I Encouraged Most of My Dogs Bad Habits
Confession time: I’ve created a monster. A whining, barking, begging, won’t get off the bed sort of monster that follows me everywhere. And do you know what the worst part is? I don’t mind at all.
My Dogs Bad Habits – These Are Definitely My Fault
Dogs have a tendency to pick up a few bad habits – and Laika is no exception. Instead of blaming the dog I’m going to fess up and admit that these bad habits were created by me. When these habits started I could have quit laughing and intervened, but I didn’t.
Laika is a total velcro dog and I made it worse. I’ve never really had a super affectionate dog before, so when Laika started following me around I was flattered. Every time I turned around she was there – and I’d pet her and tell her how sweet she was. I was basically saying “Please follow me around everywhere; I will make sure you are rewarded each time.”
She still begs for food because well… sometimes I give in. I know better, I really do, but sometimes it’s hard to resist giving her a carrot or two while I prep dinner. To her credit she’s not the up-in-your-face type of beggar – she sits in her chair at the kitchen bar and stares – with a bit of drooling from time to time.
Laika just waiting for me to drop food, sans drool.
She barks at me when she’s impatient. When we’re playing fetch she’ll bark at if I don’t throw it again right away. She also barks when I don’t blow bubbles fast enough. Finding it amusing I used to laugh every time and just ended up encouraging her to bark more. If I tell her “quiet” she’ll just silently bark instead. And for her those silent barks look and sound a lot like snapping.
She refuses to get off of the bed. When she was younger she got into the habit of crawling under the bed and playfully biting if when I tried to remove her. This game of “I’m gonna get you” certainly riled her up, and I’d be lying if I didn’t find it fun as well. When she grew too large to fit under the bed our little game moved to on top of the the bed instead.
She whines when you stop petting her – but that one’s my boyfriends fault. She started this behavior on her own but my boyfriend absolutely encouraged it. He’ll deny it to this day but I remember telling him years ago “you’re just making her whine more.” Every time he stops petting her she lets out a sigh and then the whining begins.
I made the mistake of showing this to my boyfriend so really it’s my fault anyway:
Have I Created a Monster?
It’s easy to blame the dog in many situations – but these are definitely my fault. I not only let these habits continue – I actively encouraged them. Do I mind? Not really. I know these habits might be considered “bad” to some; but I don’t mind at all.
Am I immature for encouraging these bad habits? Quite possibly. But whether I’m immature or not they still make me laugh; and comic relief is always welcome. And who doesn’t love a game of “I’m gonna get you” anyway?
I don’t have any bad habits. They might be bad habits for other people, but they’re all right for me. – Eubie Blake
Bad Habits vs Bad Behaviors
A few of Laika’s behaviors are serious – resource guarding and reactivity are much more than just another bad habit – and they’re far from being harmless. I choose to focus on correcting those behaviors and let the seemingly harmless habits slide.
How about you – do you make the distinction between bad habits vs bad behaviors? How many bad habits or funny quirks does your dog have? And be honest – how many of them have you encouraged over the years?
There are only “bad” if you do not like them. I think everyone has different expectations of their dogs.
I’m so glad to hear you say that; that’s exactly the way I feel about them 🙂
“she sits in her chair at the kitchen bar and stares – with a bit of drooling on occasion.” Does she actually sit in a chair, like a barstool kind of chair? If so, pictures please. Honestly I know my dogs have some bad habits, but like you I pick my battles, after all I don’t want someone trying to change ME. LOL
There is ONE thing that Delilah does that I wish I’d worked on (or even knew how to work on) when she’s, sometimes (not always) when you move near her, or touch her she will growl and there are times she’s even barked. Which is very startling when you are sleeping!
Yes it’s a barstool – and I’m so glad you suggested that because I just so happen to have pictures of it 🙂 I’m glad to know I’m not the only one picking my battles – some things just don’t seem worth the effort.
I’m the same way with my girls. They do some silly stuff that maybe some other dog owners wouldn’t care for but they are not allowed to do other stuff that some owners allow (like mouthing!). I think it’s just a really individual thing.
Glad to know I’m not alone on this – I’ve heard so many people speak of bad habits their dogs have and it reminded me of the mostly harmless one’s I’ve created myself.
My girl is demanding, pushy. It’s my fault. I’m ok with it.
I also find myself encouraging Riley’s bad habits. He DEFINITELY is a beggar when it comes to human food…and I almost always give in. I also let him have too much leeway when it comes to hogging the bed/pillows – but he just looks so darn cute, like a little fur-covered human! Also, if we bring home a new toy, he will find the “perfect” spot to hide it once he’s done playing – I know that this could be the start of resource guarding/hoarding behaviors, but I haven’t done anything to stop it; I think it’s funny :/
I agree with an above comment – these are only “bad” habits if you don’t like them.
It’s so hard to move them off of anything when they look so comfy isn’t it? It’s terrible how I’ll sacrifice my own comfort for her lol.
I don’t think there is a clear line between bad habits or bad behaviours each of those happens because it worked in the past. But I do agree that for most part when a dog does something we don’t like it’s because we inadvertently taught them that it works.
Oh my gosh! I love the picture of Laika sitting at the counter, haha! I actually think that’s quite refined and polite to keep you company while you make dinner and I would definitely reward that with some carrots.
Haley’s got her share of behaviors too. She’s a beggar and I condone it by sharing some of my healthy dinner food with her sometimes, but she’ll listen if I tell her to go lay down. So she’s not a pain in the butt if we have a party; I don’t let her beg off of other people. Okay, now I must go and start training Haley to be as refined and cultured as Laika. 🙂
Yeah Laika’s really good at “go to your chair” and you know.. that’s the sort of begging that doesn’t really bother me. When we have company over they all get a good laugh of her in her barstool. It’s hard to resist them, it really is.
I have definitely encouraged Henrietta’s “bad” behaviors, but like you say… they make me laugh and some of them are so darn adorable! Love this post!
Thanks; you know if it makes us laugh and isn’t harming anyone what’s the big deal? 🙂
I think a dog’s harmless although sometimes annoying habits are endearing. It makes them who they are just like our nuances make us who we are. Perhaps we can take the blame for making them that way (hand raised on some accounts), but maybe we do that because we actually appreciate some of those quirks or have them ourselves. BTW- who could resist that face begging for a carrot?
I definitely take the blame for Laika’s clingy-ness; but looking back I am the one who gave her a nice pat or praised her as she followed me around everywhere. It just took me awhile to realize how much I’d actually been reinforcing it.
Bad is a subjective term…Jack is velcro to me too and I honestly didn’t encourage it, he just did it. If it’s really a habit that bothers you, you change it…otherwise what’s a bad habit to you, may not be a bad habit to me!
Awww….Bad behaviors are those that you simply cannot abide that are dangerous to you/the pet, aggravating, or damaging. When we reinforce a behavior, often it’s because we aren’t THAT invested in changing it which means we’re getting as much out of it as the pet. It’s rewarding to US to encourage and create bad habits. Great discussion! And yes…I’ve turned my old lady cat into a huge begging monster! She’s 18 so I’ve starting giving her anything she wants…and she knows it, and tries to get INTO MY PLATE even while I eat. Yikes!
My post last week was a true confession too. I had been encouraging all of those “bad” habits but I don’t mind them (I love cuddles and sharing food). My husband thinks I spoil Kilo too much but I get so much affection back and he is so cute and a rescue. However, I did have to adjust some of my training and behaviours as I had been accidentally failing him on some basic obedience things which could make him a safer happier boy. I have to say we are both making a little slow progress since our class. X Susie
Oh I definitely think the majority of a dogs habits are our own fault, for sure!
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I think we all secretly encourage “bad habits” in our pets sometimes. The truth is, we train each other. They will do things to reward us so that we will reward them. It’s a vicious cycle MOL They encourage our bad habits too. That’s what makes the whole thing perfect 🙂
-Purrs from your friends at http://www.PlayfulKitty.net
Our pups have a quite a few bad habits, some of which are exacerbated by my husband… others are just funny, and yes we have one or two bad behaviors that we actively try to correct.
There is a difference. It all depends on what you want out of your dog.
And yeah what is it about husbands anyways? They seem to be the worst offenders at encouraging some of these lol.
OMC! Change dog to cat and I’ve encouraged a few bad habits in our household too. Just like Laika, my boy Max sits on the bar stool by the kitchen counter when I prepare food too… occasionally a little treat ends up over his way. Oops.
It’s impossible to resist a dog or cat sitting on a barstool, it really is 🙂
Very good and honest post. I guess some bad behaviors are actually cute here. Dex never barks for food – he sits and stares and I give some table scraps but not a lot. He knows if after a minute or two to lay down. Still, good points here. 😉
You are so right , I have made some of these same mistakes ,but we do the best we can 🙂
That bar stool dog photo is priceless! All of my dogs have been velcro and whiners and I created them, no doubt about it! Begging from a distance is permitted, but my dog knows if I don’t share within a minute or so to quit. I don’t have a problem with any cute type habits that some might find “bad”. I only worry about behaviors that could be harmful to my dog or others. Life is too serious to take the good bad habits away!
I love the distinction. There are certainly behaviors that we allow because, c’mon have you seen them (imagine getting all that charm face to face). We choose to focus on the important things and love our flawed little creatures!
I love this post. I definitely try to work with Rooney on jumping and other things like that, but when he whines, or wants to be up on the bed, I don’t do much to stop him.
I tend to treat big dogs differently than little dogs in that I discourage bad habits because they can turn into a tough behavior problem — it’s easier to put up with mouthing from a little Shih Tzu than from a GSD, even while discouraging the behavior in both. It’s a higher priority to make certain that behavior is extinguished in the GSD. I’ve used mouthing behaviors to teach a Shih Tzu bite inhibition. Of course, he is very smart and the teaching part was all too easy! And as Debbie Jacobs once offered, there are people who train for a couple of desired behaviors and that’s enough for the lifestyle they wish to enjoy with their dog, so yes, expectations vary widely =)
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An extremely random question – what breed is Laika?
I’ve had an abandoned dog, name’s Levi, and his face and coat are just like Laika’s…Levi might just be a bit smaller at ~22 lbs. The vet can’t say either and I don’t believe in the accuracy of DNA tests.
Besides that, your Laika is adorable! Character traits similar to mine, especially being a big ole velcro!
According to a Wisdom Panel test we had done Laika is a German Shepherd/Rottweiler/Pitbull mix. I know you said you’re unsure about DNA testing, but here’s a post going over the results if you’re interested: https://www.puppyleaks.com/laikas-dna-test-results/
You must understand that puppies do not have bad behavior or misbehave. What they do is they do not live up to our expectations. Concerning puppies, we usually expect too much from them again soon. (They can not obey us until they are taught what we want of them.)
Here are five things to consider when dealing with any dog in your family:
Be Kind to your dog. Always be kind.
Trust your dog. Know the limit of that trust, but you will never know what your dog is capable of if you are afraid to let them do anything because you ‘don’t know what he will do.’ Trusting your dog will give you a trustworthy dog
https://esacare.com/top-three-dog-training-myths-explained-by-14-renowned-experts/
Be patient with your dog. They know nothing, are excited by everything, have difficulty concentrating, and love their human. Love them back, do not yell at or strike them