When a dog is bored, many undesirable behavior manifestations may occur. There are too many to name, but a few are house destruction, excess energy and hyperactivity, getting into mischief and generally doing things the owner doesn’t want them to do (including wrecking or leaving a present in your favorite pair of shoes.)
Dog boredom is a fairly common problem in the dog training industry. There are many different training styles used to combat this problem. Often we ask clients how they would react in certain situations that their pet is put in. After the client sees how they would react, they begin to understand why their dog behaves certain way. Association helps to make that connection which can help the owner understand their dog and it’s behavior better.
If you get home from work and your home is in disarray, your furniture chewed upon, your dog’s footprints on the counter tops, your favorite shoes chewed to pieces, and your neighbors left a note on your door saying your dog was barking all day, you may be neglecting your dog and not provided the needed stimulation for your social pup. As dogs are incredibly social animals this can be a fairly significant factor in behavioral problems.
Most people work during the day so often our pets are left at home to entertain themselves. If you cannot manage to be home during the day to give your dog the much needed TLC and stimulation via a long walk, some exercise and dog training, you may find looking into a dog walker, pet sitter and dog trainer, which is an important first step to fulfilling your dog. A qualified, licensed, insured and bonded dog walker, certified in CPR and first aid for dogs and cats would be worth its weight in gold if you could come home to a happy, content, fulfilled dog. This would put both of you in a great mood when you got home rather than coming home to stress and destruction.
If you forget that your pup is a social being, and needs mental and physical stimulation, then you will have an anxious, unfulfilled, bored dog who craves interaction and stimulation. Some dogs need more of exercise and mental stimulation than others and some are more independent, but all need some type of social interaction and stimulation. If you don’t provide stimulation to your dog they will find it elsewhere with undesirable results.
Russ Hartstein is the owner and operator of Fun Paw Care, a dog training in miami company. Russ has over 25 years in the industry and is a preofessional member of the APDT (Association of Pet Dog Trainers). For more information about our dog training walking and pet care services, please visit us online today.
Dog Boredom
