PowerPuppy Behavior and Training

When a dog is doing something rude – jumping up, playing too rough, humping another dog too much, etc. – the most effective, humane and low stress (for dog and human) way to get him to stop is to teach him to do a new, different behavior in that context, and reward him for it.

Dogs repeat rude behaviors because they are getting something out of it, often inadvertently from a human. Example: a dog who jumps on people when greeting them. Dogs often do this because they’re excited, but the reason they keep doing it is because they get attention.

Pushing a jumpy dog away and saying “no” is attention (as long as they’re not so extreme that they are hurting and scaring the dog, which of course we don’t want to do). So, humans often actually encourage rude behavior by trying to tell the dog to stop. Another example is demand or excitement barking: a human yelling “no!” or “quiet!” might be perceived by the dog as attention and/or joining in on the barking, making the dog want to do it even more.

Another disadvantage to saying “no” is that it gives the dog little information. The dog doesn’t have clear instructions on what to do. Teaching the dog an alternate behavior provides these clear instructions, so it’s easier for the dog to follow them. So, in the case of a jumpy dog, teach him to “sit” when he meets a stranger.

Important things to note about teaching alternative behaviors:

1. The new, different behavior needs to be physically incompatible with the rude behavior. If a dog learns to “sit” when he greets people, by definition, he can’t be jumping up.
2. Like any training plan, we need to start at a very easy level for the dog and work our way slowly to the final behavior. This means that while the dog is in training, the human must manage the environment to prevent the rude behavior from being rehearsed. In the example of a jumpy dog, keep the dog on a leash or behind a gate so that when he sees new people, he can’t jump on them. Every time he is able to jump up is a step in the wrong direction. Once the alternate behavior is well learned, then the management measures (leash, gate) can be faded.
3. Dogs repeat rude behaviors because they are somehow incidentally rewarded for it; so, to teach an alternate behavior, we need to use high value rewards. That is, rewards that are as high or higher in value than what they are getting for the rude behavior. The jumpy dog may enjoy the jumping so much that a milk bone might not be enough to teach him to sit. Reach for the cheese, chicken, roast beef, pizza, donuts etc. Hypothetically, the dog’s reasoning would be, “well, I was getting attention for the jumping up and that was fun, but when I sit, I get CHICKEN and that’s way better!”

The technical term for rewarding these alternate behaviors is “differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior” or DRI. Some other examples of DRI:

• For a leash reactive dog, teach the dog to make eye contact with his handler.
• For a dog who plays too rough or humps unwilling playmates, teach the dog to come to the handler.
• For a dog who begs at the kitchen table (yes, there are still people out there who think this is rude), teach the dog a down stay on his bed.