Ultimately, dogs are social animals and do need to be part of the family and connect with their humans. If their needs are not met, you may see an increase in attention seeking behaviours. They may be displayed as ‘naughty’ behaviours such as digging, barking, and stealing things. Some dogs can have ‘big feelings’ and crave attention more than other dogs.
Attention seeking behaviours can also be learned as the behaviour has gotten attention in the past. Dogs learn super quickly how to get reinforcement; you get what you reinforce! For example, if a dog wants attention and they bark at you, you look at them, then barking has worked well. You may tell your dog to ‘be quiet’ or ‘shut up!,’ well talking to your dog can also be reinforcement.
Behaviours such as tail chasing can often start off not being attention seeking but can turn into it. Some puppies can chase their tail out of curiosity, or maybe something was irritating them, and we clap our hands and tell them to stop – again that worked quite well to get a humans’ attention.
They can also be shown when a dog is fearful or anxious and may need their human’s help. For example, if a dog jumps up at you if they are scared and are asking for support.
Attention seeking behaviour can increase or decrease in certain developmental periods such as adolescence (around 6-12 months) or in older dogs who may be losing their hearing for example. Dogs are opportunists and will continue practicing a behaviour if they are getting reinforcement in some way from it.
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