Is Your Dog a Pest?

We all want that perfect dog that’s a pleasure to be around, that impresses our friends with his stellar behavior and just makes our life and home a better place to be. However, it’s easy to find yourself with a dog that bosses you around, keeps your friends from coming to visit and makes you never want to go home again! Due to some common dog owner mistakes, you may be creating a monster.

One way to find out… take the “Is Your Dog a Pest?” test! Be brave… help is on the way! Answer the following questions as honestly as possible:

1. Does your dog bark or whine at you for attention?
2. Does he paw at you or nudge you with his muzzle when he wants you to pet him?
3. Does he jam his spit-covered toy up against your leg to try to get you to play with him?
4. Does he jump up on you or bite you to get your attention?
5. Does he jump up, bark or otherwise try to get in on the act when you hug or kiss someone?
6. Do his behaviors escalate if you try to ignore them?
7. Have people stopped returning your phone calls?
8. Do your friends and family tell you they liked you better before you had a dog?

If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions (except maybe #7… that might have more to do with you than with your dog!), I’m sorry to inform you that your dog is a pest.

So how did this happen? You’ve tried to do all of the right things with your dog… you feed and walk him regularly, give him plenty of love and attention, you even took him to that dog training class where he learned to sit and lie down like a champ. How can he, of all dogs, have turned out to be a pest?

Surprisingly, the things that lead to pesty, bossy behaviors in dogs usually start out pretty innocently. It was cute when he was a puppy and he put his paws up on your legs for attention, brought you his ball when he wanted to play and woofed at you when he wanted some lovin’. Now he’s a big dog who jumps up on everybody, torments you with a tennis ball and barks for attention non-stop. And you never saw it coming.

So now what? Can your pesty pup learn to be a civilized creature with admirable ettiquette? Absolutely… and it’ll probably be easier than you think! When I see a pushy dog, I see right through all the naughtiness… what I see hiding under all that badness is a dog who loves people and is trying to figure out how to do things that will get a positive response from them. And you know what that looks like to me? The perfect candidate for training! Your dog is already a step ahead of the game, since he’s already been excelling in his current training program (you know, the one you didn’t even know you had him on that created all of these behaviors!). A good dog training program will teach your dog polite ways to get positive attention while teaching him that his bossy behaviors no longer work to get him the response he wants. As long as you’re willing to take the time to teach your dog some new behaviors and stop reinforcing the bossy stuff, you’re in a great position to turn your pushy pest into a perfect pet!

If you have a puppy or young dog who isn’t displaying these behaviors, here are a few things to keep in mind that will help to keep your polite pup from learning them:

1. Take care of your dog’s basic needs on a reasonable schedule so he’s not put in a position where he’s constantly forced to try to communicate his needs to you. Feed him so he doesn’t have to come over and find a way to say “HELLO? I’M STARVING HERE!!” and be sure there’s water in his bowl so he doesn’t learn the fun lesson that banging the water bowl around will get you to come running in and fill it up.
2. Remember that any kind of activity or attention your dog enjoys will act as a reward for the behavior that proceeded it. You can use this to your advantage by doing nice stuff for your pup when he’s doing something you’d like him to repeat in the future. For example, rather than taking your pup for a walk to burn off some energy when he’s driving you crazy and bouncing off the walls, anticipate his need for exercise, catch him at a moment when he’s being good and reward him with a walk.
3. Think about the big picture, even if your dog is small. When your pup is little, there are lots of behaviors that don’t seem like a big deal, but once he grows up they can develop into real problems. When your tiny pup puts his paws up on you to say hello, it’s really hard to resist… until you picture him doing it to your visiting grandmother when he’s 85 pounds! When he’s tiny, the happy dance he does when you bring his leash out is adorable but as he grows, adorable can turn into annoying… or even dangerous! Always train your tiny pup with his future size and strength in mind.