Dog Behavior Problems – Change Your Expectations!

Many times when I’m with a client I hear myself asking them to lower their expectations.This is especially true if they are dealing with the “oh-we-forgot-what-a-puppy-is-like” syndrome. It’s a fairly common syndrome in retirement communities.

However, there is a time to raise your expectations. Expectation is a dangerous word. Much like the word “potential” it can put a lot of pressure on the object of the word. When you know what you expect, so will they. If you have no expectations, they will gladly oblige.

When you train a puppy and it learns all of the nifty commands – sit, down, leave it, etc., don’t forget to use them when needed. As dogs mature, they will have hormonal shifts and temperment changes and you may feel the need to go back to basics. Raise your expectation.

Remind your dog of what it knows. Leash on or leash off, expect a response to your command and follow through. You will be so glad as the next hormonal shift happens or the next “they’ve never done this before” behavior shows up.

Your dog will match your expectations — hmmmm? I think people are like that too. =)