How do you deal with a dog that wants constant attention?

Spend some time thinking if your dog’s behaviour is warranted. Are they getting enough exercise? Is the exercise they are getting giving them outlets for their hardwired breed behaviours and energy levels? Do they have plenty of mental stimulation – especially for smart working breeds? Do you spend enough time with them? If you don’t provide your dog with what they need in terms of physical and mental exercise and social interactions, they can hardly be blamed for going self-employed! What is important however is to reward your dog when they are doing what you want them to do. Reward good behaviour so they are very clear about the appropriate ways to get your attention. In general, if a dog is seeking your attention at the wrong time, it is because you are not giving them enough of it at the right time. If you address the deficits in your dog’s day to day life, you will find most attention seeking behaviours stop – as your dog is happy, content in your relationship and confident. Understand when these behaviours happen, and provide an alternative rewarding thing for your dog to do instead. This might be a chew, or a sniffing game, or an enrichment toy – or it might be social contact with you such as grooming or play time. If they do fall back into old habits, don’t give them any attention until the instant they stop the behaviour. Then you can give them what they desire - your attention. At times when you know your dog is likely to pester you, you can give them a chew or a toy stuffed with food to distract them and give them something enriching and rewarding to occupy them instead. Spend some time teaching your dog to settle, to chill out at times when you are relaxing or working.

To reduce or eliminate demand or attention-seeking barking you must ignore the unwanted behavior, reward desirable alternative behaviors, enrich the pet’s environment, establish consistent and clear expectations, and strategically avoid your dog during times that trigger the behavior. Ignore unwanted behaviors, this can be very challenging to do. Once you start ignoring, you must persist until your dog’s unwanted behavior has stopped completely. If you reward the behavior with any attention, you reinforce it, so if needed, leave the room and close the door to escape persistent barking. If your dog steals something, pretend not to notice, if he approaches you with the stolen object, pick up a book or turn away. Reward desirable alternative behaviors, if your dog approaches you for attention without barking or waving a stolen object in front of you, tell him to sit, then pet him or play with him. Add environmental enrichment, walks alone or with other dogs, games such as fetch, food puzzles, and snuffle mats all add interest to the dog’s day. Establish consistent expectations, create a new routine for your dog and stick to it, make sure all family members apply these new rules consistently. Avoid your dog during times that trigger the unwanted behavior, provide your pup with an alternative activity to occupy him during the times he is most likely to engage in the attention-seeking behavior.

You can limit when your dog chooses to express attention-seeking behaviors and teach them when it is and isn’t appropriate to do these actions. Ideally, you start by ignoring attention-seeking early on during puppyhood and for short periods, later you can increase the time you ignore the dog to develop more impulse control. Rewarding alternative behavior is also a way to manage attention-seeking, provide your dog with alternative behaviors, your dog wouldn’t be asking for your attention if they didn’t want or need something in the first place. Teach them a more effective way to get what they want, then reward that alternative. Ignore bad behavior while you’re teaching your dog alternative ways to communicate their needs, that means ignoring all your dog’s attempts to capture your attention, but start with short periods, say thirty seconds, and later increase the time. Manage your dog’s behavior to minimize their opportunities to practice attention-seeking, that might mean giving them a food-stuffed chew toy before you make your telephone call or making your call from another room. Provide enrichment, if your dog’s needs are met, they will have far less reason to seek your attention, establish a routine so they know when to expect playtime, walks, meals, and so on. When you know your dog is likely to show attention-seeking, try providing for its needs beforehand: exercise, play, elimination, then redirect it to self-managing behaviors, such as chewing or playing with a feeding toy.