Easy Help For Misbehaving Pets

April 26, 2011

Interview with Dr. Sophia Yin, author of the book How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves

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Mike Carruthers:
Millions of us dog owners struggle with at least some bad dog behavior, and the reason is usually the same.

Dr. Sophia Yin:
Dogs behave in certain ways because those options have been rewarded. For instance jobs jump on people because people accidently reward jumping behavior.
 

Veterinarian and Animal Behaviorist Dr. Sophia Yin, author of the book How to Behave So Your Dog Behaves

Maybe they’ll push the dog away, sometimes they’ll yell at the dog, but for the dog, the dogs thinking, “Alright I’m getting attention.” And if people want to change behavior what they need to do is stop rewarding the unwanted behavior and instead reward behavior that they would rather have. Probably what they would like is for the dog to sit politely and so what they should do is first train the dog to sit politely by - when it sits reward it with a treat and then practice that a lot.

If your dog pulls on the leash when you go for a walk…

The reason the dogs’ pulling is because he thinks he’s going to get somewhere faster. So as soon as he starts getting ahead of you I would just stop. And then when he turns and looks at you and actually sits hurry up and give a reward -and then walk on.

When you reward a dog for good behavior by giving a treat you want to do it quickly.

If you deliver it in slow motion then the dog doesn’t know if he should jump for it. But if you get it right to his face and you get it there fast he knows that sitting was the right thing.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here