posted 12-10-2003 02:49 PM         

I also have an article on attention seeking behaviors and what to do about it - I will try to find it and post it.

posted 12-11-2003 11:47 AM         

Here is that article on attention-seeking behaviors:

Attention Seeking Behavior
by: Dr. Nicholas Dodman

Overview

Both we and our dogs engage in a little attention getting behavior from time to time, and there’s nothing particularly wrong with that – as long as the behavior stays within normal, acceptable limits. If a dog barks at his owner as if to say, “Hey you! Over here,” – that’s perfectly acceptable communication if your dog has something to convey and is otherwise being ignored. Likewise, if you are engrossed in conversation and your dog paws at your leg to solicit your attention, or to be petted, it’s no big deal to respond if you’re up for it.

But what you have to remember is that your dog will quickly learn what works and what doesn’t according to how you respond. If you always (or even worse, sometimes) cave in to unreasonable requests, you will get even more of the obnoxious behavior in the future. The principle involved is “positive reinforcement,” which effectively ensures that you will surely reap what you sow. Even telling your dog to stop, or reprimanding him, can be rewarding for some dogs. The principle here is that some attention, even negative attention, is better than no attention at all.

Attention seeking behavior can reach serious proportions. Take, for example, a dog that is always barking in your face to maintain your undivided attention or one that constantly jumps on you or paws you whenever you are talking with a friend. Some dogs try to attract attention by stealing things and chewing them up or swallowing them. Your hysterical reaction, yelling and chasing the dog to get the object back, can be just what the attention-needy dog wants. The game “keep away” that results is, apparently, a whole lot of fun – especially if you wave your arms around and scream a lot.

Other attention seeking behaviors can be strange. Some dogs develop pseudo-medical attention-seeking behaviors, like faking lameness, following a visit to a veterinary clinic where they have received intense attention for their ailment. A toy poodle patient scratched violently at his face for years despite intense diagnostic workups and assorted medical interventions by her veterinarian owner. The problem resolved when the other dog in the house died and resumed when the owner acquired another dog. In retrospect, the dog was scratching her face because she (as opposed to the other dog) received attention, sometimes medical attention, for this behavior.

Types of Attention Seeking Behaviors

Barking
Whining
Vomiting
Feigning lameness
Chasing lights or shadows
Snapping at “imaginary” flies
Strange bodily contortions and posturing

What to Do About It

The main principle in treating attention-seeking is to ignore the behavior. But it doesn’t work right away. In fact, the behavior may get worse, even more intense or more demanding, before it eventually fades away. It’s as if the dog is thinking, “That’s odd – this used to work. I’d better try even harder.”

Stages in Treatment

The treatment stages are as follows:

Owner ignores unwanted behavior, say, stealing objects.

Dogs steals more items, more often and dances around in front of the owner to try to get him to
intervene or chase him.

Owner continues to ignore the behavior.

Dog starts to lose confidence in this attention-getting technique and performs it less frequently.

Owner continues to ignore the dog’s charades.

Dogs attention seeking behavior eventually peters out.

Warning

If you give in intermittently or after a lengthy period of trying to “tough it out” you will reinforce the behavior even more firmly. The dog learns that if he keeps it up, that attention will eventually come his way. This is the same principle that keeps gamblers riveted to “one arm bandit” slot machines.

How to Hasten Successful Treatment

Use a “bridging stimulus” can help speed up successful treatment. A bridging stimulus is a neutral signal or cue that heralds a particular consequence. The bridging stimulus could be the sound of a duck call or tuning fork, or the sound of striking a note on a piano. The noisemaker is sounded at the time the dog is engaging in the unwanted behavior to signal that the owner is about to withdraw attention, perhaps even leave the room. You must always follow through after the cue is used or the dog will not understand that the tone is a connection between the unwanted canine behavior and the owner's response.

What the bridging stimulus does is focus the dog’s attention on that point in time when attention withdrawal is imminent. It is not intended to be aversive but rather just a consistent signal (exactly the same each time, unlike human voice cues). Attention behavior will melt away more consistently and rapidly if a bridging stimulus is used than if attention withdrawal is employed without such a signal.

Philosophical Considerations

If a dog is always begging for attention there must be a reason. It may be that the dog is being ignored at home or that he is spending too much time alone or in a crate. It may be that the dog is getting insufficient exercise or mental stimulation and has excess steam to blow off or has nothing better to do. It is important to address these issues, too, rather than just trying to stop the dog from doing something that annoys you. Attention-seeking behavior may be merely the tip of the iceberg.

So, in addition to preventing the unwanted behavior it is important to ensure that your dog’s lifestyle is all that it should be. Questions to ask and address are:

Does your dog get enough exercise? The minimum is 20 to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise daily unless a medical problem precludes this.

Is your dog eating a sensible diet? Don’t feed your dog “rocket fuel” (performance rations) if he doesn’t get much exercise and spends much of the day cooped up at home.

Is your level of communication with your dog adequate? You should be striving toward a greater than 85 percent responsiveness to one word “commands” (verbal cues) such a SIT, DOWN, COME and QUIET.

Is your dog being rewarded with your attention, petting, praise, whatever, doing something that you like? If not, start indicating your approval of desired behaviors using these rewards.

Does your dog have gainful employment (“a job”)? If not, try to engage him in some breed specific activity so that he can perform the function for which he was bred, for example retrieving/hunting exercises for sporting breeds, running chasing for herding breeds, or sniffing things out for hounds.

Conclusion

Dogs that display attention-seeking behaviors are needy individuals that are probably under some stress. Pretty much, any behavior can be reinforced as an attention seeking behavior and attention seeking components may be involved in other behavior problems. The attention-hungry dog will do whatever works best to get you to pay more attention to him.