How can I stop reinforcing my dogs demand behaviors?

Question

Jessica Wheatcraft · Answer

How can I stop reinforcing my dogs demand behaviors? I want to reframe this just a bit. So your dog is demanding things from you and because they're trying to actually communicate their needs and the only way that they know how and unfortunately those behaviors have been reinforced because they eventually got what they wanted. Anyways, so there's going to be two sides to this in terms of decreasing that actual Behavior. So the first one is figure out what it is that you would rather have your dog do. Instead let's say for example you would prefer that when your dog wants something, they approach you and they sit quietly. So if that's the behavior that you want you're going to have to train the heck out of it. And what I mean by that is I would do multiple repetitions a day, I would be asking for the sit. I would be feeding it with a treat and then afterwards, giving them something else that they wanted. You want your dog to associate. If I do this Behavior, I get reinforced and then something else that I want also occur shortly afterwards and there's something else that they want. Could be things like getting at least put on getting their food bowl, put down access to going outside, maybe it's putting so throughout the day reinforce that as much as you want or as much as you can and then follow that with a thing that your dog wants. And eventually your dog is going to make the connection that when I do this Behavior, I frequently get what I want the other side to that though, is that if your dog does start engaging in, some of the old unwanted behaviors, I do what I call changing the picture. So changing the picture means I'm going to do something drastically different than what I am currently doing. I'm not going to turn my back to the dog and wait for them to stop doing what they're doing. I'm going to go check the mail or gosh. Time to go take a shower. I'm just going to do something totally different so that way my dog is learning. Wow! Well when I did that behavior, my human does something completely different. That doesn't involve me at all so this Behavior doesn't actually work for me. So I think between the two of those things, it's going to be the easiest way that you can stop that reinforcing your dogs to Man Behind

Juliana DeWillems · Answer

How can I stop reinforcing my dogs demand behaviors Juliana to Williams here certified, dog, trainer, and behavior consultant. Now, I'm going to give you a different perspective on this, and it might sound different than how Society is kind of conditioned us to approach Behavior. Like this, be careful about the labeled demand. When it comes to describing Behavior, a building, a behavior is demanding which is a very human construct can cause us to miss what's really going on with the behavior and what is driving it. A lot of times when dogs are being quote, unquote demanding what they're actually doing is trying to communicate to us. And a lot of times that communication is rooted in them saying my needs have not been met dogs. Have a lot of needs that humans are not aware of and therefore do not fulfill example, humans. Think that, you know, a 15 or 20-minute walk around the block is adequate exercise. And therefore, our dogs should just be able to relax after that, their dogs approaches after that, walk and try to initiate more play or maybe bark at us. They're unable to settle. We label them as demanding. When in reality, they're just trying to communicate that they still have needs that have not been met the benefit of getting to the bottom of what. Dog is really trying to communicate when they are being quote. Unquote demanding is that you can get ahead of it and prevent a lot of the behaviors from happening in the first place. Know what your dog is trying to communicate. You can fulfill that need proactively and prevent the whole cycle of them, doing the behavior that you don't want. You accidentally reinforcing it and the chain and cycle, continuing cannot eliminate our dogs needs and therefore understanding them and fulfilling them makes everyone's life easier and to meet those needs before The Unwanted Behavior. Occurs does accomplish your goal of preventing and therefore, not reinforcing the behaviors that have been labeled demanding. It's not that. I think in order for you to eliminate these behaviors, you need to be at your dog's beck and call 24/7. It's that understanding your dogs needs and what they're trying to communicate, makes everyone's life easier and less frustrating. So, observe your dog. See when these behaviors occur and ask yourself, what are they trying to communicate to me? If this feels daunting or impossible, remember, that's what professionals are for reach out to a certified trainer or behavior consultant and we can definitely help

Grisha Stewart · Answer

How can I stop reinforcing my dog's demand behaviors? Well, ironically the way to do it is to start reinforcing your dog's request behaviors. So your dog has needs just like anyone else and so finding ways for your dog to ask for what they need and have that need be met is really important. And there are also maybe ways that you can kind of look at their needs and see what what it's not being met and then you can kind of meet them in advance. But having a way for your dog to ask for what they want is super important. That's the whole reason of behavior. Behavior exists to make a change in the environment to meet the needs. So on the flip side of course then making sure not to accidentally reinforce behavior that you don't like. Because really what we're looking for is a way for your dog to get their needs met in a way that doesn't conflict with you meeting your needs. So you for example if it's jumping up, if they're looking for attention then making sure to reinforce earlier attempts for attention and then also maybe turning away so the paws go down on the floor before you can make eye contact or any other kind of attention. Recording or filming your sessions are really helpful because you can see what accidental reinforcement might be happening. Good luck! If you really want to be able to meet your dog's needs and figure out how to solve problems I have a series. The first one starts with talk with me and then we have walk with me and problem prevention. Highly recommend all three of those.

Anthony De Marinis · Answer

There's an awesome question. So how can I stop reinforcing my dogs demanding behaviors? So once you figure out what those demanding behaviors are, then we have to decide, maybe, what plan of action we want to take. So, for some clients, I might tell them to just ignore the dog for some clients, I might tell them to get up and walk away and leave the room. Maybe close the gate behind you or the door behind you, so your dog can't actually follow you because your attention might be what your dog is sick. Seeking. So when you actually leave the room and you close the door, the baby gate behind you. Now, you've stopped them from being able to continue that behavior, or that response. And then the other thing is in some cases, we might actually decide to implement a timeout strategy, where, when you display this behavior, I'm going to remove you from the situation and put you in a Timeout area or The Penalty Box area for 1 to 5 minutes. Depending on what we decide on what the goal is. So there are a couple different options you can do based on why your dog is displaying that behavior. Now the other thing important to keep in mind is if your dog is seeking maybe attention from you, the last thing you want to do is when your dog brings the ball over to you, when you're sitting on the couch list, you want to do is start throwing the ball because now you're reinforcing your dog's Behavior. Every time, your dog comes over to bake or seek attention. So that's something you just want to remember, or keep in mind when you are looking to remove Of certain things or stop certain behaviors from from occurring. So I hope you guys found that helpful. Oh, and the other thing is you should provide your dog with proper Outlets such as playtime, exercise, time, physical, and Richmond time, maybe cuddle time, if that's what you and your dog both enjoy. So, make sure you provide or even set aside time during the day for your dog, to have the proper Outlets, so that way your dog has less of an opportunity or less of a chance to display a attention-seeking or

Kizz Robinson · Answer

How can I stop reinforcing my dog's demand behaviors? I want to acknowledge that these can be challenging not to reinforce because they often come at times when we're trying to do something else which is why we're not paying attention to the dog. I also want to say that I try to call these attention-seeking behaviors. So the best way to get around them is to preempt them is to try to give the dog something else engaging to do at a time when they generally use these attention-seeking behaviors. So I'm gonna take some time to note down what times of day or situations that a dog engages in those behaviors and then figure out what I can give them to do in those situations or at those times of day to prevent the attention-seeking behavior. If they're in progress you can wait for the tiniest break in the behavior and then redirect the dog to something better to do. It's hard to ignore this stuff so if you preempt you don't have to ignore the old version of waiting to extinguish the behavior is really hard on us humans so it's nice to preempt and not have to go through that.

Tasha Attwood · Answer

So how can we help dogs with demand behaviours? In holistic training and behaviour modification we don't call it a demand behaviour we call it a connection seeking behaviour. So the dog is seeking a connection with us and it could be through anxiety or needing a cuddle or they could be communicating to us that they're hungry or they need to go to the toilet and the problem is that when we have a dog that barks what they're doing is they're releasing an energy and an expression of a need. So some breeds are very barky that's just part of the genetic makeup and what happens is when we get up and then we let them out to the toilet or we put their food bowls down and we do something that positively conditions a dog that when they bark they get a positive response and outcome from it then barking works and it's effective. When we change the mindset and the attitude of the dogs being demanding we can then change it to my dogs connection seeking what is it that they're looking for and just like a baby you begin to work through a sequence of what it is that they're looking for. Do they need feeding? Do they need water? Do they need to go to the toilet? Are they looking for a cuddle? Do they need play? Do they need some form of reinsurance? And just in that behaviour shift from ourselves and looking at our dog or puppy's behaviour as a connection-seeking behaviour and pattern instead we can then help the dog and the puppy in the expression of their needs and help them to communicate more effectively. So if they want to play we can encourage them to bring a toy, if they're hungry some dogs go and sit by the cupboard and of course you can use toilets and bells for the door where they get access to go to the toilet. These are much quieter ways of getting your dog to ask for something rather than coming up and barking to you instead.

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"How can I stop reinforcing my dogs demand behaviors?"