Dear Critter Corner: We have had our pup for just over 6 months, and are noticing that when he is not getting the attention he wants, he will paw, nip, or jump on us to get it. It can be painful as he is a bigger pup. What can we do to change this behavior?
Many pups train their humans very well! They come over, give you a nose bump, and you start petting them. For most, it’s not an issue until they become demanding of the attention, as in your case. For these pups, you need to identify what is keeping the behavior going and look at ways to change it.
The first approach you can take is to work on ignoring the behavior altogether. This means every time your dog tries to get your attention in an unwanted way, you will need to turn your back and ignore the dog until they offer a more acceptable behavior. You can then give them attention. You will need to repeat this process several times and make sure that everyone is on board with it.
Many times, I like to teach an alternate behavior, so the dog can offer a better choice in place of their current unwanted one. For this, I may ask for a sit and then reinforce with the desired attention. I may ask them to go and lie down and settle for a little bit, and then give the desired attention.
If your pup is persistent, you may need to give a type of timeout. You could ask your dog to go somewhere for the timeout, or you could remove yourself from the space for the timeout. Either way, start with a short 15- to 30-second timeout with repetition.
In all cases, you want to be aware of whether you are unintentionally reinforcing the behavior when your pup comes to you and nose bumps, paws at, etc. for the attention, and you start to pet them. If you are doing this, be aware and try to break your habit to help your pup break theirs.
If you are still struggling with your pup, please reach out to our training department to schedule a 1:1 training session or join one of our classes to get the help you need.