Congratulations! Your dog, Charlie, just graduated from a 6-week course of behavior training! He’s learned how to display appropriate behaviors!
Your Dog is Still Displaying Inappropriate Behaviors After Dog Training
So… why does he still display the inappropriate behaviors for which you took him to training in the first place? You may unknowingly reinforce these behaviors by giving them attention.
Any engagement between you and your dog while he displays unwanted behaviors inadvertently reinforces these behaviors. When you give attention to unwanted behaviors, in your dog’s mind, you’re signaling to him that it’s ok. For example, let’s say you want Charlie to stop jumping on you. Normally, you say “no” or you gently push him away with your knee, but he persists over and over again until you’ve finally had it and really yell at him. Then he gets that look that says, “Uh oh, my mom is angry with me.” And you think to yourself, “I hate it when I have to yell to stop the jumping, but doesn’t he understand that I don’t want him to?”
Actually, no. Even though you’re trying to communicate to Charlie that you don’t want him to jump on you, he thinks you’re interacting with him and he finds that enjoyable. In a dog’s world, any attention is attention and he’ll take it however he can get it!
What should you do instead?
Start ignoring the unwanted behaviors. Charlie will be confused at first, but once he realizes he won’t get attention when he does something you don’t like, he’ll try other behaviors to reclaim the ultimate reward — your attention. Let’s take the jumping example: when he jumps on you, turn your back to him for a few seconds, then turn around and face him again. If he jumps on you again, turn your back to him again. Continue repeating this exercise until he doesn’t jump on you when you face him. When this happens, immediately mark the good behavior with an enthusiastic “yes!” or use a clicker and give him a treat.
Keep in mind this behavior change won’t happen right away. He’ll forget and jump on you. Just remember to take your attention away from him for a few seconds each time he jumps. If you consistently reinforce the no-jumping behavior by turning your back to him, you’ll notice it takes less time for him to remember not to jump. You may even see him attempt to jump on you and then not jump on you, as if he’s reminded himself!