Dogs, like people, have emotional and physical demands, as well as feelings of jealousy. Dogs are more prone to jealousy than you would think. If not treated properly, jealousy in dogs can quickly escalate into aggressive behavior.
How to know if your dog is jealous?
When a dog does anything out of the ordinary to get your attention, such as doing tricks, leaving the room unexpectedly, frightening strangers, going to the toilet indoors or clinging to you, you know it's jealous.
A jealous dog is terrified of losing your love and attention. Your dog will try to go in between you and the other person or dog and will strive to get your attention always.
What triggers jealousy in dogs?
Changes in their schedule, their house and surroundings, a new caretaker or addition of a newborn, pup, or adult to the family can all trigger jealousy in dogs.
Dogs feel that their lives should remain unchanged throughout their lives, but this is not always the case. With good supervision and training, as well as an awareness of the causes of jealousy, everything can be restored to normal.
How to stop jealousy in dogs?
Regular training
You'll need to establish leadership and teach your dog skills that will help you control his jealousy, which can be accomplished by consistent training. If you speak to your dog in a firm, serious and authoritative manner without shouting, he will be forced to listen to you and obey you.
Eliminating the reward
Another way to treat your dog’s jealousy is to remove the reward. The reward can be anything: a treat, a walk to their favorite park or you yourself. Make sure to ignore your dog’s jealous behavior and simply don’t reward them for that.
Involving the reason for jealousy in regular training
If your dog is expressing jealousy toward a certain thing or person, include them or the object in the training process. Including them may entail taking them on walks with that person or requiring that person to give your dog their favorite goodies and lavish affection on them.
If the newcomer is a newborn, try including him or her in your quality time with your dog.
Improve the relationship between your pets
If your dog is envious of your new pet, you should teach him that living peacefully together is the most rewarding behavior. Take both pets on walks together, give them goodies and spend quality time with them all together to help your pets bond better.
Ascertain that they are not forced to compete for resources.
Controlling aggression
Territorial behavior in dogs is common, but it becomes abnormal when it becomes aggressive. This behavior is treated by rewarding and praising calm conduct, obedience training, removing triggers, making certain changes, and making it difficult for him to behave in a particular way.
Territorial jealousy cannot be totally removed; however, it can be decreased to a greater amount using the methods listed above.
Fostering a relationship between your baby and your dog
When your dog appears to be jealous of a new infant in the family, encourage him to interact with the newborn in a regulated manner. This will gradually diminish the jealousy and help them bond better in the future.
Caring for your pet as well as yourself
Jealousy in dogs has a variety of causes and every dog experiences it to some degree. To guarantee a healthy routine for your dog, make sure you put yourself in an authoritative position. If your dog exhibits a range of undesirable behaviors, it is completely OK to concentrate on only one of them at a time.
You will be able to better care for your dog's physical and mental health if you take care of yourself.
To Conclude...
Make sure you set aside some time and create a routine just for your dog so that he gets plenty of stimuli to maintain his mind and body in good shape. He will always adore you more if you take him on a surprise walk or give him some playing time.
At the end of the day, affection is the language that all pets speak