Pet Grooming Boarding

One of the most important things that I stress to my workers here at my pet grooming and boarding is that managing your dog's behavior doesn't mean punishing or yelling. It isn't about you physically controlling the dog. What it means is that you control the situations in which your dog exhibits unwanted behavior. Just as appropriate behavior is taught through repetition; remember that misbehavior is also something learnt with time and repetition. So the key to helping your dog break a bad habit is managing the situation in which this habit occurs. For example if your dog jumps on guests, then make sure he is behind a gate and does not have access to them while he is being retrained. You can also use your dog's house or leash as restraints to head off the problem. Whatever you choose to use make sure that your dog is not allowed to practice his undesirable behavior as this will only reinforce the negative. Management allows you to retrain your dog without him being reinforced in the old undesired action. It isn't the whole answer to the problem but it can be a good ally in your efforts at retraining. Once you understand what the problem is and are using management to control it you must make the next crucial step, which is to reinforce the correct response. If your dog isn't taught and well indoctrinated in the new behavior then he will simply revert to the old.

Look at how your dog's negative behavior is being reinforced. Your dog is looking for attention and if you are giving it to him even as a reaction to his wrong behavior then he will continue doing what gets the response he is looking for.