There are some bad dog behaviors that WILL go away if you ignore them. Really!
I’m not saying you stick your fingers in your ears and hum a little tune every time your dog is misbehaving. (You’ll spend a lot of time with your fingers stuffed in your ears that way!) But you can turn an attention-hound into a better citizen by simply ignoring him.
Does this sound like your dog? (Okay, this is pretty much a portrait of my Moose!)
- He barks frequently when he wants your attention.
- He jumps up, or paws at you.
- He whines.
- He nudges you with his nose.
Moosie is using the time-honored attention hound technique of licking my feet until I pay attention to him.
Your dog may be (are you sitting down?) an attention hound! (GASP!)
Attention hound behaviors are actually a way of exerting dominance. If your dog pesters you until you pay attention to him, you are letting him be the boss dog.
So what do you do to tame the attention hound? Try ignoring him. Don’t let him bark, whine, or nudge you into paying attention to him.
It’s not going to be easy. But you have to be strong. Pretend your dog isn’t even in the room. Let him go through his antics, and don’t let it stop you from doing whatever you’re doing. Moose LOVES pestering me while I’m at my desk. He’ll try to wedge himself into the (not Moose sized) space underneath, making all sorts of Moose noises all the way. WAAAAAAH! If Moose-wah doesn’t work, he starts nose-whistling at me. He doesn’t exactly whine, but he makes this weird whistle when he breathes.
Between ignoring him and learning “Moosie, go lay down!” we’ve managed to tame the attention hound. If he DOES actually go lay down, then it’s praise time. He gets the attention for doing what *I* want, not what he wants. Why, yes, I am an evil dog wrangler. But when you reward the good behaviors, you encourage the dog to keep doing them! If you let yourself be bossed around by an attention hound… well, in my case, I wouldn’t get much work done at the computer!