Behavioural ProblemsBehavioural problems often cause an owner to feel they must give up their pet. Problems can range from submissive urination to dangerous aggression, from destructiveness to disobedience, from too active and playful to ignoring you completely. Identifying exactly what is the cause of the problem is sometimes half the battle. For instance, destructiveness is usually caused by boredom.
Rule #1: A tired dog is usually a good dog, make sure your dog gets enough exercise.
Getting your dog neutered/spayed will affect all behaviours stemming from the sex drive, almost always for the better. This includes some dominance aggression and inappropriate marking (lifting his leg). If the dog is an older dog, and the behaviours have become habitual, the effect of neutering/spaying might not be as strong. It will also take longer for the effects to be seen in an older dog, sometimes many weeks. Please get your dog neutered/spayed.
Spay and Neuter Information
One of the first things you must do is to have your pet checked out by your vet. Be frank with your vet about the behaviour problems, they can stem from pain, a breed tendency, or even hormone levels that are off. Give your pet the benefit of the doubt that the problem can stem from a physical cause, for instance many a urinary infection has caused housebreaking problems, especially if the animal was housebroken before. In the meantime, do work on trying to correct the problem behaviourally, let them know what is and is not acceptable behaviour.
If your dog is aggressive, and has bitten or you think he/she might bite, please see a trainer or behaviourist. A behaviourist is one who specializes in training beyond basic manners. Again, be very frank with this person. ALMOST all dogs can be helped with proper training. The hardest part is actually training the humans.
A dog behaviourist we highly recommend is
Dogs Unlimited
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