Joanna Wilson
He’s one of your closest friends. Even your best friend, though, has some habits that you might do without. You try to persuade him to stop, but your efforts may actually promote rather than prevent your dog’s negative conduct. Instead, try these suggestions.
Table of Contents
How to Stop Your Dog From Barking
After a hard day, you’re unwinding on the sofa when your dog disturbs the silence with a piercing yelp. Then there was another. He’s not going to stop. So you summon him and pet him to keep him from barking.
You’re barking up the wrong tree if you think it will keep your dog from repeating this situation. “We reward the dog when we respond by paying attention to him,” Bonnie Beaver, DVM, adds. She is a professor at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a veterinary behaviorist.
Don’t answer if you wish to stop barking. Instead, try to determine the source of the problem and minimize its impact. Outside sounds can be muted by white noise machines, television, or static on the radio. Alternatively, you can confine the dog in a room where he won’t hear the sounds, such as the back bedroom. If your neighbors complain about your dog barking while you’re gone, this could be a decent plan.
Dog owners frequently feel bad about confining their pets to a box or a single room of the house, but Beaver claims that dogs are unconcerned.
Giving your dog something to do that he can’t accomplish at the same time as barking is another option, according to Beaver. Food puzzles can be filled with rewards that a dog will work for hours to collect. The dog is amused, despite the fact that he also has to bark.
How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping
Your dog leaps up to lick your face every time you pass through the front door, leaving paw prints all over your clothes. So you come to a halt and pet her while pushing her away.
While you think you tell your dog “no,” paying her any attention at all says “yes.” “We’re pushing, we’re interacting with them, which is what they want,” Beaver says. “If you stood straight as a rod, looked forward, and said ‘no’ or turned your back to them, that is no attention. That’s the way to do it.”
Or continue to walk into the house and straight into the dog. “It throws them off balance, and you’re not giving them attention,” Beaver says. “Even eye contact is a reward. Just keep walking, look straight ahead, and don’t touch them.”
If your dog will sit on command, ignore the jumping and say only “no” and “sit,” Beaver recommends. When the dog sits, you can pet her. “They’ll learn that the way to get attention is by sitting and eventually sit by themselves. It really doesn’t take very long if you’re consistent,” she says. “Even when visitors come, someone has to be there to tell the dog to sit.”
How to Stop Your Cat From Scratching
Think about the source. Provide your cat with a scratching surface that is identical to the one she prefers. She might prefer a horizontal surface than a post if she likes the carpet.
Alternatives should be provided. Toys, snacks, or catnip should be placed on top of the scratching post or surface to encourage your cat to choose those scratching items.
Make a scratching area. Confine your cat to a tiny carpeted area that you cover with a plastic office mat, along with her scratching carpet or post.
Trim them down. To reduce the damage caused by scratching, trim your cat’s nails.
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