After 30 meals (15 days) of eating in the new location, Clara was still going to her old location while I finished preparing her meal. But she was going more slowly and tentatively. And when I walked into the other room with her food toy I didn’t have to call her as I had for the first week or so. She was watching and would come running as soon as she saw me head that way.
What happened first is that Zani started leaving her mat before I was finished with the process of loading food toys and would start wandering around the kitchen. This drove me nuts, though I did grasp that it was likely my fault. In the earlier post, I attributed it to the attractiveness of sniffing in the kitchen, and that I hadn’t reinforced her strongly enough for staying put. True, but that was only part of the story.
Here’s what happened when I changed the location of my dogs’ eating areas for the first time in about five years.
I finally got it. Zani wasn’t leaving her mat just to sniff for crumbs. She was leaving her mat in anticipation of where the big reinforcement was going to happen. She ate her meals in the kitchen, so she was going to that location. Likewise, Clara and Summer were going to wait where their meals would appear.
So her behavior was in the process of changing, but she had not adapted to the new location. That sounds like a lot—30 meals in the new room and she was still going to the old room! But compare it to the number of times she had eaten in there. My rough estimate is that she had eaten more than 3,650 meals in the den. So she had had less than 1% of that number in her new location. Thirty meals don’t sound like so many anymore. That’s the power of reinforcement history. And if there were meals for her available concurrently in the two locations, where would she likely go first? The matching law would tell us: the place she had eaten 3,650 times before.
Dogs get bored when they dont get enough exercise or mental stimulus. Most dogs thrive on physical exercise and time with their owners. If you are not exercising your dog regularly or finding ways to play with him, your dog might be suffering from boredom. Boredom can result in bad dog behavior such as nonstop barking, chewing the legs of your dining room table, or digging holes in your prized flower bed.
Destructive dog behaviors can almost always be traced to an underlying issue. A dog suffering from behavior problems perhaps is bored, is being accidentally encouraged, or might even be suffering from a medical condition. Here are three causes of the most common bad dog behaviors and what you can do about it.
The ASPCA notes a study, conducted by the Humane Society, that calculates 10 percent of animals are given up to shelters each year because of behavior issues. Most of those issues can be solved by taking a step back and determining why a dog has the bad habits he does. Once you know the why behind a behavior, you can figure out how to solve the problem. With consistency, positive reinforcement and patience, you can change your dogs behavior. And never be afraid to reach out for help. If youre at your wits end, take an obedience class or visit your vet.
You might not realize it, but you could be encouraging bad dog habits. For instance, if you allow your dog to jump on you to give you a “hug,” you are encouraging him to do the same to your guests. If you “just occasionally” give in to those sad puppy eyes and sneak your dog a table scrap, youre rewarding him for his behavior. If he barks when he cant reach a toy and you get it for him, youre unintentionally teaching him barking is a way to get your attention.
Just remember: changing your pets bad behaviors can be a rewarding process and, when done with positive reinforcement, care and love, you may forge an even stronger bond between you and your four-legged friend. Dogs are not necessarily destructive or acting out, they just simply do not know any better. Just like children, dogs require help understanding what they can and cannot do. The more you work with them, the better chance they have at turning out to be a little gentleman.
Freedom is Earned
If you would not leave your toddler alone for the day in your home, then you shouldn’t leave your dog unsupervised either, at least not until they have learned the rules of the house and are following them reliably. If you are not supervising your dog when they are inside your house, then you lose out on the opportunity to correct them when they are getting into trouble, as well as the opportunity to reward them when they are doing something right. Set your dog up for success by limiting their freedom. Instead of leaving your dog alone with yummy (and dangerous!) power cords to chew on, an entire house to turn into their personal toilet, and furniture to destroy, eliminate free roaming around the house until your dog has earned your trust.
Once your dog has earned enough trust to be tested, try a product that allows you to spy check on your dog while you’re out. Products like Petcube allow you to check on your dog via an in-home camera and an app and even dole out treats when your dog does something reward-worthy!