1. You look over and see your dog chewing the stuffing out of your new
couch. Without thinking, you yell, "What did you do? Get over here!" Your
dog comes running to you with the ruined couch cushion in his mouth. What do
you do?

a. Yell at him.
b. Praise him.
c. Grab the cushion and hit him with it.
d. Give him a chew toy and praise him for taking it.

2. Your dog knows he's not supposed to get in the garbage. Yet sometimes
when you come home from work, there's garbage on the floor. You know he's
gotten into the garbage before you even see it, because he doesn't come to
greet you, or greets you by cowering. Why does he do this?

a. He's sneaky.
b. He feels guilty.
c. He knows he's going to get punished.
d. He's trying to tell you he's sorry.

3. The best way to handle a dog who demands attention by barking and
pawing at you is:

a. Ignore him as if he's invisible.
b. Give it to him - he's only looking for love.
c. Tell him to stop.
d. Redirect him to another activity.

4. Your dog is housebroken. However, in the last week, you have found
puddles of urine all over the house. What do you do?

a. Lead him to each spot, make him smell it, and yell at him.
b. Take him to the vet.
c. Stop playing with him until he stops being spiteful.
d. Clean it up and ignore it.

5. If a puppy is friendly to people and other dogs, he'll grow up to be a
friendly dog.

a. True
b. False

Answers:

1. Dogs live in the here and now. They will relate whatever you say or do
to them to what is happening that moment. In this scenario, the last thing
your dog did is come to you when you called him. So the correct answer is: b.
Praise him. He's forgotten all about the cushion in his mouth. To correctly
address the issue, you should go to him while he's chewing on the couch, tell
him "no," give him a chew toy then praise him for taking it. That way, you
will be giving him a clear message - "that is not your chew toy, this is."
After all, he knows that his chew toys are on the floor. What he doesn't know
is that your new couch *isn't* one of his new chew toys.

2. The correct answer is: c. He knows he's going to get punished. Dogs
don't have any morals, and they don't know right from wrong. What they do know
is safe from unsafe. When you're home, the garbage is not safe. When you're
not home, it is. He's not sneaky, feeling guilty, or telling you he's sorry.
Dogs just don't think that way. Instead, you have him trained that when
there's garbage on the floor when you get home, he gets in trouble. However,
connecting it to something he did hours ago is just not going to happen. If
you don't see it, you can't address it. The best way to handle a garbage-diver
is to put the garbage somewhere he can't get to it when you're not home.

3. The correct answer is a. Ignore him as if he's invisible. If you give
him any attention, even negative attention, you will be reinforcing pushy
behavior. If you reinforce pushy behavior in any context, you will reinforce
it in all contexts. Dogs, like people, will "push" to see what they can get
away with. If your dog can get away with pushing you around, then you will not
be displaying the strong, steady leadership that he needs to be a secure,
well-adjusted member of the family. But it's not enough to discourage unwanted
behavior - you also have to let him know what kind of behavior is appropriate.
So in this scenario, as soon as the dog displays any random act of good
behavior (such as sitting quietly), you should reward him with attention.

4. The correct answer is b. Take him to the vet. The most common reason
that housebroken dogs begin to eliminate in the house is a urinary tract
infection. For any sudden change in behavior, first rule out medical causes
before you begin to treat it behaviorally. If the dog gets a clean bill of
health, then try to figure out if anything has changed in the dog's life in the
last week that could make him anxious enough to regress in his potty training.
Is there construction going on nearby that he can hear and that may be making
him panic? Have you changed your work schedule? Some dogs will even get upset
if you get new furniture! Dogs don't like change. If you determine that the
cause is behavioral, then go back to potty training him from step 1 as if he
were a young puppy.

5. False. Most puppies are friendly. However, if they are not exposed to
strangers in the critical development stage of 10 weeks to 5 months, they may
not stay that way. Puppies need to meet babies, children, teenagers, adults,
elderly people, people with hats, beards, crutches, wheelchairs - also other
puppies, dogs, cats, etc. And once they get to know the "strangers," they need
to continue to meet new ones. If a dog is not used to new and strange people,
animals, and environments, he may react with fear or aggression as he begins to
mature. Socialization is the most important factor in bringing up a secure,
well-adjusted dog.

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Last updated June 27 at 10:00 a.m.