Chew on This
When Good Behavior Goes Bad: How to Change Unwanted Behavior by Understanding Dog's Needs
Your dog needs to express normal dog behavior, including barking, running, chewing, digging, sniffing, playing & chasing. When any of these behaviors happen too frequently or too intensely, or not enough, they can become a problem for humans. Fortunately, we can significantly influence these behaviors with a little bit of knowledge, management and training.
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Each day, the need to express normal behaviors changes. Many factors influence the changes, including how much or little she's done "it " recently. "It" can mean many things, like digging, running, searching, herding, playing and more. Some dogs have a higher need to do some of these behaviors than other dogs based on genetics and their breed. Your dog may amped up or be tired and not want to do anything. Behavior problems occur when the need is high but there is no 'legal' outlet.
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Knowledge
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Let's look at chewing. In the graphic below, the degree that the beaker is full equates to the strength of the need to chew. Our Frustrated pup needs to chew so badly that he may chew the house down or express this need in some other undesired way. Our Edgy guy is on the way to Frustrated - be careful! Bad behavior may be on the way.
Management, Meeting Needs & Training
First, we use management to prevent the problem from happening. This is important because we don't want your dog to practice undesired behaviors - the more she practices, the more she is reinforced for doing it, and the behavior gets stronger. Management includes supervision and putting stuff up.
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Next, let's make sure your dog's needs are met. In the next section, we explore what can happen if you don't.
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In the context of chewing, training is trading. This means show your dog what to chew instead of what not to chew.
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Put Stuff Up
If you don't want it chewed, put it up. Some things can't be put up like the sofa, so it's important to provide options for things ok to chew.
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If your dog keeps going back to the same thing - like a wooden chair leg, prevent him from accessing that area with gates.
Supervise
Keep an eye on your dog, even when he is with you. If you can't supervise - put him up and give him a bone.
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When you have to leave the house, crate or confine your dog and provide a few chew options like a hidden frozen Kong, a bully stick or bone.
Exercise
Make sure your dog's needs are met. This goes for both physical and mental exercise.
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Long, sniffy walks are great for the brain - so are nose work games. Training using positive reinforcement will also work that grey matter.
Trade
If you catch your dog chewing on something that's illegal, trade her for something both terrific and legal. No need to make a fuss, just show your pup what you'd like her to chew instead.
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This is chew training. You train your dog what to chew instead of what your don't want her chewing.
Interested in the Science behind these Recommendations? Read on...
A Deeper Dive into Your Dog's Needs
Like us, our dogs have needs. Each layer of needs requires the layer on which it stands for the dog to have all its needs met.
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The Impact of Unmet Needs
If we don't meet our dogs needs, sometimes there are behavioral consequences.
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Normal dog behavior such as chewing, digging, playing, etc. falls throughout the hierarchy.
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Back to our chewing example - if the biological need of chewing is not met, we may see some destructive behavior.
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Changing Undesired Behavior
This graphic, created by Dr. Susan Friedman, shows the desired way to approach dealing with undesired behavior.
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We added the blue text in the graphic to correlate these procedures to our earlier discussion:
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Exit 1 - Meeting needs
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Exit 2 - Management
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Exit 3, 4 - Training
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Here's the graphic from earlier in this page. This shows the basis of our suggestions fall directly in line with the Humane Hierarchy of Behavior Change.
Put Stuff Up
Exit 2
If you don't want it chewed, put it up. Some things can't be put up like the sofa, so it's important to provide options for things ok to chew.
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If your dog keeps going back to the same thing - like a wooden chair leg, prevent him from accessing that area with gates.
Supervise
Exit 2
Keep an eye on your dog, even when he is with you. If you can't supervise - put him up and give him a bone.
​
When you have to leave the house, crate or confine your dog and provide a few chew options like a hidden frozen Kong, a bully stick or bone.
Exercise
Exit 1
Make sure your dog's needs are met. This goes for both physical and mental exercise.
​
Long, sniffy walks are great for the brain - so are nose work games. Training using positive reinforcement will also work that grey matter.
Trade
Exits 3 & 4
If you catch your dog chewing on something that's illegal, trade her for something both terrific and legal. No need to make a fuss, just show your pup what you'd like her to chew instead.
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This is chew training. You train your dog what to chew instead of what your don't want her chewing.
If your dog has a behavior problem that you'd like to correct, start first with management to prevent the problem.
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Next, check in on your dog's needs. Make sure any unmet needs are addressed.
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Finally, time to train your dog. Use positive reinforcement - show her what you want her to do instead.
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