All About Training Your Dog

If you successfully completed Step 1 in the “Bringing Home the Baby” exercise then you probably noticed that you were paying a HUGE amount of attention to your dog. If you did not do the exercise then go back to the previous post and do it. It’s very simple and also enlightening!

In order to complete Step 2 you need to change your behavior, but before you do that I would like to discuss the results of Step 1.

I’ve had clients say to me, “I had no idea that I was spending that amount of time interacting with my dog!” I remember asking one client, a lady who worked out of her home, “What would happen if you paid that much attention to your son?” Her answer? “He’d be spoiled rotten!”

My next question to her was, “And then what would happen if you suddenly brought another child into the mix and started paying all of your attention to the new child?” Of course you and I both know what she said. The previously spoiled child would have a temper fit. Or would endlessly try to get his mother’s attention and when he couldn’t, would get destructive or take his frustrations out on the new child. This makes sense to almost everyone. So how come folks don’t get it when the dog is not happy with the new baby?

Step 2 therefore is to begin to prepare for a new arrival by gradually paying LESS attention to your dog. Yes, you must do this. An oh by the way, you will see some drama.

What you will be seeing is all the ways your dog has gotten your attention in the past: He may whine, he may bark, he may get hyper, he may pout. Ignore it! NO Attention for any drama! Remember, unless it’s destructive, IGNORE it! You can do this…you are strong! You must be, if you want the dog and baby to get along.

Don’t talk to the dog every time you see him. Don’t sit and cuddle with him or pet him for minutes and minutes on end. Don’t make a big deal when you leave the house or when you arrive. Don’t let him on the furniture anymore and don’t let him in the bed. Ever again!

He’s a dog, a pet. Now I know that you love him, but he doesn’t need you to shower him with it. He’ll be alright, I promise you.

Take him for walks. Every now and then call him to you and when he gets there tell him he’s a good dog and then pet him, but whatever you do, DON’T make him the center of your life. In a short time you will have a baby who will be the center of your life. If you want your dog to love the baby he has to know his place in the pecking order. Now is the time, before your baby arrives, to teach him that!

Dog training technique to move into Step 2: Less attention to the dog and ignore the initial drama this will create.

Train on!

Doug