Do Nothing Game for Curbing Attention Seeking Behavior

When it comes to curbing attention seeking behaviors, we need to switch our way of thinking a bit. And to do that, we are going to get a little bit nerdy about how behavior works. It’ll be quick and painless, I promise. 

The first thing we need to remember is that behavior does not happen in a vacuum. That is to say, behavior doesn’t just happen for no reason. There is always a trigger to a behavior happening- I hear a car door close, so I get up and go check to see if the pizza guy is here with my dinner. My throat feels scratchy so I clear my throat. A dog smells a critter outside so they run to the window. Etc etc. For dogs, the stimulus that triggers the behavior is often simple, and that is because dogs are amoral. They do not understand that certain things are good or bad, just that certain behaviors accomplish a goal. And if they do, they will be more likely to engage in that behavior again in the future. If the behavior doesn’t accomplish their goal, then they will be less likely to do it again. So, there are two acronyms I want you to remember: WTF and ABC. 

WTF = What’s The Function. Why is my dog doing this behavior? What is the goal? 

This one’s simple. Now for the nerdy one. 

ABC = Antecedent arrangement, Behavioral response, Consequence 

A stimulus triggers a behavior, and then the consequence of that behavior determines whether or not that behavior is likely to be repeated in the future. 

When it comes to dog training, specifically when we are dealing with a problem behavior, many folks have a tendency to focus on the B & C. We get fixated on figuring out the exact right thing to do after the dog does something we don’t like that will get them to never do that behavior again. However, in order to experience that unpleasant consequence, the dog has to first engage in a behavior that we don’t like. This is bad! Very bad!

Why? Because the more a dog rehearses a behavior, the more that behavior is likely to become a habit. And if you think it’s hard for people to break a bad habit, boy do I have some bad news for you about dogs. 

So, rather than focusing on the B & C part of the equation, we are going to focus on our antecedent arrangement instead. This will mean that the dog is as unlikely as possible to engage in the “bad” behavior at all, while learning how to do new, more desirable behaviors in their place. 

What does this look like when it comes to demanding behavior? For starters, we need to think WTF?!?! 

The function of attention seeking behaviors- like your dog barking at you every time you sit down to eat your dinner, biting at your pant legs whenever you stand at the sink to do the dishes, or pawing at you while you’re in the middle of that very important Zoom meeting for work- is fairly obvious. They are trying to get your attention for some reason. So, we want to focus on doing a few things to fix this. 

First, we are going to ensure we are meeting our dog’s needs to ensure they do not have as many reasons to need our attention.

Second, we are going to set our dogs up to be successful. We are going to make sure they have access to all sorts of other reinforcers while we are distracted. They should have toys on the floor of different sizes, shapes, textures, etc. You can also leave other items like Benebones/Nylabones, split antlers, dogwood sticks, or even some food dispensing toys around for your dog. I am also going to make sure that my dog has access to water, has recently had a potty break, and has ideally gotten some sort of physical exercise. Even if that’s a quick play in the yard to stretch their legs or a short walk. 

Third, we need to start teaching our dog a signal that attention from us is simply not available at certain times. To do this, I want you to first consider a few things: Where in the home is the demanding behavior most likely to happen? At what time of day is the demanding behavior most likely to happen? Are there any situations where the demanding behavior doesn’t happen? 

For example, maybe every time you sit on the couch after dinner to relax your dog starts barking at you. Or, maybe the dog is capable of hanging out with you in the basement while you switch the laundry over and they don’t engage in demanding behavior. Keep these situations in mind. 

Now I want you to put yourself in a situation where your dog might be likely to be demanding at you. For illustrative purposes, I am going to create a hypothetical situation. Every time Jane starts cooking dinner, her dog Rocco barks at her. If she ignores him, he escalates to jumping up, biting at her clothes, or getting destructive around the house (because he’s learned that those things always get Jane’s attention, because of course they do- if your dog is biting at your legs it hurts and you can’t just ignore it, same if your dog is chewing on your coffee table). So after getting home from work, Jane lets Rocco out in the yard to go potty and get some exercise. Then he got his dinner in a frozen Toppl toy in his exercise pen so Jane could get a few things done without the dog disrupting her. She got some stuff prepped for dinner, and then let Rocco out to potty again after he finished his dinner. Jane also made sure that in the living room, away from the kitchen, Rocco had plenty of toys available, including a new split antler she grabbed on the way home from work. 

Jane goes in the kitchen and starts cooking dinner. She knows from past experience that Rocco will start barking at her after she’s been involved in cooking for about a minute. So she sets a timer for 45 seconds. When it goes off, she leaves the kitchen and goes into the living room where she stashed a jar of treats on a shelf. She grabs a couple treats out of the jar, and chucks them across the room towards all of Rocco’s toys. She then goes back into the kitchen, and repeats this exercise. 

Jane is tossing the cookies towards Rocco’s toys to help reinforce that he can entertain himself with those items should he need something to do, but the goodies do not come from Jane directly. 

While she is in the kitchen cooking, Rocco gets no attention. Jane knows from past experience that if she were to leave the kitchen and give Rocco affection (looking at him, petting him, etc) or if she were to pick up a toy and play with him as a reward for leaving her alone in the kitchen for 45 seconds, that he would get too excited and would be more likely to demand bark sooner as a result. So she is using food as a reward. If the opposite is true for your dog (tossing a cookie across the room gets them too amped up, but you petting them does not) then you can do the opposite with your own dog. 

After five successful 45 second repetitions of this exercise, Jane bumps her timer up to a minute. After five successful repetitions of that, she bumps up her timer to 75 seconds. She rinses and repeats this exercise until she is done cooking. She then takes Rocco out to potty, and puts him back in his exercise pen with a marrow bone to gnaw on so she can eat her dinner in peace. 

What we are teaching the dog is that attention (or food, or play, or whatever reinforcer your dog wants) is not available under [fill in the blank here] circumstances. It is only once that picture changes that attention from you is available. 

If leaving the room is not an option depending on your situation, you can create a different signal such as putting a specific blanket on the floor. Put the blanket on the floor, sit on your couch for 10 seconds, then get up and put the blanket away, go to your dog’s toy basket, and play with them for 10 seconds. Then put the toy down, put the blanket back on the floor, rinse & repeat. 

Start with a length of time that your dog can be successful, and slowly build up from there. 

And remember- there is nothing wrong with just removing your dog from the situation! If you can’t do this protocol while you’re actually working at your desk, then keep the dog out of your office while you’re working and practice doing this protocol when you don’t actually have work to get done. When your dog can handle you sitting at your desk for five minutes at a time during practice time, maybe you can start letting them hang out in the office with you while you’re actually working for a bit (while still doing this protocol) and then when you have a meeting where you can’t get up every five minutes, the dog can go back in the other room or their crate with some busy work. 

Something to remember though, is that even when you get up and go to your “reinforcement zone” to give your dog a cookie or play with them, don’t make a huge super deal out of it. Nonchalantly grab the cookie out of the jar and toss it on the floor for them. Unceremoniously pick up a toy and do a little lazy tugging. Calmly give them a few pats and a quiet “good dog” before starting your next rep of Doing Nothing. 

What’s important to remember about this protocol is the dog does not need to be doing anything. They can do whatever they want! That’s the point! It’s literally just teaching them that when you are busy doing something, they can do whatever they want except solicit attention from you. They can lie on the floor, stand and look out the window, play with a toy, sit on the couch, etc. There are so many behaviors to choose from, and so many other reinforcers available to you, except one. 

By tying that concept to a clear signal such as you sitting at your desk or a specific blanket being placed on the floor, we are giving them plenty of context to understand what is and is not going to happen now. And this helps prevent frustration from occurring, which goes hand in hand with demanding behavior. 

And of course, if you need more help, please contact me to discuss virtual coaching or in person private lessons!

For more on meeting your dog’s needs: https://www.puptoperfection.com/blog/how-to-meet-your-dogs-needs-to-prevent-problem-behaviors