How to Avoid Accidentally Reinforcing Undesired Behaviors

Every time you come upon your dog and give them immediate attention, you reinforce what they were doing or thinking moments before you entered the room. Ignore your dog when you come home, wake up, or get back into the car to avoid encouraging a potentially undesired behavior.

For example, hypothetically, if my human aggressive dog stares down strangers on the street while waiting for me in the car, then I get back into the car and immediately start expressing how much I love and missed him while I was gone, I will inadvertently encourage him to be protective over the car and aggressive toward people.

Another example, if my dog was being possessive over a toy toward one of the other dogs and I walk into the room without seeing it and give him kisses and hugs, I will unknowingly encourage resource guarding behaviors.

Example number three. When I leave and come home my dog barks loudly. As soon as I walk in the door he realizes it is just me and stops, eagerly wagging his tail ready to greet me. If I give him attention in that moment I will encourage his anxious/protective barking, and I’m sure most of us want a little less barking from the dog when people come to the door.

When you come upon your dog, ignore them for a little while to avoid encouraging unknown undesired behaviors. If you wait long enough, until they are cool calm and collected, you will be giving your dog attention while they are in a calm state of mind, rather than encouraging an excited or over stimulated state of mind, and any undesired behavior they may have offered moments before you came on the scene.

Did you know that we train for behavior above all else? We can help you learn how to interact with your dog in a way that encourages desired behaviors, and discourages or avoids undesired behaviors, and we can teach you how to advocate for your dog and teach other people how to do the same. Fill out our Evaluation Form to find out how!