Can I Have Your Attention, Please?

Often enough our unruly or bad mannered dog is a direct result of actions we’ve taken, or have neglected to take. In other words, behavior we’ve either created or enabled in some sense. ...Many of these behaviors are self-reinforcing, meaning that the activity or the outcome is rewarding.   

-Armando Morales

How often would you say you pay attention to your dog? Do you pay more attention to him when he is misbehaving or do you provide him with positive attention when he is being good? 

Dogs do not differentiate between positive and negative attention. They may look sad or upset when being scolded as compared to happy and wagging during praise, but ultimately they really only care about attention versus the lack of attention. This is why the most common advice during training is to ignore the dog for offering the wrong behavior. Giving him negative attention is not as clear-cut of a punishment as removing attention altogether. 

Now that we have some background information, lets talk about how this can apply to your dog during everyday life. Specifically, lets think about how it applies to a dog that can be described as "needy" or one that chronically misbehaves. Maybe this dog barks all of the time or is very destructive or likes to jump on people. What happens when this dog misbehaves? You look at him, maybe you push him off of you, or you talk to him, albeit in an angry or frustrated tone. What happens when he is being good? You don't look at him or talk to him and if the dog is across the room, you probably won't even pet him. What does this actually tell your dog? When I am "bad", I get attention and when I am "good", I get no attention. Which choice do you think your dog is likely to pick? 

Obviously, most dogs are going to choose attention versus no attention, even if it means negative attention. Being acknowledged by you is enough of a reward for them that it doesn't really matter what you are doing and saying.

Try to notice the times that you give your dog attention. If you notice that he is rarely rewarded for making the appropriate choices, make more of an effort to pay attention to him during those times while also focusing on removing all attention while he is misbehaving. You might find that he becomes better behaved and you'll get to enjoy spending more quality time with him.

(PS: A quick training note- Suddenly ignoring a behavior that used to get the dog a lot of attention, like barking for example, will often lead to an escalation of that behavior for a while since he trying to work out why it doesn't get him attention anymore. If you give in to his demands during this increased barking phase, you will just teach him that now he just has to bark louder and longer to get what he wants. Try to have patience and make sure you reward him as soon as he stops doing the bad behavior.)