Doggy Mentor

Posts Tagged ‘puppy growling’

It’s usual for a puppy or dog to growl when you play tug of war with him. You must be aware that growling is a sign of aggression and that your dog may attack or bite!

You should know if the growling is appropriate or inappropriate. If your puppy or dog is eating or playing with a toy and growls when you get close, that isn’t behavior you should allow. Your dog is showing all the signs of dominance over you.

If the growling starts with no obvious reason, a visit to the vet is called for to to ascertain if there is a medical cause.

Growling can be a sign of your dog exerting dominance over you. So, the next thing you be sure of is that you position yourself as the pack leader in your home. This is the foundation of solving many dog behavior problems.

To become the pack leader, you should adopt the approach of NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free). This approach means that you ask your dog to do something before you give him anything. With this approach, you can’t allow your dog to demand attention from you. If you allow him to demand attention, you have just lost your position in the hierarchy. Just ignore him when he demands attention. You choose when to offer him attention. If he tries harder you must not give in or all is lost.

With NILIF all in the house need to be persistent and consistent.

So, for example, you request your dog to sit and wait patiently before you place his meal down or before you let it out of the house. Don’t allow your dog to offer a behavior before you ask for it – that doesn’t count.

Walk through the door before your dog when leaving the house. You can let your dog see you eating a small snack like a biscuit before you put down his food since the alpha dog eats first. You are only required to do this for a couple of weeks to position  yourself as the pack leader.

Everyone in the household needs to engage in this process to place them higher in the hierarchy than your puppy or dog.

The leader of the pack goes to higher ground to sleep, so do not allow your dog to rest on your bed if you want to be more dominant.

You should do consistent training sessions with your puppy or dog. Make the training sessions short and fun. This will help in making your dog better behaved in general.

Read more about how to stop your dog growling and other aggression in dogs.

Does your puppy’s barking drive you or your neighbors mad? May be you are at the end of your tether and do not know what to do. The first mistake that people make is to think that they can stop their puppy from barking completely. It should be understood that barking is normal for puppies. This is how your puppy communicates It is only when the barking is excessive and inappropriate that you should be concerned.

The fact is that puppies bark for a reason and so it is important to find what the cause is before taking action. Puppies can bark because they are lonely, bored, anxious, frustrated or frightened. They also might be hungry, need to pee or simply just need to go out for some exercise.

If your puppy continues to bark excessively or inappropriately, then you should use commands like “stop” or “enough” in a stern voice. If your puppy just carries on barking, it may be a good idea to pull them away from what they are barking at and give a correction. This could be a quick pull on the collar.

Giving praise such as “good” is important when your puppy stops barking so that he knows this is a correct behavior.

If outside and your puppy is barking to come in but you do not want him to come in yet, you can use a command such as “stop” or “enough”. You should do this in a stern voice through the door. Puppies can hear through the door. Remember not to open the door until you are ready to let them in.

If this does not work then you could kick the bottom of the door from the inside. This makes a loud noise which can startle your puppy. this method is quite effective.

Another idea is to hang out the window and squirt water from a spray bottle or hose. This gives your puppy a reason to stop. The more you do this, the more your puppy will get a negative reinforcement for barking.

When your puppy stops barking, do remember to give praise. You must be consistent in praising positive behavior and giving a negative reinforcement for unwanted behavior.

Now that you know the reasons for your puppy barking, you should be able to take the best action in order to have a quieter life!

Visit the Training Puppy Tips website for more detailed information on stopping your puppy barking. You can use the same techniques for stopping your puppy growling.