Every dog owner hits a wall at some point. Maybe it’s the shoe-chewing phase that costs you three pairs of sneakers in a week. Maybe it’s the barking that has your neighbors leaving passive-aggressive notes. Or maybe — and this one’s my personal nightmare — it’s the dog who loses their mind every single time you pick up your car keys.
I’ve lived through all of it. Fifteen years, four dogs, and more behavioral “surprises” than I can count. My first dog, a Beagle named Copper, ate an entire couch cushion while I was at work. Not a corner. The whole thing. And honestly? Most of it was my fault, not his.
Here’s what I wish someone had told me back then: almost every common behavior problem has a fixable cause. Dogs aren’t being spiteful. They’re not plotting revenge. They’re communicating the only way they know how — and once you learn to read what they’re telling you, things get so much easier.
Excessive Barking
Let’s start with the one that’ll get you evicted fastest. Barking is normal dog communication. But when your dog barks at literally everything — the mail carrier, a leaf, their own reflection — something else is going on.
Figure out the trigger first. This matters more than any training technique. My German Shepherd mix used to bark nonstop at the living room window. I tried “quiet” commands, treats, redirect toys — nothing worked. Then I closed the blinds. Problem solved in about four seconds. She was alert barking at every person who walked past, and removing the visual stimulus was all it took.
The main barking categories:
- Alert barking — they see or hear something and want you to know. Acknowledge it, then redirect.
- Demand barking — they want food, attention, or to go outside. This one you absolutely cannot reward. Ever. Not even once.
- Boredom barking — repetitive, almost rhythmic. Your dog needs more stimulation.
- Anxiety barking — often paired with pacing, panting, or destructive behavior.
For demand barking specifically, the fix is brutally simple but painfully hard: ignore it completely. No eye contact, no “shush,” no acknowledgment. It will get worse before it gets better — trainers call this an “extinction burst” — but if you stay consistent for about two weeks, it stops. I timed it with my Lab. Fourteen days of misery, then silence.
If your dog’s barking is anxiety-driven, though, ignoring won’t help. That needs a different approach entirely, which brings me to…
Separation Anxiety
This one breaks my heart because it breaks theirs too. A dog with true separation anxiety isn’t misbehaving. They’re panicking. And there’s a big difference between a bored dog who chews stuff while you’re gone and a dog who drools, shakes, and scratches the door frame down to bare wood.
Signs of real separation anxiety:
- Destructive behavior focused on exits (doors, windows, crates)
- Excessive drooling or panting when you grab your keys
- Howling or barking that starts within minutes of you leaving
- Inappropriate elimination — even in fully housetrained dogs
- Following you room to room like a shadow
I dealt with this when I adopted my rescue, a Pit Bull mix named Maggie. She’d been returned twice before I got her, and she was convinced every departure was permanent. We’re talking torn-up blinds, scratched doors, neighbors reporting hours of howling.
What actually worked: systematic desensitization. I started by picking up my keys and sitting back down. Then picking up keys and touching the door handle. Then opening the door and closing it immediately. Then stepping outside for three seconds. Five seconds. Thirty seconds. Two minutes.
It took about six weeks to get Maggie comfortable with me leaving for a full workday. That’s not fast. But the alternative was medication or rehoming, so we stuck with it.
A few things that helped alongside the training:
- A Kong stuffed with frozen peanut butter, given only when I left
- Leaving a worn t-shirt in her crate
- No big dramatic goodbyes or hellos — just casual in-and-out
- An Adaptil diffuser (the pheromone plug-in). Jury’s still out on whether it’s placebo for the owner, but Maggie seemed calmer with it
For severe cases, talk to your vet. There’s no shame in anxiety medication for dogs. Fluoxetine gave Maggie the breathing room she needed to actually learn the training.
Destructive Chewing
Puppies chew. That’s just biology — they’re teething, they’re exploring, everything goes in their mouth. But when your adult dog is still destroying things at two, three, four years old, something’s off.
The usual suspects:
| Cause | Age | What gets chewed | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teething | Under 6 months | Everything | Provide appropriate chew toys, freeze them |
| Boredom | Any age | Furniture, shoes, remotes | More exercise and mental stimulation |
| Anxiety | Any age | Door frames, crates, your stuff | Address the underlying anxiety |
| Habit | Usually 1-3 years | Specific items (shoes, pillows) | Management + redirect |
The single best thing I ever did for destructive chewing was getting a puzzle feeder. My Beagle went from eating shoes to spending 45 minutes working kibble out of a Toppl toy. A tired brain chews less than a bored one.
And here’s my unpopular opinion: if your dog chews your stuff, it’s a management failure, not a training failure. Don’t leave shoes on the floor. Put the remote on a high shelf. Use baby gates. Set your dog up to succeed instead of giving them opportunities to fail and then getting mad about it.
Bitter apple spray works on about 60% of dogs. The other 40% apparently enjoy the taste. Worth trying, but don’t rely on it.
Jumping on People
This is the behavior problem that annoys me most — not because of the dog, but because of how people accidentally train it.
Here’s what happens: puppy jumps up, everyone goes “aww, how cute!” and pets the puppy. Puppy grows into a 70-pound Lab who still jumps up. Suddenly it’s not cute anymore. But the dog learned exactly what you taught them — jumping gets attention.
The fix is simple. Turn into a tree. Dog jumps, you cross your arms, turn away, and become the most boring person alive. The second all four paws hit the floor, you explode with praise and treats. Every single person who interacts with your dog needs to do this. Every. Single. One.
That’s the hard part. You can train your dog perfectly, and then your uncle comes over for Thanksgiving and lets the dog jump all over him because “oh, I don’t mind!” Three minutes of that undoes weeks of work.
I started telling visitors before they walked in: “Please ignore the dog until she sits. Then you can pet her all you want.” Blunt? Sure. Effective? Absolutely.
For dogs who are really persistent jumpers, teach an incompatible behavior. You can’t jump and sit at the same time. So drill “sit” at the door until it’s automatic. Dog hears doorbell, dog sits, dog gets rewarded. It takes about three weeks of consistent practice.
Pulling on the Leash
I cannot tell you how many dogs I see dragging their owners down the street. Arms stretched out, shoulder about to dislocate, dog gasping against the collar. It’s miserable for everyone involved.
Stop using a retractable leash. I’m serious. Throw it away. Those things teach dogs that pulling extends their range, which is literally the opposite of what you want. Get a standard 6-foot leash and a front-clip harness. The front clip redirects their momentum toward you when they pull, which makes the physics work in your favor for once.
The training method that actually sticks: be a tree, again. Dog pulls, you stop walking. Completely. Stand still until there’s slack in the leash. Then walk again. Dog pulls, you stop. Repeat.
Yes, your first few walks will cover about 200 feet in 30 minutes. It’s painful. But dogs figure this out faster than you’d think — usually within a week or two, walks improve dramatically.
A couple things that helped me:
- Practice in your backyard first, where there are fewer distractions
- Bring high-value treats (real chicken, not dry biscuits) and reward your dog for checking in with you
- Walk at off-peak times initially so you’re not stopping every three seconds for squirrel distractions
One mistake I made early on: I’d let my dog pull toward the park because “we’re almost there anyway.” That taught him that pulling works sometimes, which made the whole problem worse. Consistency is everything with leash training. If pulling never works, they stop trying.
Aggression and Reactivity
I want to be careful here because this is the one behavior problem where bad advice can get someone hurt.
First — reactivity is not aggression. A reactive dog barks, lunges, and loses their mind at other dogs or people because they’re overwhelmed, frustrated, or scared. An aggressive dog intends to do harm. The body language is completely different, and mixing them up leads to the wrong approach.
Most dogs that people call “aggressive” are actually reactive. They’re over threshold — meaning their stress level has exceeded their ability to think — and they’re having a fight-or-flight response while stuck on a leash.
What not to do: yank the leash, yell, use a prong collar to “correct” them, or force them closer to the thing that scares them. All of that makes it worse. I’ve watched people alpha-roll reactive dogs and turn a manageable problem into a genuine bite risk.
What works: counter-conditioning and desensitization. Find the distance at which your dog notices the trigger but can still take a treat (that’s called “under threshold”). At that distance, every time the trigger appears, feed your dog something amazing. Chicken, cheese, hot dogs — whatever they love most. Over time, the trigger starts predicting good things instead of scary things, and the threshold distance shrinks.
This takes months. Sometimes years. And honestly, some reactive dogs will never be “dog park dogs.” That’s okay. Managing the problem — crossing the street, giving space, using a muzzle when needed — is a perfectly valid strategy.
If your dog has bitten someone or you feel unsafe, hire a certified professional. Look for CPDT-KA or IAABC credentials. Avoid anyone who talks about “dominance” or “pack leader” theory — that stuff was debunked years ago and it makes aggression worse.
Resource Guarding
Your dog growls when you walk near their food bowl. Or they snatch a sock and bare their teeth when you try to take it back. That’s resource guarding, and it’s actually a pretty normal dog behavior that we’ve decided is unacceptable in a home setting.
The worst thing you can do is take the thing away to “show them who’s boss.” That confirms exactly what your dog feared — that you ARE a threat to their stuff — and the guarding escalates.
Instead, teach your dog that your approach means something better is coming. Walk past the food bowl and toss in a piece of steak. Approach the chew toy and offer a trade for something higher value. Over time, your dog starts hoping you’ll come closer because you always bring upgrades.
With my Beagle, I did the “trading game” for about a month. He’d pick up a shoe, I’d say “trade!” and offer him a piece of cheese. He’d drop the shoe, get the cheese, and eventually started bringing me random objects hoping for a trade. Not exactly the intended outcome, but at least he wasn’t guarding anymore.
For serious resource guarding — stiff body, hard stare, snapping — get professional help. This one can escalate if handled wrong, especially in homes with kids.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take to fix a dog behavior problem?
It depends entirely on how long the behavior has been practiced and how consistently you train. Simple stuff like jumping can improve in two to three weeks. Deep-seated issues like separation anxiety or reactivity might take three to six months of daily work. The common thread is consistency — doing the right thing 80% of the time doesn’t cut it. You need 95%+ consistency, especially in the early stages.
Should I use a professional trainer or can I fix behavior problems myself?
For jumping, pulling, basic barking, and mild chewing — you can absolutely handle it yourself with good resources. I’d recommend the YouTube channels Kikopup and Simpawtico for free, solid training advice. But for aggression, severe anxiety, or resource guarding that involves snapping or biting, hire a professional. The money you spend on a good trainer is nothing compared to a vet bill, a lawsuit, or having to rehome your dog.
Do punishment-based methods work for behavior problems?
They can suppress behavior temporarily, but they don’t fix the underlying cause — and they usually create new problems. A dog who gets shocked for barking at strangers might stop barking, but now they’re still scared of strangers AND scared of the pain that comes with strangers. That’s how you create a dog who bites “without warning.” Positive reinforcement isn’t just nicer. It’s more effective long-term and backed by actual behavioral science.
My dog only misbehaves when I’m not home. What do I do?
Set up a cheap camera — even an old phone running a free app like Alfred works. Watch what actually happens when you leave. You might discover your dog is anxious (pacing, whining, destructive within minutes), bored (destruction starts after an hour or two of nothing), or responding to specific triggers (mail delivery, neighbor’s dog barking). The fix depends entirely on the cause. A bored dog needs more enrichment before you leave. An anxious dog needs the desensitization protocol I described above.
Is my dog too old to fix behavior problems?
No. The “old dogs, new tricks” thing is a myth. I taught my 9-year-old Beagle to stop counter-surfing after years of him stealing food off the kitchen counter. Older dogs can actually be easier to train because they’re calmer and less distractible than puppies. The only caveat: if a senior dog suddenly develops new behavior problems — aggression, house soiling, confusion — see your vet first. It could be pain, cognitive decline, or a medical issue masquerading as a behavior problem.
The Bottom Line
Dog behavior problems feel overwhelming when you’re in the middle of them. Trust me, I’ve stress-cried over a destroyed apartment and a dog who wouldn’t stop howling. But almost every issue comes down to one of three things: the dog needs more exercise, the dog needs more mental stimulation, or the dog is trying to tell you something’s wrong.
Start with the basics. Make sure your dog is getting enough physical activity for their breed and age. Add puzzle toys and training sessions to tire their brain. Rule out medical causes for sudden behavior changes. And then address the specific problem with patience, consistency, and — this is the part nobody wants to hear — a willingness to change your own behavior too.
Your dog isn’t giving you a hard time. They’re having a hard time. And with the right approach, you can help them through it.
Featured Image Source: Pexels
