eating of feces, is a particular unpleasant pastime of a lot of dogs, and one most owners would be happy to do without. Sadly, like rolling in said filth, it is a natural and instinctive behaviour for dogs, being a holdover of their scavenging past, so one that would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to correct.

The best option, of course, would be to avoid areas that provide the opportunity for fecal consumption. Similarly, if you house other pets, be sure to have their toilet area – be it a litter tray or other – secure from the paw reach of your pet dog.

While little can be done about the feces of wild animals, pet owners can give some consideration for other owners by picking up after their pets, for there is nothing worse than finding your dog eating or rolling in filth. Short of stepping in it yourself!


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Digging:

Digging is yet another behaviour that comes perfectly naturally to dogs. And this is especially the case when they’ve been provided with a prized object, such as a juicy bone! But burying is only one reason that I dog might dig. Some breeds are designed specifically to smell out prey and then to dig them out of their burrows or warrens. On particularly hot days, some dogs like to scrape out a bowl in the earth to settle in, as the fresh soil cools them down. Others, apparently, just love the feel of grit between their paws!

Knowing which of these reasons is why your dog may be tempted to dig will help you redirect that behaviour by tackling it at source. If he is burying objects, such as treats, then by removing it at an appropriate time and show him that you can just as well bury it in the back of the cupboard may alleviate his concerns that it will fall into enemy paws. Providing shaded spots in the garden might help those who dig for the coolness of the soil.

And for those that simply like to dig, it might be worth setting aside a section of the garden for this purpose, rewarding your dog for digging there and nowhere else, or in other words: Create a doggy sandpit!


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Excessive Barking:

There is nothing more tiring than having a dog that barks, and barks… and barks. But for heaven’s sake, don’t join in! And if you start shouting at the dog, that’s all that he will think you’re doing. So if shouting isn’t an option, then what is?

It would help if you understood what the triggers were for your dog’s barking, as well as what he might be trying to communicate. Is he barking out of excitement or anxiety? Is he trying to alert you or warn off others? Some dogs will bark out of sheer boredom, as if to say: “Hey, I’m here! Pay some attention to me!”

While you would certainly want to understand the root cause and correct the behaviour at source, one training method an owner could employ to at least partly control the behaviour would be to teach the dog to ‘speak’ on command. This would simply be a case of commanding the dog to ‘Speak!’ by providing that verbal cue with a reward each time the dog begins to bark. Once the dog has learnt this and is prepared to bark on command, it is time to introduce the ‘quiet’ cue. Simply offer it a treat while its barking, and as it quietens to accept the treat, say – don’t shout: ‘Quiet’.

Most excessive barking is very situation-specific, hence difficult to advise on more generally. Suffice to say, understanding the emotion behind the bark is a positive step toward finding a solution. Excitability can be redirected toward other things, such as a favourite toy; boredom can be alleviated through physical and mental stimulation; stress and anxiety can be resolved through desensitisation and counter conditioning.


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Inappropriate Toileting:

While understandably wearing, as with excessive barking, there is no point in shouting let alone rubbing your dog’s nose in it. As has been stated before, dogs learn from past experience, but they live in the present, and all that they will associate with that experience is that you get rather nasty and vindictive when you’re around their bodily waste. So with that in mind, having been told off in such a way, are they more or less likely to toilet around you, even when it is appropriate? More likely they will simply try to find another, more hidden space to do it in, or worse yet, decide that it is better to eat their stools than have it be discovered.

The first step is to rule out any medical reasons for this behaviour. Incontinence is an issue for older dogs, but can also be a result of bladder infections, tumours and other conditions that cause your dog to drink excessively.
Stress and anxiety can also cause inappropriate toileting, so it may be a case of treating these underlying causes rather than adding to them by shouting and yelling at the dog.

For younger dogs, it may simply be a case of revisiting their basic toilet training. For more information on puppy toilet training, please refer to the page: ‘Training for Dogs’.


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Jumping Up:

Puppies are undeniably cute, and it is quite easy to forgive them for jumping up at us. In fact, we tend to reward such behaviour by bending down and showering them with affection. But then just wait a couple of months, when they’re big, and that cuteness factor may no longer outweigh (both figuratively and literally!) the heft of an adult dog.

The best solution is to nip this behaviour in the bud while the dog is still young. The approach you would take to educate an older dog would be the same but may just take a bit longer to instill.

The first rule is to ignore the dog whenever it jumps up, rewarding it only when it remains on all four paws, be that in a stand or sitting position. If the dog persists, merely turn away from it, and once it returns to all paws on the ground then turn back and reward it.

Both persistence and consistency are key. You may find that it will take older dogs and more boisterous puppies a little bit longer to respond to this new cue, but in time you will be able to turn even the most avid jumper around.


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Resource Guarding:

As stated earlier, there is no conferred hierarchy within any dog community, but dogs will assert themselves over those things they deem to be most valuable, and when taken to excess this can easily tip over into guarding those items even from their owner.

Food, Toy & Bed Guarding Behaviour:


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As with all problem behaviours, the sooner this is dealt with the easier it will be to manage. The longer a dog gets away with expressing unwanted behaviour, the more that behaviour becomes both ingrained and self-rewarding, and the harder it will be to correct.

Begin by switching out that item that the dog is guarding. If it is a toy, switch it for another at a time when the dog is not around. If it is his food bowl, then buy another one and change the location where he is fed.   If it is a bed, then temporarily remove it and replace it with another bed that is placed in a different location. Now you can begin the process of correcting the problem behaviour.

Remember: Corrective training, like all forms of training, take time and require consistency, patience, and repetition.  If your dog has been resource guarding for some time and there is any risk that he may bite you, then please consult with a trained dog behaviourist before attempting any of the following.

© Busy Animal / courtesy of BusyAnimal.com


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For food guarding, you may need to begin by feeding him by hand, one small handful at a time. Obviously if you’ve been feeding him raw or tinned food, this may present a problem, so best switch to kibble for now! Begin to transfer that handful to the bowl, adding to the bowl as each handful is devoured until the dog has finished his portion. Gently praise him throughout for accepting your presence. Once he is done, remove the bowl.

When you begin to provide him his food all at once, have him sit and wait a short distance away while you place the bowl down, then continue to stand beside him while he eats. Offer him a small treat as you reach down and remove the bowl, and praise him.

For those dogs that are more wedded to what’s in the bowl than the bowl itself, you may need to consider changing the feeding time, as well as the location you feed them in to disrupt as many of the associations and as much of the predicted routine as possible.

For toy guarding, you will want to prevent similar behaviour from occurring with the new item you have provided. Teach your dog the Touch Cue (for more information, refer to our page on ‘Training Your Dog’), and have him learn to touch your empty hand in order to receive the toy from the other. At the end of the play, perform the Touch Cue again, but this time have a delicious treat in your other hand. The dog will soon discover that he is rewarded for dropping his toy.

With bed guarding, you don’t want to reinforce his guarding behaviour by giving him food while he is growling, so approach the bed to a proximity that won’t trigger his guarding behaviour and then toss him a treat. As he begins to chew on the treat, take a few steps closer and stop when he has finished, then throw him another treat. Repeat this exercise by approaching from different angles and until you can get up close without prompting a reaction, and then lure him off the bed with a high motivator treat, praising him for stepping away.


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Rough Play:

Inappropriate, or rough, play can present itself in various guises:

• An assertive dog bullying or intimidating another
• A socially unskilled dog charging in to play with another
• A dog getting locked into a single mode of play that escalates in intensity
• A fearful dog tipping into aggression in an effort to break off play

Correcting rough play will invariably require the help of a qualified behaviourist. Often it will be about closely monitoring the rough player’s demeanour, and then interrupting play at crucial moments in order to switch the dog’s focus before play tips over to aggression. The purpose of this is to build within the dog the ability to self-interrupt or, at the very least, provide the owner with the means to cue such a conditioned response.

This corrective training requires a highly controlled environment with secure time-out areas, as well as a number of calm yet confident, unassailable dogs! Muzzles should be used for those dogs with a low bite inhibition threshold, but they should have already been introduced to the dog through a careful process of desensitisation, as you don’t want to be introducing an element of frustration into such a mix.


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Scenting & Marking:

While it is generally understood that male dogs perform urine-marking, it is also not uncommon for female dogs to urine-mark. This is a perfectly natural activity for our dogs, but one that can become a problem when it occurs indoors.

Marking is very different from accidental toileting, as its purpose is to convey a message to other dogs, including the sex, health, and reproductive status of that dog. As scents tend to dissipate quite quickly, dogs will repeatedly mark an area, so all your cleaning efforts may only be seen as an invitation for your dog to return to mark that spot again!

Neutering your dog will certainly reduce the likelihood of marking, but may not eliminate it entirely. It may take a few weeks or months after the operation for a male stop marking.

One can further mitigate indoor marking by reducing those activities and objects which promote marking in the first place. Both excessive levels of play and the proximity of high-value items, such as favourite toys, can promote urination, so saving these activities and objects for outdoors may limit the possibility of an accident from happening.

Equally, by taking your dog out more frequently, not only for toileting but also for the opportunity to explore his surroundings and the associated scents, you will drastically reduce the chance of indoor marking. He will be too busy performing that function outside!


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Separation Anxiety:

Firstly, it is important to distinguish between separation anxiety and boredom in pets, even though many of the destructive outcomes may be the same.

Boredom can and should be easily dealt with by stimulating your dog more often, not only through more frequent walks but by also introducing him to new sights, smells, and sounds, or tantalising his taste buds with a new treat. Focus on his breed’s needs, be they hunting, herding, or retrieving, and create games that play to his strengths. Perhaps even consider agility classes or additional training to engage his mind. If you’re working all day, then hire a dog walker, or better yet, find a doggy daycare so that he can socialise with some new canine friends.

Separation anxiety is more acute than boredom, and can occur from the moment you leave your dog alone, even for a few minutes. A lot of the problem behaviours we have described above may develop, such as chewing, excessive barking, inappropriate toileting, and other obsessive, self-calming forms of behaviour, like excessive grooming, pacing, sniffing, and spinning.

It is important for all young dogs to learn to enjoy their own company for a time, and all too often this type of anxiety stems from a dog that has never learnt the pleasure of its own company. Other causes can include a history of abandonment or having been removed from its litter too soon. For older dogs, it may be indicative of cognitive decline.

It is important that these dogs learn a measure of independence and self-control. But this learning must be gradual. It all begins by teaching your dog to be alone for brief periods while you’re at home. Begin by placing the dog in a separate room for only a few minutes at a time, making no fuss over it while you leave nor when you return. When you do let the dog out, continue to ignore it for another few minutes and resume what you were doing. Initiate some space between you and the dog while you are relaxing. If while you watch TV, the dog is used to climbing up beside you on the sofa, tease it down with a high-motivator treat and let it enjoy it in its own bed.

When preparing to leave the house, vary your normal routine a bit. Be aware of subtle cues you may be giving off, such as the jangling of keys. If this has been a cue to your leaving in the past, perhaps pick them up well before you leave, continue doing something else, and leave fifteen minutes later. Again when you leave, don’t fuss over the dog. Leave him with the high-motivator treat you provided before and exit the house.

Initially you may want to only be out for five minutes before returning, gradually building up to longer periods away. And each time you do return, while your dog may be beside himself with joy, try and remain calm and contained. Give him fifteen minutes to cool down, and then give him some – not all – of the cuddles and affection he has been craving. Part of the issue for anxiety-prone dogs lies in the intensity of our relationship with them. We need to set the level that allows for a healthy mix of companionship and time alone.


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Space Invaders:

Never mind aliens from another planet coming down to plunder our resources, dogs have beaten them to it. Whether its our beds, our sofas, our cooked dinner on the table, or the uncooked ingredients on the kitchen counter, all is fair game for the carefree pooch. After all, you are the provider! Well, aren’t you?

Dogs need boundaries. And inasmuch as a few trainers might like you to think that the only training a dog should enjoy is that of positive reinforcement, they still need to learn such commands as: ‘Leave’, ‘No’, and ‘Off’. This does not mean that you’re dominating your dog, simply that you are establishing a set of rules for peaceful co-habitation.

As with the boundaries of nations, these rules need to be consistent. If the borders of a country kept changing, people wouldn’t ever be quite sure as to where they stood, and so too with your dog. If you would rather have your bedroom a dog-free zone, then establish that from the outset by not placing his dog bed there while he is young.

That’s not to say he can never share your sofa or join you on the bed, if you want him to. The rule could be that he can only do so when you summon him up. In that case, you are giving him clear signals when it is permitted and when it is not. Be prepared, though, that he may still decide to take advantage of your absence by lying there when you are not present, albeit responding to the ‘Off’ command once given.

Giving him an attractive alternative, such as a cosy dog bed beside the sofa that you can usher him to, would certainly help. But please don’t buy a dog bed and simply expect your furry friend to select that as his preferred sleeping spot. Of course it will be your bed, or your sofa, or seemingly pretty much anywhere else that you have been, much to your chagrin! And there’s good reason for that: It’s because all those places smell of you. What more good reason could there be for such an attached canine companion? But do not fear, for this will not require you curling into that dog bed to make it smell of you. All you need do is place in it an old shirt or sweater, or even a towel – something that carries your scent – and it will make that bed so much more appealing to your ever-faithful, scent-oriented friend.


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