Frequently Asked Questions

Here you can find some answers to questions I get asked quite often. I hope you find the answers useful. If you have a question which does not appear here, you can send a message by using my contact page.

My dog won’t stop barking at people as they walk past the gate. How do I stop him?

Take him out for more walks and do not allow him access to the gate. Most “garden gate” dogs do this, they bark, the person carries on walking past, dog has won as man has gone and dog feels good so does it again the next time. This whole process is reinforcing as every time he barks he is rewarded since the man goes and so the more he will do it the next time. Collie types are often quite busy dogs and if you don’t have them working for you they generally go self-employed and make up their own fun. Take dog from gate and spend more time doing fun things together.

My dog jumps up and urinates on my shoes every time I come home from work. I tell her to get down but she seems to jump higher.

This type of inappropriate elimination is often known as submissive urination and may be a result of your dog feeling a little bit too submissive. There is a fine line between fear and submission or I prefer to call it deference. She may feel a little wary of you as you get a bit cross and may be a little over excited and thus it all becomes too much for her and she urinates. She is not trying to dominate you by marking her territory (your shoes) or desperate for the loo. Therefore, do not greet her when you come in. Walk in calmly, ignore her totally, no eye, body or voice contact.

My dog knows he has been bad when I have left him, when I come in he looks guilty and hides under the chair. How do I stop him?

Firstly, yes your dog knows you’re cross because every time you come back from being out you tell him off. You whole body language screams out to him I am cross with you. However, he won’t necessarily understand why you are cross. Dogs can’t learn to understand things just because you show them what it is. If this were the case you could show dogs how to make the tea and pick the kids up from school. I haven’t seen many dogs do this so it proves to me that you can not show dogs how to do things in this way.