Dog Wants Attention

What The Dog Is Thinking

There is no other way for a dog to let you know that it wants some attention, other than to get your attention. Does that make sense? Any dog wants attention. Trying to bridge the gap between why a dog does what it does and our reasoning for why the dog does certain things, is hard to do. There is light at the end of the tunnel though so be strong. If you have children in the home and your dog steals their toys, it doesn’t do that out of cruelty but rather out of love. It may seem hard to think that is the case, but it is the case. Does it make it right? No it doesn’t. This is why it is best to have a certain set of toys for pooch to play with and keep the kids toys separate.

The behavioral problems the pooch has of taking something that doesn’t belong to it and then running away, is a serious one. You may not notice this at first. Heck, it might even seem funny and playful for the first few times, but as time progresses, this habit could turn into one you don’t want to deal with (especially with a full grown dog). So what are you left to do? As with all things you have to understand what the dog is thinking and how you can approach the problem without looking or sounding like a maniac.

You want to use positive reinforcement with your training and always praise for the good the dog is doing. There will be no hitting or any yelling used. That is strictly prohibited and should never be used. Give the dog something it wants to start off with and see how it does with that. You must teach the pooch that it cannot have what you have. You are the owner of the house, not the dog (although it may not look this way in some households).

It may seem kind of ironic to our point of view but you need to praise your dog when he takes something he shouldn’t (after you take it away). If the animal has taken your child’s favorite toy and then begins running with it, follow it and then say in a loud voice, “SHAME, AWAY” and open the dog’s mouth to retrieve the toy. At this point in time you should replace the toy you took, with one of the dogs. This will begin to instill in the mind of the dog that he must use his own toys and not your kids. Does that make sense? Of course it does. Now that you have a basic understanding of why pooch does what it does, you can begin to decipher the problem at a more reasonable level. No matter what the dog does, his behavior will undoubtedly be focused around one thing, attention. It is up to you to understand why your dog does those crazy things and how to best approach the situation.