Common Dog behavior Issues

Is your dog’s behavior affecting your mood? Much like kids, raising pets can be a wonderful experience, but it can also be vexing, especially if they misbehave. Thanks to dog training, dogs can be taught to behave and obey commands. However, certain behaviors can be a nuisance to pet owners. Sometimes these behaviors can cause inconvenience, but they can be dangerous most times, which is why they need to be addressed as soon as possible. Below are some of the most notorious dob behavior issues pet owners experience and strategies on how to deal with them.

#1 Hyperactivity

Is your dog hyperactive? What could be the reason behind it? According to dog experts, hyperactivity can result from inadequate stimulation, lack of playtime or exercise, or it could be because they are bored. A dog’s energy level is dependent on many factors such as their upbringing, age, size, or breed. How do you deal with hyperactive dogs?

Since every dog is unique, pet owners may need trial and error until they find the best solution for their dog. An effective strategy that can discourage unwanted hyperactive behavior is simply ignoring your pet. When your dog realizes that they can’t get what they want, they will eventually give up.

Dogs need to exhaust their pent up energy, and one way of doing that is making sure you let them exercise. Ask a professional dog trainer what exercise is suitable for your pet’s breed. Ensure that your dog gets to walk, run, play and train every day to release bottled up energy.

Clicker training is also an effective strategy to use for dogs that misbehave. Although it may not directly address the hyperactivity, it can help calm your dog when they start acting out.

#2 Stealing

Did you know that your dog is capable of stealing? Stealing lands the second spot of the most annoying dog behavior issues pet owners have to deal with. How can you prevent stealing? Before bringing your new pet hope, survey your area and consider all possible objects they might reach when you’re not in your home. The best thing to do is to dog-proof your living space. You can use redirection as a strategy to divert their attention. You can also provide your pet with dogy toys and chew toys to keep them busy. In that way, they’ll be too preoccupied even to mind your stuff.

3# Rough Play

Remember when you used to scold your kids whenever they started playing rough? You’ll likely get a repeat of that behavior with your dogs. Like people, dogs love to play with their canine friends, and sometimes they go overboard with their idea of “fun”. Rough play is okay, but if you start to notice that your dog is getting out of control, you need to end it right away before anyone gets hurt.

Here’s what you can do if your dog starts to play rough. Go to your dog’s level and don’t interact with your dog. Be completely silent as if you are frozen. Don’t react and don’t move around but keep your arms near your body. After a while, your dog will understand that it’s time to stop. Once your dog stops, say the command word “NO” lough enough for your dog to hear.

#4 Always Biting

Why do dogs bite? There are plenty of reasons why. According to dog experts, it’s part of their nature and instinct since they naturally live in packs. But, for your dogs, biting is their way of exploring the world around them. However, as a dog owner, you have to control this unwanted behavior because if you allow your puppy to continue biting on things randomly, it will become a much bigger problem as it grows. How do you deal with this problem? Dogs use their mouths a lot, and they use them as we use our hands. But this can be controlled through socialization and proper dog training. Allowing your pet to socialize with other animals can help fix this problem. Exposing your dog to different faces and places will eventually enable your pet to overcome this bad behavior.

Takeaway

If it’s your first time owning a pet, you will discover so many more annoying behaviors. It’s not going to be a walk in the park. Still, with patience, perseverance and the right training strategies, you’ll be able to discipline your dog successfully so that it behaves appropriately around other pets and people. Trust us; your hard work will eventually pay off. It will be hard at first, but as you continue to train your dog, it will get easier.