Embrace Pet Insurance Podcast: Dr. Patrick Mahaney on Pet Behavior

Does your pet have issues with his behavior? Is he well trained or is it challenging to get him to respond to your direction? Check out my podcast collaboration with Embrace Pet Insurance president Laura Bennett covering the sometimes frustrating topic of animal behavior and training. See: Dr. Patrick Mahaney on the Importance of Cat and Dog Training (click link for the podcast on the Embrace website). This month, we are delving into the topic of pet training. And why would you train your dog or cat?  Dr Patrick discusses the reasons for training your dog or cat and answers the questions below.

1. Kristin: My dog is highly trained in all areas, except for the fact that he loses his mind when he sees another dog or a child. He just wants to run over and play with them! All training goes out the window when he sees them, and he stops listening. Any suggestions to keep him focused given these distractions?
2. Jenna: how do I make him stop barking at me when he wants something? (to cuddle, to go out, to play, to...I don’t even know) I have tried ignoring him, but he doesn't get it.
3. And another from Jenna: how do I stop counter surfing and stopping him eating things off the ground outside (gum, cig butts, etc.)
4. Katie: please, any new anti-barking training techniques?
5. Kate: anything new on separation anxiety or resource guarding?

Also, I add a tidbit that I have found very helpful with my cats to prevent them from scratching the furniture. If they do it, I picked them up and put them with their paws up against one of our three scratching posts in the living room. When they eventually scratch the post by themselves, they get lots of praise and tickles. Now, they only scratch the furniture every now and then and only when I’m there just to get attention. Nothing is perfect. As promised in the podcast, here's a video of Louie "asking" to go out (and is the cause of question 2 from Jenna)