Attention Seeking

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· You must ignore your dog’s attempts to get your attention by whining, pawing, staring, and barking.

· IGNORE MEANS: No looking at your dog, no speaking to your dog, no touching your dog. When he demands attention you must pretend that he does not even exist.

· You must of course still give your dog attention every day but this must be initiated by YOU. Give your dog attention when he is NOT demanding it.

· As well as following the general rules above, every day plan two blocks of twenty minutes of 100% attention and then immediately contrast that with thirty minutes of IGNORING your dog. If you dog whines during this period of being ignored you may want to get up and walk out of the room, leaving him on his own for a period of ten to thirty seconds.

‘NOTHING FOR FREE’

· Your dog must now earn EVERYTHING that he wants. This means that he must obey a command such as ‘sit’ before he goes outside, before he gets a treat, before he gets his dinner, etc.

· Reserve at least half of your dog’s daily food allowance to use rewards for obeying your commands. Also make sure to have extra tasty treats (e.g. cheese) for rewarding your dog when he behaves especially well. Do not show him the food reward before he obeys a command instead have the food reward ‘magically appear’ AFTER he has obeyed a command.

· Once your dog understands a command word (e.g. ‘sit’) he should be rewarded with food EVERY TIME he obeys. You should wean him off of the food treats by using them on only some occasions. These occasions can be randomly picked by you or you may choose occasions when he obeys especially quickly or in distracting situations. (i.g. when there are visitors.)

· Remember that food is not the only reward. Other rewards include verbal praise and even eye contract from you.

DINNER TIME

· Prepare your dog’s dinner at the same time that you prepare your own.

· Eat your dinner while allowing your dog to observe. Attach him away from the table if necessary to prevent him from jumping up.

· Ignore any of his attempts to get your attention while you are eating. DO NOT feed your dog from the table!

· When you are finished eating you may add scraps from your dinner into his bowl. Then give him his dinner.

TOYS AND GAMES

· Move all dog toys out of your dog’s reach so that he no longer ‘owns’ any of his toys. Chews and bones can be left down for your dog but they should never be used as a toy.

· You MUST play with your dog every day. A few shorter sessions are generally better than one long one. Make sure that YOU initiate the play session.

· Take out one of his toys and play with your dog but only for as long as YOU want and end the game (i.e. put the toy away) if he gets over excited.

· It is important to play fetch with your dog. Reward him for bringing the toy back to you, using lots of praise and maybe food treats too.

· Ignore your dog if he tries to play ‘keep away’ with you, (e.g. running up to you with a toy and then running out of your reach.) Instead, pick up a different toy and play ‘keep away’ from your dog.

· Try to end games (i.e. put the toy away) while your dog is still keen on playing.

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