5 Steps to Crate Train for Dog Behavior Modification
February 9, 2009 by M.B.Bryce · Leave a Comment
Crate training a pet is inherent for dog behavior modification …So, you must first appreciate the function of the crate. The purpose of the crate IS NOT for discipline. If you suitably crate train a pet, he will feel it as his “sanctuary” and will be happy to spend time there when required.
1. The first item you want to do when you crate train a pet is set the crate in an area of your home where the family spends a lot of time, such as the living room. Make sure you put a cozy blanket or towel in the crate.
2. Afterward, guide your dog beside the crate and speak to him in a joyful tone of voice. Make sure the door to the crate is accessible. For dog behavior modification, encourage your dog to enter the crate with food snacks near it and right inside the crate (around the door) and lastly all the way inside the crate. Do not strong arm your dog inside the crate. If he doesn’t desire to go…it is okay. Continue to throw treats inside the crate until the dog walks calmly completely in to the crate to get the goodies. If food doesn’t do the job, try using a cherished toy. Utilize your body to close the opening, after your dog goes in the crate.
3. Redo the number 2, in place of blocking the door with your body, close the door to the crate.
4. Provide a delectable chomp toy (by layering it with peanut butter or cream cheese), lead your canine within the crate. While he is in the crate, give him the chomp toy and shut the door. While your canine is enthralled in chewing, move around, periodically going outdoors. Release your canine from the crate once he finishes chewing (or once he gets up if he’s been napping) but only if he is unexcited.
5. Commend your dog once he is in the crate, however don’t commend him as he is exiting out of his crate. This teaches him that being in the crate is pleasing and agreeable, while coming out is neutral. Furthermore, don’t make a huge ado while putting him in or taking him out, thus he will see it as no huge display.
Dog behavior modification originates with you, the loyal pet owner. Crate training is just one stage of thousands to keep your dog happy and healthy.
7 Tips To Correct Aggression Employing Dog Behavior Modification
Your training needs to establish you and your family as the “alpha” status in the pack. That resigns your dog to the base of the pack pecking order. Once the family demonstrates leadership over the dog, questions correlated to power may oftentimes be settled. This is why the communality and dog behavior modification are awfully necessary.
7 Techniques for Dog Behavior Modification
1. Give goodies. Stress to yourself that your canine can have whatever he wishes if he is groomed to work for it. Decidedly, it is imperative to reward any exemplary, unplanned dog behavior modification. Keep on your toes! Dogs will shock you!
2. Curb the food store. Since food is such a prized commodity, it is imperative to make your dog realize you oversee this valuable resource.
3. Conserve nuzzling. Rubbing, and the acceptance that goes with it, is a dynamic reward for most dogs and as such should be distributed in the same way as food.
4. Restrict kudos. Approval may be another highly appreciated treasure for which alpha canines must be required to work. Appreciating a dog constantly decreases the implication of this otherwise much valued recognition.
5. Utilize toys as rewards. The provision of toys is a privilege for which dominant dogs have to work.
6. Restrict games. Games are amusing, and as such, must be restricted. You have to introduce all activities and you determine when they are done.
7. Let your pet gain liberty. Liberty is one of life’s privileges and with freedom comes the desire for social obligation and respect.
Dog behavior modification is key when dogs use aggression to assert bad behavior. Keep in mind that YOU ARE THE BOSS…YOU CONTROL what happens.
How to Ease Separation Anxiety With Dog Behavior Modification
January 29, 2009 by MB Bryce · Leave a Comment
Dog behavior modification can be complicated. Dogs are social animals and as such delight in being with their humans. When left in solitary they often become agitated, suffering from an attachment disorder, known as separation anxiety. Canines who suffer from separation anxiety often reveal their anxiety by excessive, barking, whining, digging, gnawing and soiling.
The notably effective cure for separation anxiety contains dog behavior modification. There are couple manageable tips that can help.
1. Crate training is certainly practical in separation anxiety. Many canines respond well to confinement in a small location because it makes them feel reassured. Remember, the crate or “safe place” is an area where the canine feels unthreatened and comfortable; never use the crate or “safe place” as punishment.
2. Notice the hints of distress. Owners need to spot the warning hints of distress: panting, pacing, whining, trembling, digging, declining to eat, ears tucked down and back; all these add up to anxiety.
Owners cannot honor these behaviors by saying “You’re okay!” Before the canine becomes agitated, owners should calm the behavior by speaking to the pet, stroking it or grooming. If the pet still becomes anxious when the owner exits, they must ignore the action and not over the pet. Fussing or sympathizing unconsciously rewards the nervous action.
3. One of the best tricks for dog behavior modification is exercise. The more you exercise your canine, the more nervousness is relaxed, hence, the less your canine will gnaw your furniture when you are away. There is an absolute correlation with anxiety minimization in people and exercise. The same goes with dogs. Take your canine for a long, and I mean a LONG walk. It will be a great nervous tension help for you and your pet. Think of the relationship you will have and the amazing health benefits!!!
Separation anxiety can be cured with dog behavior modification. Separation anxiety can be severe and all-consuming to some dogs. Other dogs can adjust with just a couple tips.
If you find your pet is a an extreme case, seek a veterinary evaluation by a behaviorist. They may need pharmacological assistance in addition to the dog behavior modification. Hopefully, the above tricks will benefit and in no time your pet will be relaxing while you are away.
Training of Aggressive Dogs
It must have happened to you while walking on the beach or the local park. There jumping on and off the walking path is a puppy in the throes of life. You know that such a dog is full of wonder at every little butterfly that flutters. Its non-stop tail movement is evidence that it is truly happy to meet each and every non-threatening stranger.
Seconds later, however as you are twenty or thirty meters away you and every one else hears a high pitch yapping and you turn already knowing with horror as you hear the deep throated roar that that little puppy that you just passed is in some serious trouble. Perhaps even its owner is not able to extricate it from the problem.
There are a myriad of reasons for what we call bad behavior on the part of canines. Inbreeding, bad upbringing, chronic damage such as poor dental health. Any of these can be contributing factors as to why a dog would suddenly go off in a public area.
My neighbor tells the story of his dog which is actually half dog and half Northern wolf.
About 12 months ago, he had gone inside the house after tying his puppy to the tail of his pickup truck. He estimated it had about 15 feet of slack on its leash. He claims he was only inside about 10 minutes before he heard a shout and the snarl of a pit bull. He ran to his front door and saw this scene.
There, running free of its leash and cutting a line straight towards his big puppy was a vicious pit Bull. He remembers his dog backing up to the vehicle as if to get enough slack in its leash. In no time the pit bull had crossed 30 feet and without so much as a hello, launched itself in the air towards the puppy.
What happened next was more of a blur, but as he describes it the pitBull jumped and was airborne and in attack mode in no time at all. The waiting half wolf had expected this and when the pitbull grabbed for where the puppy’s throat was, it got nothing but air. On landing, the pitbull tried to launched itself yet again but the puppy was already above it in the air and promptly seized the pitbull’s throat as it attempted to shake it into submission.
A very low wolf like growl emitted from my neighbors dog. For a moment the pitBull went slack and the half wolf tossed it about 2 meters.
The pitbull landed and without touching ground ( thats what witnesses say ) twisted and was airborne across the 10 feet distance. The slightly bigger half wolf puppy crouched and met the pitBull midair but this time instead of warning it, it snapped its neck and well, that was that.
Time that had rushed faster than anyone could probably recount, suddenly stood still. The only slow movement came from the puppy as it backed to the vehicle, slunk down and looked around.
Its truly sad when something like this happens. The savagery of the episode is lost in the speed and suddeness of an attack like this. We heard that an older child had been threatened by the same dog a year earlier and that there was pending investigations about that due to those on the scene telling different versions of what they thought they saw.
I guess, the wheels of justice move slowly and that sometimes the animal kingdom simply takes things into its own. Afterwards, everyone was very certain that the puppy would have stood no chance under the fierce onslaught of the pitBull, but nature thought differently.
How to Train a Puppy Using the Crate Method
November 17, 2008 by Brian Lehr · Leave a Comment
So, you’ve got a new puppy. Congratulations! Now comes the fun part — house training. There are many misconceptions floating around about how to accomplish this, so in this article I am going to share what is probably the easiest and most effective way to house train your new puppy.
As far as house training goes, crate training is generally accepted to be the most effective and efficient means of house training a puppy in a short space of time. Crate training is essentially the use of a small indoor kennel (the crate) to confine your young puppy when you’re not actively supervising her.
The whole premise behind this method of crate training is that all dogs have an inbuilt dislike of going to the bathroom in an area where they normally sleep. Therefore, because she’s spending most of her time in her “sleeping quarters”, she will naturally wait until put outside before relieving herself (assuming that you let her out at reasonable intervals).
When choosing a crate, make sure you get one that will allow your new puppy to grow to her full size without having to replace the crate. Be sure it has enough space for your dog to easily stand up and move around a bit. As the dog gets bigger, you don’t want her being housed in a crate that’s too confining.
Unless you’ve got a puppy that will remain small even after being fully grown, you’ll have to place some kind of divider inside the large crate that will temporarily block off some of the inside of the crate from being used until she’s big enough to need the extra space. Otherwise, the extra space might be used as a bathroom space, and that defeats the whole purpose of crate training.
Crate training works like this: your puppy is in that crate at all times unless she’s sleeping, eating, outside with you going to the toilet, or being played with (active supervision). You’ll need to be consistent, or else it won’t work: you can’t let your puppy wander off through the house unless you’re focusing your complete attention on her. If you allow her access to the house before she’s thoroughly house trained, you’re basically encouraging her to relieve herself inside - and remember, each time she does this, it’ll be easier for her to do it again (and again and again ).
So, how long should your puppy be in the crate for any length of time? Use the following formula to determine this: how old is she, in months? Now, add one. Thus, if your puppy is only two months old, she should be in the crate for a maximum of three hours at a time. Ideally, however, it would be good to take her out to stretch her legs and to go to the bathroom every 2-3 hours. However, if she’s sleeping, then just let her keep sleeping (especially if it’s through the night!).
Training a puppy using the crate training method is not an overnight solution. It can take up to two months maximum, usually less, for this process to work. But that a short time considering the number of years she’ll be part of your family. As you progress with your crate training, you can begin to reduce the amount of time the puppy is in the crate, but make sure you continue to monitor her while she’s not in the crate. After all that hard work, you’d hate to start back one square one again because she starts going to the bathroom in the house.


