Anxious Behaviors
These are behaviors that are the result of your dog feeling anxious. Naughty and aggressive behaviors may indeed be triggered by anxiety, as well, but there are some that are specific to a dog not being able to cope in a particular situation.
The best-known is separation anxiety, but others include riding in a car and submissive urination. These behaviors can be vexing because when your dog senses that you're upset about what she's doing, it may cause her to increase the very behavior you don't want! Stay calm, be patient, and help her through.
Separation Anxiety
Having to leave a dog alone is worrisome if he gets frantically frustrated when he's separated from his owner.
Overly dependent dogs commonly respond to separations by continually barking, whining, and howling, destroying their living space, and attempting to escape by chewing, digging, and jumping over fences and out of windows.
In addition to causing expensive damage, many dogs injure themselves. When panicked, they are oblivious to the physical discomfort of laryngitis, bloody-raw gums and paws, broken teeth, self-mutilation caused by chewing and licking, and even broken limbs as a result of jumping out of windows.
Avoid both after-the-fact corrections that increase anxiety and consoling tones or gentle petting that embed the neurosis. Instead, be sure you exercise your dog vigorously and regularly; improve his ability to handle all sources of stress by teaching reliable obedience; and, as you come and go, remain relaxed and refrain from addressing your dog directly.
There are three exercises you can do with your dog that can lessen the effects of separation anxiety. They are described here.
Random tie outs: Take your dog to indoor and outdoor areas, familiar and unfamiliar, filled with or absent of distractions. Silently tie his leash short to a stationary object and walk away for a few minutes. Insist that he remain quiet when you leave. Sometimes remain in sight and other times walk out of sight. To correct noise making, toss a shaker can, spray him with water or run over to spritz his mouth with Bitter Apple. Concentrate on the areas that make your dog most uncomfortable. Practice every other day for a half hour until he'll be silent regardless of where you leave him, where you go, and how long you're gone.
Out-of-sight sit- and down-stays: At least every other day practice fifteen to twenty-minute down-stays with lots of distractions.
Whirling dervish departures: Dash from room to room grabbing your keys, briefcase, jacket, lunch box, etc. Rush out the door and to your car, then back out of the driveway, motor around the block, pull back in the garage, and saunter into the house. As you put your keys, jacket, and paraphernalia away, completely ignore your dog. After relaxing for a few minutes, repeat the frenzied departure and relaxed arrival over and over for an hour. To thoroughly desensitize your dog to comings and goings, repeat this pattern three times the first week, then once a week for a month.
Teach commands so you can give orders that force your dog to focus on his responsibilities instead of his emotions.
Keep your dog leashed to enable non-emotional, silent correction of misbehaviors.
Avoid eye contact, talking, and touching during emotional states.
Make your entrances and greetings devoid of emotion.
Never yell, strike, or show anger toward him.
When at home, make it a habit to periodically confine your dog. Sequester him in a quiet area and place your recently worn sweatshirt or bathrobe on the floor on the other side of the closed door. If your smell permeates his room, he may not even realize it when you finally do leave.
Give him his favorite toy only when you confine him. Make the toy more desirable by rubbing it with your scent before every offering. Reduce the agitating sounds of neighbors or delivery people by creating “white” noise with a motorized fan to soothe your dog. This is a better solution than subjecting your dog to TV and radio stations with their unsettling cacophony (bells, whistles, applause, sobbing, screeching, and laughter).
Then, when you do actually leave, follow the same routine. Since separation problems can periodically return despite these precautions, reinstate these recommendations as needed.
Riding in the Car
Restraining your dog by crating, tying, or seat belting reduces the chance that she'll act unruly in the car and ensures ease of correction when necessary. Teach carsickness-prone and reluctant riders to enter and exit the car on command. Leash her, open the car door or hatch, and command her to go in as you give her a boost. Immediately invite her out with a “chin-touch okay” and repeat the procedure five times in a row, several times per day. Within a week she should be readily responding on command.
Don't feed your dog for three hours before a ride if he has a tendency to get carsick. Experiment with placing him in different spots in the car. You may find a location that, because of the view, air flow, or smoothness of the ride, doesn't induce sickness. If motion sickness continues to be a problem, ask your veterinarian about using medication.
The more relaxed your dog becomes about getting in the car, the less inclined she'll be toward motion sickness. To make the car a more pleasurable place to be, arrange to have her sit in the car with a canine companion who likes riding. Try building the positive association with food. If your dog is a fairly neat chowhound, feed her only in the parked car.
Submissive Urination
If your dog wets when he greets people or is disciplined, he isn't having a housebreaking problem. Uncontrollable and unconscious leaking of urine is common in puppies and certain breeds. If your dog has been given a clean bill of health by a veterinarian, extinguish this tendency by practicing the following:
Since living with this behavior can be exasperating, consider diapering your dog for the first month so you don't have to continually clean up. To diaper your dog, simply pin a bandana or towel around his privates and teach him not to remove it. Acclimate your dog to wearing the diaper by umbilical cording and jerking the leash if he even sniffs at it. When he is totally uninterested in the diaper — usually after less than a week of umbilical cording — let him walk around the house unleashed as usual, without concern about dribbling.
Avoid vigorous petting, impassioned tones of voice, and strong eye contact. Only interact with a superficial, brief pat, calm word, or fleeting glimpses when his bladder is empty. When he consistently responds without tinkling, test his control after he's had water. Gradually try a warmer approach, but be ready to turn off the affection and issue a command if it pleases the pee out of him.
“All in the Family” Problems
To be most effective, dog training needs to be consistent. That's the only way your dog will learn what you want and not get too many mixed signals. So what can you do if your family consists of difficult, contradictory personalities?
Perhaps one is a wimp who tries to talk you out of doing “nasty” obedience which will ruin the dog's free spirit; each time you enforce a rule, she commiserates with the dog. Maybe another is a loudmouth, giving what he thinks is much-needed training advice, demonstrating his expertise by yelling commands to you and the dog. Maybe there's a talker who is always jabbering and saying nothing, then wonders why the dog treats her like an inanimate object.
Or perhaps there's a secret saboteur who watches what you do and then undoes your hard work by feeding table food during meals, letting the dog pull on the leash or hang her head out of the car window, or inviting her on the furniture.
Dog training is a lot like showering. Thinking about showering or complaining about being stinky won't make you cleaner. You actually have to get wet and lather up. Even then, you don't stay clean forever. No matter how meticulously you scrub and how carefully you attempt to avoid getting messy, you will never be free of the need to shower regularly.
Each family situation is unique, but it's appropriate for you to express and demonstrate your concern for the dog's well-being by taking charge of her training, housing, supervision, and care, including health, exercise, and grooming. Make arrangements for someone trusted to handle these tasks when you are unavailable. Only assign care and training duties with specific details as to how to perform them to interested household members.
Remember, too, that no matter how common your philosophies, no two people will agree 100 percent on how to raise a dog. Hey, it's family. Expect to be annoyed sometimes, and understand that what others do can't sabotage your authority. The dog will learn what you expect from her by the way you react to her behavior in your presence.
