- It's common for people to ask me questions
about dog behavior issues that they may be having
with their dog at home, and unfortunately,
I think they're really hopeful for me to give them
some type of magical quick fix answer.
Now, often when you have behaviors
that take a lot of work to fix,
it can't be fixed with one simple change.
So, what I'd like to talk to you about today
is keeping in mind how dogs learn,
there's a few tricks that I can give you
about preventing the problem from getting any worse
until you're able to get some advice
from your local dog trainer.
My name's Kayl McCann.
This is my eight-year-old all Canadian dog Funky Monkey.
Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
Now, it would be impossible for me to give you the answers
to every single behavioral issue that you may be having,
so what I'm gonna do is focus on three common
behavioral issues that people often ask us about.
Now, keep in mind in order to get rid of these behaviors
for good, you really need to train your dog
and learn the proper steps as to what you need to do
in order to help your dog learn better or better choices,
and we certainly can help you
with all of those things through our classes.
So in the meantime, what I'm gonna do
is give you some advice on how to prevent your dog
from doing some of these unwanted behaviors.
Now, the first issue is barking.
Now, this could be your dog barking in the backyard
or maybe barking at people or things
that bypass the window in your living room.
This is pretty common for dogs to do
and barking is a really self-rewarding behavior,
so one of the best ways to stop your dog from barking
is preventing it from happening in the first place,
so it might be that you don't allow your dog
to be in the backyard unsupervised
so that they can't have a chance
to bark at things that pass by,
or if it's the window that your dog likes to sit
and bark at people as they walk by,
don't allow them access to that room
or keep them away from the window
or maybe choose to crate them when you can't watch them.
It's important that you don't allow your dog to learn
that those types of behaviors are fun for them to do
'cause often when a dog barks at something,
they get a reaction from whatever they're barking at,
and that actually can fuel the fire and make it worse,
so again, try to prevent it from happening
by removing the dog from the situation.
The second behavior we often get asked about is chewing.
Now, it's important that when you have a young dog
or a dog that's chewing in the house
that you do puppy-proof your house to some extent.
Now, you don't need to clear your entire house
of all of your things, but certainly make it easier
for your dog to make good choices.
The other thing I would recommend
is make sure your dog does have something
that they can chew that's their own,
whether it's something safe like a nylon bone or a Kong,
something that they can have access to all of the time,
and most importantly, you need to supervise your dogs.
Dogs chew for a number of reasons,
but if you aren't there to stop them from chewing
and redirect them to something else,
it's impossible to fix that behavior.
Again, chewing is one of those self-rewarding behaviors,
so again, make sure that you're preventing
the problem from happening by supplying your dogs
with things that they can chew and also preventing it
from happening in the first place by supervising them.
If you can't supervise them, then you can put them away
in their crate for the time being.
Another behavior people often ask us about
is when their dog pulls them on the leash towards
another person or maybe towards another person
with a dog when they're out for a walk.
Now, there's a couple ways
that you can prevent this from happening.
The first thing is you may consider
when and where you're walking your dog,
so if you find that you see a lot of people
out on your street, maybe choose to walk
at a less busy time of the day or maybe in the evening.
Maybe choose a less busy street as well
so that you're not constantly being bombarded
with people and dogs and distractions,
and if that can't be avoided,
then you may consider crossing the street
or even turning and going in a different direction.
One of the ways to help get better control over your dog
is to further yourself from a distraction.
The closer you are to the distraction,
the harder it is to control the dog.
The further away, the easier it is,
so if I was to spot a distraction up ahead,
whether it be a person or a dog,
I might just choose to turn and go a different direction,
make the easier choice for my dog to be successful.
Along with preventing these behaviors from happening,
it's important that you positively reinforce your dog
for making a good choice, so if you're out for a walk
with your dog and they make a good choice,
they walked on a loose leash, they are more focused on you,
make sure you have an opportunity to reward them.
You could use food, you could even just bend down
and pet and praise your dog.
If they decide to chew on a bone
rather than your shoe in the house,
acknowledge that, say something, praise them,
let them know they've made a good choice.
You know, if somebody walks by your window
and they choose not to bark and they're focused more on you
or they just maybe watch, you know, quietly,
again, that's a great opportunity for you to tell your dog
how wonderful of a choice that they've made.
Now, remember, if you can be consistent about
preventing problems and you can balance that with rewards,
you might just end up getting a great solution
to some of the problems that you may be having.
Now, we publish new videos every single Thursday,
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make sure you come back and see us.
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For now, happy training. See you soon.