If he uses bad behavior to get your attention, do the best you can not to enable the behavior. Ignoring a behavior may not always work (especially when he finds another reward other than your attention), but it can serve as a trick to keep in your back pocket for when you're dealing with a challenging dog.
If an owner rewards the behavior, purposely or accidentally, the undesirable behavior will continue to linger. Even if the owner ignores her dogs 10 times, but screams “no” once, the behavior won't go away. To truly extinguish a behavior, it must be ignored each and every time.
Time-outs should last for no more than 2 minutes maximum but always start with 30 seconds. If the dog is ignored for too lengthy a period of time, he will simply forget what behavior caused this consequence and you will have taught him nothing.
This is why simply ignoring common problems like barking at the mailman, jumping on guests, pulling on the leash, etc. isn't an effective strategy. These are all behaviors that your dog finds rewarding, without any input from you. So they're likely to continue happening as long as nothing changes.
While just ignoring the behavior will decrease the jumping, it won't stop it. It's essential that your dog has a new option for greeting people that will be rewarded with attention and petting. Ignore your dog when he jumps on you and reinforce him with petting and praise when he sits.
In addition, if you suddenly stop paying attention to your dog, this will negatively impact them, and they may experience feelings of depression in addition to the other side effects discussed above.
Consider why your dog is misbehaving.
The dog may not understand the cue given; they may not have had enough practice to do it reliably; they may be too distracted, stressed, or afraid.
However, unlike humans, dogs do not understand the consequences of their actions, so regular punishment will be no good. Instead, you have to use negative punishment and positive reinforcement to help stop undesirable behavior.
While crates can be used to manage a behavior, they should never be used for punishment. For example, putting your dog in a crate with an interactive toy when guests come over to avoid mishaps with food or jumping is more effective than waiting for misbehavior and then putting your dog away.
Research suggests that dogs with a guilty look do not show evidence that they are aware of having engaged in misbehavior. One would not experience guilt if one were unaware that a crime had been committed.
While dog's do have emotions similar to people, they're not always as cut and dry as we like to think. For example, your dog might feel "guilt" about misbehaving, but they don't process that emotion the same way that people do.
Learned Behavior
In the study, dogs acted guilty when scolded by their owners, regardless of whether they had actually committed the act for which they were being scolded. Based on this, it seems likely that dogs learn quickly that when pet parents unhappy with them, they can placate their humans by looking sad.
Not inflicting pain or instilling fear in the dog. Influencing an animal's behavior without the use of force. Constructive disciplinary techniques such as removal, time outs, taking something of value away, ignoring behavior and interrupting negative behavior with a vocal interrupter.
Rule #2: The punishment must suppress the behaviour, or it risks becoming just plain abuse. Even a spray of water can easily become abusive. We cannot choose what a dog finds punishing or reinforcing, particularly with self-reinforcing behaviours like barking or jumping on people.
Providing your dog with an activity such as a set of action cues (sit and stay) with food rewards for compliance or playing with your dog's favorite toy in the presence of the stimulus that exacerbates the negative behavior, will redirect his attention onto doing something more positive, while building up a good ...
Like humans, dogs go through a rebellious “teenager” phase (around 5 months to 18 months).
Dogs are not spiteful
People often say things like, “My dog chewed the furniture because I left him.” There are a number of reasons why dogs misbehave, but spite is not one of them. Dogs don't reason like we do, so they cannot disobey out of spite.
The answer is simple … your dog does not know those things are wrong! Let's say you arrive home to see your new rug chewed to bits and your dog lying in the wreckage looking “guilty”. It is easy to assume the dog “knows” that chewing the rug was wrong, right?
Don't Bark Back at Your Dog
But always resist the urge—your dog might think you're joining in on the barking, and that might cause him to bark more. Instead, speak in a low, calm voice.
If the owner continues to ignore the whining, the dog will eventually learn the behavior never works.
While you're working to determine the cause of the growling, don't ignore it or it's likely to get worse. Be careful around your dog until you figure out why it's growling. Additionally, you may want to help your dog modify its behavior until the situation is under control.
There are some behaviors you don't want to ignore, such as puppy nipping or pulling on leash. Any behavior that feels good to your dog, is naturally calming (such as licking or chewing), or is fun to do is not likely to go away when ignored.
On top of potentially evoking defensive aggression, hitting dogs may cause them to become insecure. They may cower, engage in submissive urination and have low self-esteem. They may no longer walk with their heads high; they will rather walk with their tail between their legs and their head carried low.