Do you know when to give attention to your dog or cat? Most people would say yes but you would be surprised how wrong they are!

Give attention to your dog or cat when they are quiet and laying down. So if you are watching tv and your dog is just sitting there reinforce that behavior with love, praise or treats! Don’t ignore this good behavior and then when your door bell rings and your dog barks give him attention. This happens all the time people don’t give attention to good behavior and then when an undesired behavior occurs that is what gets their attention . This tells the dog that being quiet and calm is less rewarding then being loud and barking . Thus increasing the possibility of undesired behaviors.

This works for ever animal scenario.

Lets say in the morning you know that your cat loves being fed. He is quiet and you haven’t got out of bed just to put food down in the bowl. You wait in bed and now your cat meows or scratches . So you get up, talk to your cat and feed him, and this is how a loud annoying cat behavior starts. Instead of feeding a quiet cat you wait till they make noises and then you feed them .

You always want to set yourself up for success so anticipate poor behavior and give attention to your animals when they are good and ignore the bad behaviors and then just watch your lives improve just from this simple change.

Happy Training