Feb 4, Dog Behavior Modification Training - Changes Your Dog Behavior Problems like Separation Anxiety and Aggression

Dog behavior Modification is a term referring to the ways of correcting your dog's behavior problems, it is also referred as Dog Behavior Training.

There are many types of dog behavior problems. For example: Dog aggression, biting problem, chewing household, excessive barking, separation anxiety and more.

These dog behavior problems can further be categorized in a few levels. As per The Dog Whisperer Cesar Millan who is a dog behavior specialist, he categorizes the behavior problems into level 1 - 10 and "Red Zone". He mentions that behavior problems from level 1 - 10 has very high possibility to get fixed. If a dog has a "Red Zone" behavior problem, it will still be able to fix but it will take a lot of work.

As you know, dogs think differently from human. They will do some action more frequently if you are rewarding them. So, if you reward your dog when your dog barks at strangers. For sure, he will be doing it again and again. You must understand that rewarding is NOT limited to food threat. It can be as simple as petting on his head.

It is important to use proven dog behavior modification techniques to help your dog.

Most of the dog behavior problems have been known to be lacked of leadership from the dog owners. They do not know the proper way of training their dogs.

Of course, there are some cases, such as dog aggression, are partially due to the dog's killer instinct. Dog behavior specialists have proven that with the proper training, any dogs, includes pit bulls dog breed and rottweiler dog breed which are known to be attackers can have good temperaments.

Another reason for a dog to develop bad behavior problems is due to inadequate puppy socialization. As the theme of this website - "A well-balanced dog starts from Puppy Training". Puppy training (See: Free Puppy Training Tips) and puppy socializations helps to make a future well-balanced dog.

The most common reason for any dogs to develop behavior problems is the dog owner rewards a dog at the wrong timing. Please see the scenario below:-

Scenario 1: You dog is barking at stranger or your friend. You want to calm down your dog, so, you pet on his head and tells him that it is okay.

Actually, something is NOT right here. If you are petting his head, you are actually telling him it is okay to bark at people.

Solution: Instead of petting his head, you should give him a warning with stern voice for his undesirable behavior.

The best thing about dog is no matter what are the causes of dog behavior problems or how long is the duration of the behavior problems, you are able to fix it if you know how to apply the correct dog behavior modification techniques.

Below are some dog behavior modification techniques for some common dog behavior problems.

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Feb 4, How to Treat Separation Anxiety in Dogs - Dog Separation Seperation Anxiety Solutions by Cesar Millan

Separation anxiety in dogs happens because they do not like the feeling to be left alone in the house.

Dog separation anxiety is actually the main contribution to other dog behavior problems like biting, chewing, digging, barking and etc.

If you are giving a lot of affection to your dog day in and day out, the chance is that your dog will experience separation anxiety when you are not arround. It is because he is very attached to you and no body else in the house can replace you.

Dogs are social animals, they always need accompaniment. They also develop the preference of like and dislike certain people. Dogs are really fond of people who give them a lot of attentions and affections. Some dog breeds, such as Cocker Spaniels and Weimaraners, can develop seperation anxiety easier compare with other big dog breeds because they need constant companionship.

As mentioned earlier, the main contributed cause is when the dog is separated from the person he is closely attached. Some other factors can be as below:-

Sudden change of your house environment. (eg: move to a new house)
You just bought or adopted the dog from pet store or shelter.
Separation from his mother or littermates.

To solve the dog separation anxiety problem, you need to teach your dog to be independent no matter if you are in the house or you are away. So, sometimes you are in the house, restrict yourself from giving him too much affections. This is expecially true if he is begging for your affection which you SHOULD ignore him. If you are living with family members, some of the family members should give almost the same amount of affection like you do. This is to prevent your dog from being too attached to you only.

If your dog has developed Separation Anxiety, you can try the step-by-step techniques below:-

Every time before you are out, command your dog in the sitting position near the door.
Pretend that you are going away by closing the door and you should hear his whining (if he has developed separation anxiety).
Then, you open the door and ask him to quiet; this will reduce his anxiety for seeing you away.
You may continue the step 2 but this time, you increase the duration before opening the door again. This should help to increase the time before your dog becomes worry of your absence.
Each time, you repeat the closing, hear his whine and open the door to ask him to quiet him up steps for a longer duration of time until you do not hear his whine.

If you do it right from the above steps, separation anxiety issue in your dogs should be fixed. Please not that you SHOULD NOT give him a kiss or saying good bye everytime you leave the house, because this will intensify him to miss you more - separation anxiety.

Picture shows a Labrador that is in separation anxiety.

Some other techniques that you may apply to fix the Dog Separation Anxiety:- Tire your dog out before you leave your house by giving him a lot of exercise.
Give him his favorite toys that he will play with it for hours.
Ask your family members/neighbors to play with him when you are not at home
Give him something that has your smell on it.