Phoenix Valley Dog Behavior Problems

Phoenix Valley Dog Behavior Problems and Solutions

Our in-home, phoenix valley certified dog trainers will help you solve your dog’s behavioral problems, many times on the first visit. We cover the entire Phoenix Valley and surrounding areas.

Using our proven programs and methodologies, a Phoenix Valley certified dog trainer will visit with you in your home to evaluate your dog and determine the cause of your dog’s behavioral problems. Then, we will tailor our program to help correct all of your dog’s problems.

The two key areas we will start with are:

1) Communication With Your Dog
2) Pack Structure In The Home



A dog should be trained to look to their owner, as their leader, for behavioral cues including direction and approval. This should occur during routine daily activities. In this video, AJ and Meadow demonstrate how a dog should wait for a “break” or “release” command before passing through an open door. They should also sit automatically upon returning inside and wait for another release command.

Problems In Dog to Human Communication

Many times, dog communication problems are at the root of what many humans would interpret as our dog’s behavioral problems.

The problem is that we don’t speak our dog’s language. Dogs inherited the ability to communicate, using thousands of different body signals, from their ancestors, the wolves. Dog communication problems can come up because we don’t speak to them using the same signals.

As an example, a dog may interpret your stern “down” command as anger. To send you a signal of submission, he may go into his “down” very slowly. As humans, we might see this as defiance. So we correct with an angry word or movement and we confuse our dog even more.

Pack Structure In The Home

Whether you have consciously defined it or not, there is a pack hierarchy in your home. Dogs are pack animals by nature. They will seek to identify their place within your pack and they will take the “alpha” role in the pack structure if a clear leader is not evident in their eyes. A dog’s behavioral problems can be a symptom that they do not understand their proper place in the pack structure within our homes.

One of the alpha dog’s responsibilities within a pack is protection. When a dog feels like he is higher in the pack hierarchy than the humans in the house, or the human holding the leash, he may feel the need to protect those humans any time he comes in contact with another dog or an outsider enters the home.

Also, barking consistently in the backyard may just be his way of showing that he is in charge of the protection for his pack. It is his way of showing the stress of the leadership that he has taken on in his mind.

Behavioral problems can actually be cultivated or escalated when we use ineffective methods to dominate our dogs. The alpha rollover (putting a dog on his back) or punishing a dog with physical force can break down your relationship with your dog and can actually cause fearful or aggressive (reactive) behavior.

Sometimes a dog may bite defensively as a reaction to these types of tactics or you can cause a “trickle-down” effect where the dog has been taught that physical violence is acceptable within the pack. He may respect (out of fear) the person who performed the violent tactics, but he may behave aggressively toward members of the pack that he feels he outranks.

Canine Dimensions has excellent counter conditioning methods that can be used to help address the damage that can occur by using these and other improper dog training methods. Even dogs with socialization problems, dogs that cannot read social signals correctly, dogs that have been abused by prior owners and dogs with genetic temperament flaws can be helped with our programs. In the very first session, our behavior consultant will perform a complete evaluation of your dog and personalize a plan of action to address each of your dog’s problem areas.

 

It’s never too late to help your dog!

You can learn ways to communicate your pack leadership to your dog without resorting to violent methods. A dog owner can build a strong bond with their dog with trust and loyalty by learning how to behave in ways that show leadership without using violence and by learning how to read their dog.

 

If your dog does any of these…

 

Poor Leash Manners Chewing and Digging Housebreaking Aggression Toward People (including guarding or demonstrating to protect food, toys, etc.) Barking Excessively Aggression Toward Dogs Poor Door Manners Jumping or Mounting Claiming of the Furniture Hyperactive Behaviors

Poor Recall Not Obedient to Commands, like sit, stay, down, leave it Guarding Their Resources Stealing From Counters Poor Crate Behavior Separation Distress Shy or Tentative Mounting and Mouthing Fence Jumping Excitable urination, marking in the home, inappropriate elimination

 

...We Can Help You!

Frustrated owners, who can’t deal with their dog’s behavioral problems anymore, will sometimes resort to turning their dog in to a local shelter. With the proper approach, many of those problems can be corrected quickly and easily and can make that decision unnecessary.

If your dog isn’t the dog you were hoping for, we can help. Our programs and methodologies can help transform your “crazy” dog into the perfect pet.

If you would like more information about any of our dog behavior modification or dog obedience training programs, please contact us today.  We provide home dog and puppy training programs, throughout the entire Phoenix Valley and surrounding areas, that can resolve all of your household problems.