|
|
|
|
 Barking and hole digging pooches are a perplexing problem for many pet owners, but help is at hand in the form of the Denning Principle - a means of safely, comfortably and happily confining a dog so the need to bark and dig disappears.
The Denning Principle is a technique I often advise clients to use when their goal is to confine their dog to reduce anxiety and to stop destructive and annoying behaviours such as barking, hole digging, plants being pulled from the garden and washing being ripped from the line.
These behaviours are often a sign of Separation Anxiety behaviour. This behaviour has its roots growing in boredom and stress - the typical 'home alone' syndrome of a bored dog wanting company.
In the simplest of terms, the Denning Principle provides an effective solution to a dog's anxiety.
I love this process because it is so natural - wolves, dingoes, hyenas and other wild animals live in dens and to such animals a den is a sanctuary and place of safety, comfort and, especially, quietness.
With this technique you condition the dog to be happy and content about being left in a comfortable room somewhere in or under your house - a laundry is often ideal or maybe a bathroom or garage. This becomes the dog's den.
The following process will ensure the dog is happy about being left in its room or den. The happiness washes away the anxiety and as the dog is content and removed from the area of misbehaviour, the barking and other behaviours usually stop.
|
|
|
The beginning
Top
The process starts with a period of what is called conditioning where you make the dog happy about being confined in the den. This is best done at dinner time as (usually) dogs love food.
Let’s look at the first few days.
The process starts with selection of a suitable room. A laundry or bathroom is good; a double garage is a bit large but may be satisfactory if nothing else is available. Laundries are good because they 'smell' like the owners and are a kind of intermediary room between the outside and inside.
The Denning principle can also be used to persuade a dog to love his kennel.
Put the dog's water bowl and its bedding in the den to give it a pleasant, comfortable and 'homely' focus.
For the first few days do nothing other than feed the dog in its new den and lock it in the den with its food. But the important point is to make the dog extremely happy about being confined in the den. To do this I am afraid you really have to act like a fool in front of the dog - total over the top lunacy - the Jolly Routine.
This means at the time of feeding and denning you squeak and squawk at the dog in an excited voice, jump up and down, slap your thighs, turn somersaults in front of the dog and walk upside down on your hands. Do anything to make the dog happy about being confined and being fed.
Now, gently assert leadership by getting brief control over your excited pooch. Command it so 'SIT' and 'STAY', make it maintain that position for about five to ten seconds, place its food on the ground and when you are ready, command the dog to eat its food.
You should then leave and lock your dog in its den for 15 minutes with its food. Release it after approximately 15 minutes and play a game with it. Do this and nothing else for about five days. By the end of this period you will have developed a new routine in your dog's lifestyle that it enjoys and looks forward too.
|
Pheromone Fun
Top
Adding a Dog Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) Unit to the den (cat equivalents are also available) can make your dog love its den even more. The smell of the pheromone is equivalent to the calming perfume released by your dog's dam when you dog was suckling as infant puppy.
Use of the DAP thus makes the den more like a mother's lair and research shows that about 70% of adult dogs are calmed by the use of the DAP.
|
What’s next?
Top
What's next? Well, it's very simple. When you need to go to bed at night or to work during the day you do a condensed version of the Jolly Routine. This means you take the dog to the den, give it a specific food reward that is only used for the denning process (a few cheese squares or an arrowroot biscuit or kabana sausage for example), then squeak and squawk at the dog to make it happy and then close the door. As an alternative, you may like to give it a raw bone to chew on or a Kong ball with vegemite or peanut butter smeared inside.
With the Denning Principle, the dog is usually very content and quiet. Why is it quiet?
Because not only have you solved the real problem - stress and anxiety - you have also put the dog in a quiet place where it is less likely to hear or see the stimuli that evoke barking, hole digging and so on. Burglars and other bad guys in your garden will still evoke a woof, as they should, but not that butterfly zooming overhead or the dog barking once at the tip of Cape York Peninsula.
It is also essential that you compensate for the lack of exercise and stimulation when denned by providing the dog with quality time when you are home. This is not a casual pat or two when you get home but is a regular program of exercise, training and cuddles on a daily basis. Be sure to get the dog aerobically exercised by throwing the ball, by jogging with the dog or some similar form of exercise. Also give it some brain work - teach it new commands, a few tricks, some agility work or some other processes which will give it an enriched life-style (see Solving Boredom in Dogs).
|
Dr Cam Day BVSc BSc MACVSc
Related Products
Related Stories
|
|
|
