What sort of behavior problem are you dealing with?

And how do you solve it?

Download the PDF version here: Illustrated Behavior Problem Flowchart.pdf 

You are welcome to share this document with anyone! 

This is not our first Behavior Problems Flowchart. This is the illustrated, streamlined version. If you'd like to see the original, more comprehensive, text version, visit this page.

This flow chart is intended to simplify the world of dog training problems and help you figure out what type of problem you are dealing with and how to solve it.

Obviously, there is a LOT more to solving these problems than what we could fit in this document or on this page. This is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, to provide a big-picture view of how to resolve behavior problems with dog training.

There's four important categories of dog behavior problem that you should know about: 

  • Dangerous 
  • Fear-based
  • Unsupervised
  • Everything Else


These problems require different training techniques, but regardless of what sort of problem you have, there are a couple of steps that are pretty universal: don't feed your dog from a food bowl, and teach your dog to perform useful behaviors on cue, like Come, Sit-Stay, and Watch Me.

If you'd like to learn more about how to resolve common dog behavior problems, you should keep reading and then enroll in our free course; Six Simple Steps to Solve Your Dog's Behavior Problems.

Or, join the Top Dog Academy to get access to ALL of our online courses, plus our private support community, for just $20/month.

The Four Types of Problems

There are four important categories of problem that you need to know about:

Dangerous Problems

If your dog has ever bitten another animal or person hard enough that the victim required medical attention, then there is a very good chance this could happen again. This means your dog has a dangerous problem and your first priority should be keeping everyone safe. Manage your dog and their access to and interactions with other people and animals so that your dog doesn't have any opportunities to harm anyone else.

If your dog barks, growls, lunges or snaps at animals or people, that does not necessarily mean your dog has a dangerous problem. If your dog bites someone and their teeth touch skin or clothing, it's more worrisome. If your dog's teeth break skin or leaves a bruise, that means you have a dangerous problem.

Also, if your dog spends time around children, you'll want to be more careful. If your dog is snapping or lunging at children, even if they're not actually biting or causing damage, it's still a scary situation that requires help from a professional.

If your dog has any sort of dangerous problem you should seek out help form a skilled dog trainer who can work with you and your dog individually, ideally in-person. Look for someone who is going to use Reward-Based methods that will build trust. Stay away from anyone who wants to use aversive punishment. That might modify your dog's behavior in certain situations, but it will give your dog a reason to dislike and distrust people, which can lead to more aggression and biting.

You can use the Trainer Search feature of the CCPDT (Certification Council of Pet Dog Trainers) or the IAABC (International Association of Pet Dog Trainer) to find a skilled trainer in your area.

If your dog doesn't have a dangerous problem, you can try resolving the problem yourself. Here on Dunbar Academy, we use methods that are easy to use and difficult to mess up.

No Food Bowl

The first step to resolving pretty much any behavior problem is usually the same:  stop feeding your dog from a food bowl. Food can be incredibly useful in training, in all sorts of ways. When you feed your dog from a bowl, the food becomes much less useful.

Now just to be clear, you don't need to starve or deprive your dog, we still want you to give them plenty of food, and a lot of that food can be provided in ways that are easy, relaxing, and enjoyable for the dog, it's not like they have to work hard for every piece of food. For more information about using food in training, check out our Better than a Bowl DADD.

Fear-based Problems

If your dog is misbehaving because they are afraid, then you have a fear-based problem. You'll have to resolve your dog's fear before you can completely resolve this problem. The easiest way to address fear-based problems is with a technique called Classical Conditioning, and often, the easiest way to use Classical Conditioning is with food. Food is certainly not the ONLY way to Classically Condition your dog, but it is very simple to use, which makes it well-suited for people who do not have lots of dog training experience or skills.

To Classically Condition your dog you'll want to expose them to whatever stimulus makes them feel uneasy, but in a controlled way, and at a low enough intensity, or large enough distance, that your dog isn't traumatized or overwhelmed. You want your dog to notice the scary stimulus, but not be overcome with fear. Then, give your dog something they enjoy, like food, praise, attention, play, toys, etc. regardless of how your dog behaves. If the stimulus goes away, stop offering the enjoyable things and ignore your dog. When the stimulus returns, resume the enjoyable things.

Be patient, take lots of breaks and do lots and lots of reps and your dog will get more comfortable as they start to form a positive association. Over time, you can work with the scary stimulus at progressively more intense levels, so long as you can be sure it won't get too intense, too quickly. If it gets too intense too quickly you may  traumatize your dog and make them more afraid than when you started.

For more information about Classical Conditioning, check out this DADD.

Unsupervised Problems

If your dog is misbehaving when no one is around, or when no one is paying attention, then you'll need to make use of solutions that work passively, when no one is supervising. For the most part, this means restricting your dog's access to the places where they can get into trouble. You can use doors, baby gates, and play pens to do this, but one of the best tools for this sort of training is a crate.

Crates will confine your dog to a small, safe area where you know they won't get into trouble and they will only have access to the toys you provide. They will also hold their bladder and bowels while they are in a crate, making crates the easiest way to potty train a dog.

However, it would be cruel to lock your dog in a crate, alone, without first teaching your dog to actually ENJOY spending time inside their crate. Fortunately, this is easy to do using food, hollow chew toys, praise, and attention.

Fill hollow chew toys with your dog's food and put the chew toys inside your dog's crate. Also, when you first start confining your dog to a crate, you should stay nearby and praise your dog. You should also do lots of active training where you lure your dog into their crate and then reward them for staying inside, while the door remains open.

Once you've taught your dog to enjoy going into, settling down, and taking naps inside their crate, you can put them in their crate when you are not available to supervise them, confident that they won't get into any trouble. 

When you do have the time and energy, you can let them out and actively supervise them and redirect them if they start misbehaving. Once your dog has learned the household rules and stops misbehaving when they are unsupervised, you won't need the crate. 

That said, crate training is still a good habit to maintain with occasional practice, as it can be very useful if your dog is happy to settle down in their crate, especially in emergencies and for travel, but also for day-to-day life in the home.

Separation Anxiety

Separation Anxiety is the one behavior problem that occurs when the dog is unsupervised AND anxious. Therefore, you need all three solutions: Classical Conditioning, Crate Training, and Lure-Reward Training. As with all fear-based problems, you have to build their  confidence very gradually. Start by Classically Conditioning your dog to enjoy settling down in their crate while you are present. Once they love settling down in their crate you can  introduce distance and separation very gradually, and you can also desensitize your dog to the various cues that would indicate you are going to leave the home for an extended period of time.

As with all fear-based problems, patience is key and you can't rush the process too much or you'll end up scaring the dog and moving backwards.

Everything Else

So, If you look at the Illustrated Behavior Problems Flow Chart, you'll see that fear-based problems lead to Classical Conditioning, unsupervised problems lead to Crate Training, and everything else leads to Lure Reward Training.

But that's not all, because Classical Conditioning and Crate Training ALSO lead to Lure Reward Training. Whatever your dog behavior problem is, Lure Reward Training is going to be a part of the solution. 

Lure Reward Training

Lure Reward Training is the easiest way to teach your dog to perform specific behaviors on cue, and motivate your dog so they want to perform those behaviors, promptly, and reliably, whenever you ask.

This is the key to solving most dog behavior problems.

If your dog is doing something you don't like, you should think about what you want your dog to do instead. Train them to do the right behavior on cue and practice this skill until it becomes reliable. Then, when your dog is doing what you don't like, just tell them to do what you want them to do.

There are a handful of behaviors that you can use to resolve most dog behavior problems, starting with three core skills: Come, Sit, and Watch Me.

Come

This is one of the most essential skills in dog training, and it's also a powerful indicator of how your dog feels about you. You should always reward your dog when they come, no matter how long it takes or how frustrated you might be. One of the best ways you can reward your dog for quickly coming when called is to give them a reward, and then tell them to Go Play! This way, if they're in the middle of doing something fun, they won't worry that the fun has ended, it could just be time for quick snack!

Sit

If you are going to teach one skill to be super reliable, Sit-Stay is the one. It's easy to teach and easy to troubleshoot. If your dog has a super-reliable Sit-Stay it means you'll always have excellent off-leash control. There are so many things that your dog can't do while they are in a Sit-Stay, like jumping up on people, humping dogs, running away, chasing animals, running around like a buffoon, rolling in stinky stuff, counter surfing... the list goes on!

Watch Me

Watch Me is particularly useful for dogs that are reactive or fearful. If there is anything in your environment that you don't want your dog to look at, simply take two steps away from it, use the Come skill to have your dog turn away from the stimulus and towards you, then use the Sit-Stay skill to lock your dog into place and the Watch Me skill to keep their attention fixed on you.

Walk

Walking with your dog is a specific skill that a lot of people have trouble with. You want to train your dog so when you walk, they keep the leash loose by staying near you. Don't reward your dog by walking forward while they're pulling and don't overwhelm your dog by walking forward before they've had time to take in their surroundings.

Shush

One of the most useful skills you can teach your dog is to be quiet on cue, or "Shush." The best way to teach this skill is to start by teaching your dog to Speak or "Woof" on cue. That makes it easy to practice "Shush." In order to lure your dog to Shush, all you have to do is put a piece of food in front of your dog's nose. If they want to sniff the food (and they do!) they'll have to stop barking.

Settle

Most dogs spend most of their day doing this, but very few people actually teach their dogs to lie down and be quiet on cue. Putting this behavior on cue is super helpful because often, it's exactly what you want your dog to do!

Play

Teaching your dog to play a couple of games on cue, like Tug, Fetch, or Chase, is a great way to engage with your dog. If your dog enjoys the game, you can use it as a reward, and it's a great way to get your dog energized so you can practice impulse control when they're excited. It's also a great way to give them both physical and mental exercise so that they're ready to Settle. Whatever you play with your dog, make sure to incorporate super-short training interludes, so you can establish control and use the resumption of play as a reward.


Practice in Progressively More Challenging Situations

Dog training, like much of life, is all about small, incremental improvement. You start by teaching your dog the easiest skills in the least challenging environment. As they learn, you try more challenging environments and skills. If you ever find that your dog is totally out of control it means you are in an environment that is too exciting. Move to a less exciting environment and try again there. If your dog will listen to you in one environment, but not listen to you at all in another, you need to work somewhere in the middle. As you start asking your dog to perform more difficult skills in more challenging environments you should also start rewarding your dog with rewards of different values and types. You should not reward your dog the same way every time they do what you ask, that's boring. Instead, mix it up, and give extra big rewards when your dog does something extra impressive.


LEARN MORE

If you'd like to learn more about how to how to use food to help your dog feel comfortable around people you should enroll in our free course; Six Simple Steps to Solve Your Dog's Behavior Problems.

Or, join the Top Dog Academy to get access to ALL of our online courses, plus our private support community, for just $20/month.

Looking for more DADDs (Dunbar Academy Downloadable Documents)? You can find them here.

We have one all about how to use raw or wet food in training.