*Disclosure: We only recommend products we have used ourselves and trust. This post may contain affiliate links and we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.
Demanding behaviors: When attention-seeking escalates to rude behavior
We need to target the extinction of these nuisance behaviors so we can have our pup's full attention and self-restraint/good manners to have peace and calm from our dogs.
They will repeat behaviors we reinforce. This usually means we are inadvertently saying "Yes, I don't mind if you do this behavior" in critical moments. It's usually when we're busy or not paying attention that we let these behaviors slide.
The ways we inadvertently reinforce "bad behaviors"- We don't disengage completely when they demand our attention, food, pets, play or other wants. We might even think some of these behaviors are cute.
Usually, this looks like:
1) Them whining at us while we're looking away, and we say "It's OK fluffy"
2) They scratch at our leg or jump up on us and we reach down to push their paw down, pet them, verbally acknowledge them like "get down" or say "I know, I'm almost done"
3) They are barking at us and jumping around for their food at meal times and we say "I know you're hungry fluffy" and continue to walk toward them with their food and set it down letting them eat the food ravenously, sometimes thinking it's "cute" when they're excited to eat their food.
4) Go open the door when they bark, scratch, whine, or bark.
5) Throw the toy or play tug when they bring us a toy and bark at us, paw at us, nudge us, drop the toy in our lap, etc.
6) Allow any biting of the leash, hyperactivity, pulling on the leash, staring at our food, pushing past us through doors, down stairs, etc.
Once they escalate to barking, whining, jumping, and scratching- we need to take immediate and definite action to correct this.
The is a rehab situation- where we now need to correct bad habits. This is common and simple to address luckily! Just takes time.
So, start by being very mindful of their behaviors. look for inappropriate, rude, or demanding behaviors and address them by ignoring and having expectations for better manners.
When they're being demanding or rude do this:
1) Disengage by looking away, walking away, turning around
2) Remove your hands, the toy, the food, or whatever other thing they're wanting
3) Walk away from the door they're wanting to go out of
4) As soon as the demanding behavior stops (whining, barking, jumping, pawing) that's the critical moment that we need to ask for an alternative and desirable behavior such as a sit, down, stay, leave it, or go to your bed. So practice these often and make sure they're solid!!!
5) This is how we teach them to stop the "bad" behaviors and replace them with "good" manners.
Biggest obstacle
Being mindful and paying attention to these behaviors in moments when we're busy or not paying attention- that's usually when pups learn to escalate to demanding behaviors since they feel ignored and their good behavior was ignored also. Maybe they have already offered us a sit, a stay, a down, being quiet, calm, and patient, waiting quietly by the door, showing you the toy from across the room, doing a nice down/stay across the kitchen, sitting patiently waiting for pets when you got home, they asked nicely to go potty outside and we were cooking dinner so we missed it, etc.
The best way to avoid these scenarios is to set a reliable routine including potty breaks, play sessions, walks or exercise, pets and cuddles, bedtime, meals, etc. Of course, there will be some variation but the more consistent, the more better behaved our pups can and will be!
Comments