Outsmarting Your Dog

Meet Roux!

This sixteen-week-old newly-adopted hound mix has a real lust for life! Bouncing, jumping, scratching and mouthing, anything to get your attention, and any attention will do. Roux's owner wanted help get control of these problematic behaviors before things got out of hand. It's easy to forget that even negative attention serves as a reward to a dog looking for consideration, especially when they are barking up a storm or chewing on your furniture.

Your first line of defense against unwanted behavior is to Outsmart your dog. This entails a whole arsenal of management strategies, like having the proper tools, such as indoor leashes and treats. These tools prevent your dog from making the wrong choice in the first place. Managing your dogs environment is another way to illustrate good decision making, by crating or setting up safe areas to confide your pup in while you cook dinner.

There are times when you may fail to get the drop on outsmarting your pooch and poor conduct will commence. Let's say your pup displays attention seeking habits such as play biting you, in times like that, outsmarting or managing the situation just isn't an option. The fastest way to ensure that the behavior stops, is to indicate disaproval and to remove your attention. This will teach your dog that the only way to GET your attention, is by acting the way you prefer them to.

For more information on the Zen Dog Training System, visit Zen Dog Training Online.