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Dogs may be man's best friend, but a canine who won't stop barking
and jumping can not
only strain the relationship, but anger the neighbors and, in serious cases,
lead to other consequences.
In these situations, a dog barks to get attention and the owner, usually,
has unintentionally taught it do so by spoiling the animal and rewarding it
for barking. Fortunately, the behavior can be corrected, provided the owner
takes the initiative to correct his ways.
The owner usually doesn't realize they are actually rewarding their dog for
barking and that it will soon learn this is a great way to get attention!
Once a pup learns a habit, whether it is good or bad, it will carry that
habit into adulthood and is much harder to change.
As an example, if something scares or startles the dog it will bark, then
the owner pats it as a way of saying "everything is ok". Your canine friend
will interpret this patting and empathizing as a reward for barking, so will
bark whenever he wants attention.
Let's say you have just bought a puppy, you take it home, the puppy gets
excited and constantly barks and jumps up and down to attract your
attention. Your response is to the pick up the puppy and cuddle it, thus
your pup soon learns this is all it has to do to get your attention.
The problem is, by the time the pup reaches maturity it has formed a habit
and will constantly demand you pick it up and give him, or her, attention by
barking or jumping on you. Of course, this soon becomes annoying but you
love your dog and hate to discipline it, so you either pick him up or shout
at him to be quiet, but he keeps barking.
Your dog must relies that, like any relationship, he has to learn the art of
giving and receiving. In other words, he must respect your space. Once he
realizes he can't just demand attention whenever it suits, you can train him
to stay on the floor and accept attention there, rather than jumping into
your arms.
The first step in retraining your dog is to teach him to sit on command.
Once he has learned this basic command well, you are in a position to fix
the barking/jumping problem. The next time your dog begins to bark and/or jump on you, tell him to sit.
If he ignores you DO NOT FOCUS ANY ATTENTION ON THE DOG. After a minute or
two, focus attention back on the dog and make him sit again. Once the dog
has obeyed the command, pet and praise him for his actions. Initially, you
can pick him up briefly and praise him, then put him back on the floor, but
if he still barks and jumps around, get him to sit again, praise him, but
don't pick him up.
Keep practicing this and soon your dog will realize he will be rewarded for
good behavior and ignored for bad. You must be consistent though. Don't ever
give in to that pleading look one day and pick the dog up, then yell at it
the next for doing the same thing – you will only send confusing signals and
he won't know how to behave. Always make him sit quietly before petting or
praising, if he does not obey ignore him!
A well trained dog is a happy dog, because they know exactly what the rules
of the relationship are and you, as an owner, will respond with greater love
because he is such a pleasurable animal to be with.
