But I Don’t Know What You Want - Jan/Feb 11

by Patty Homer

There is one thing your family can do with your dog that if you do no further training, other than providing him enough exercise, you will have a dog that you can live with peacefully. It is deciding on and enforcing the “House Rules,” and it is never too late to start! Let me emphasize the exercise portion of this. Dogs need more exercise than you think — a tired dog is a good dog.

Earning Your Dog’s Trust
A dog doesn’t come to you automatically trusting and respecting you and your family — you have to earn that trust and respect. To do this, you must set the house rules and consistently and fairly enforce them. Consistent means the same rules with the same consequences enforced by all members of the household.

Dogs need 4 things in order to be happy, obedient and mentally well balanced: Essentials (food, water, shelter, medical care), Exercise (more than you think), Clearly defined and enforced house rules and Love.
If there are no defined rules in your household, your dog will become confused and/or frustrated due to the inconsistency of rules and consequences. He may also start to exhibit normal dog behaviors to an excessive level (biting, jumping, chewing, digging). This will lead to frustration and anger from you, generating more bad behavior, frustration and/or aggression from your dog. This can be a vicious cycle that is difficult to break.

Everyone Makes the Rules
Sit down with every member of your family and decide what Fluffy is not allowed to do. Let all members have input, children as young as 3 or 4 can participate in deciding the rules. This list is unique to every family, but here are some examples:

Fluffy is not allowed to jump on people, bite people, bolt through open doors and potty in the house. Once you have your list of rules, it is time to decide together what the consequence will be if Fluffy breaks a rule. The consequence should be non-painful and appropriate to the broken rule.

House Rules Example
Fluffy is not allowed to jump on people if he jumps on us. We will turn away and ignore him until he sits, then we pet him. If he jumps on guests, we will put the leash on him before the guests arrive, and keep the leash taunt so Fluffy can’t jump on them. We will ask the guest not to pay any attention to Fluffy, until he is calm.

Fluffy is not allowed to potty in the house. We will take Fluffy out after he wakes up, plays hard, eats or is sniffing. If we catch him pottying, we will interrupt him and take him outside. If we can’t watch him, we will confine him to his crate. We use a log to determine his routine. We will reward him when he potties in the right spot.

Lots of Praise
Once you have all of your rules and consequences figured out, post them on the refrigerator as a reminder to all family members to play by the “rules.” This will help your family be consistent and be less confusing to Fluffy making his training progress at a faster rate.

Be sure to praise your dog often when he is obeying the rules! Lots more “atta-boys” than “bad boys” teaches your dog what to do instead of just what not to do.

Patty Homer is a Certified Pet Dog Trainer and a Pet First Aid instructor. She has been training dogs for 20 years. She owns Good Pup dog training and boarding in South Kansas City. Her certifications include CPDT-KA (certified through the Certification Counsel of Professional Dog Trainers); CDT certified through the International Association of Canine Professionals. She is the Founder and President of HEARTland Positive Dog Training Alliance. For more information, visit her website at www.goodpupkc.com.