What to Do When Your Dog Has the Crazies

There are days when a dog may exhibit the crazies... running around like a lunatic, jumping on you or others, grabbing your clothing and tugging, the list goes on. Unwanted behaviors can make or break your relationship with your dog. How you handle the situation is important and often it is more about the human's behavior than the dog's.

When your dog does something you really dislike, do you get angry? Do you yell? Do you stomp around? Do you get frightened? Truth be told, the more emotional you get, the less your dog will respond to you in a healthy manner. Yes, some dogs will stop the behavior if you yell or make a loud noise as it temporarily startles them, but ultimately it doesn't solve the problem.

So what do you do? Training tip...remain calm no matter what. I never said this would be easy. In fact, every trainer has moments (especially when they start learning to train) that they feel their emotions well up in them as the dog they are working with (theirs or someone else's) refuses to behave or worse yet, acts out inappropriately. The more you work with dogs, the more you start to see that if you are going to gain the respect of a dog, you have to act as the pack leader in a dog pack...with calm and assertive behavior.

Some may ask, "How can I be calm when my dog is doing <insert your dog's offensive behavior>?" The answer is simple, breathe. Stand up straighter (leaders don't lower their heads, they keep them up). Unclench your teeth (dogs notice body language better than humans). Drop your shoulders (shoulders up shows tension). Once you get control of your emotions and your body language, you can then address whatever the issue is and your dog is far more likely to respond. Note, your dog may not respond right away. It can take a few moments to a few minutes for your dog to snap out of their crazies enough to realize you are no longer feeding them negative energy.

Having problems with this? It's time to engage a professional trainer who can teach you how to handle your dog's crazies. The best trainers do not require minimum number of sessions and if it takes just one or two sessions to stop the problems, that's all. That's what dog training is all about... helping people establish better, stronger bonds with their dogs.