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Behavior Problems?  Find Out What to Do to Get Help!
 

If you've already found out that it CAN get worse, there is still hope -- you can still get a peaceful night's sleep, without leaving the puppy un-crated.  It'll take some work, and nerves of steel, and an iron will... but you can do it.  I've done it, over and over, with puppies that were abandoned by their owners because they couldn't take the constant crying.

Making sure that your dog gets plenty of mental and physical exercise is the first step to halting most behavioral problems.  If your dog is barking, it's NOT for no good reason -- all dogs are smart -- they need something to do, to occupy their time (if you haven't bothered to teach your dog anything useful, that doesn't mean HE'S not smart!)  Make sure your dog gets a minimum of 30 minutes of aerobic activity -- all-out running and jumping -- at least 3 times per week.  If at all possible, see to it that he's got a playmate for at least an hour twice per week.  Make sure he's got things to do to occupy his mind, too -- teach him to play hide-n-seek, buy him toys that he has to figure out, like Buster Cubes, buy him a Kong toy, and fill it with peanut butter or Cheez Whiz.  But, don't stop there -- put the Kong under the coffee table, so that he has to use some ingenuity to get it.  This is the first step to teaching your dog a really stimulating game -- Hide-n-Seek -- and your only limits are your creativity and your dog's stamina.  obedience training is another great way to mentally stimulate your dog -- training serves many functions.

If your dog is using barking as an attention-getter, give it to him -- but NOT when he's barking for it.  Giving him attention of ANY kind while he's barking is reinforcing the behavior.  Don't pet him, don't talk to him, don't yell at him to shut up, don't smack the top of his crate -- all of these are attention, in one form or another.  Wait until he wears himself out, and then play a game with him -- something really fun, like tug-of-war or frisbee.  This teaches him that the things he wants most happen when he doesn't bark for them.

That last paragraph is especially important -- it's very easy to inadvertantly reinforce barking.  Here's what usually happens:

If you IGNORE a behavior, that behavior will no longer gain a reward -- and so, it's *extinguished*.  The dog will keep trying, and the behavior will get worse, and go on for longer, to see if that earns the desired reward.  If the owner reaches the end of his rope, and gives in -- all is lost.  In fact, the behavior is made even worse than before.  This is a very simple concept -- but it often gets owners into trouble.  This is because the owner thinks that the dog is NEVER GOING TO STOP {grin} -- so when the dog is ALMOST ready to stop (after maybe 2 hours of barking, or so), the owner yells "SHUT UP!!!"

This DOES NOT make the dog shut up. {grin}  What you've just done, in yelling at the dog, is supply the reinforcement (attention) -- because, like kids, dogs will take ANY attention over NO attention at all. And, you've done it at the absolute worst possible time -- the dog was in the middle of what's called an "extinction burst"... an extinction burst is when the dog will try a behavior *obsessively*, in an effort to gain the reward.  If the reward isn't achieved through this burst of behaviors, the dog will try obsessively until it finally just gives up -- BUT -- if the reward (attention) is achieved, YOU'VE JUST REWARDED THE EXTINCTION BURST.

Now, the dog knows that THIS LEVEL of barking gains the reward (the behavior level is heightened) -- and so, the extinction level is raised a notch. That's why your dog is barking nonstop for 5 hours.

How to stop it?  If he's barking at 5:15 every morning, set your alarm for 5:00, take him out to go to the bathroom, put him BACK in his crate, and put in a pair of earplugs.  Go back to bed.  Then, IGNORE him.  And, DO NOT show him ANY attention while he's barking -- not just in the morning, ANY time.  This is a smart dog -- let him find another way to get attention.

NOTE: the SECOND he stops barking, give him the attention he was looking for.  Hesitate to make sure that he's not going to start up again, and then Reward The Hell Out of Him.  This will teach him that NOT barking will get him what he wants.

Brenda Rushman, Web Author

This is the absolute best book I've ever read, concerning dog behavior and training.  No matter the problem... no matter how frustrated you are with that problem... you'll come away changed.  It's a wonderful, practical, intelligent overview of the way dogs think, what the difference is between problem behavior and normal dog behavior, and how to tell the difference and make the necessary adjustments, when needed.    Your dog will thank you for this one!