This is NPR's life kit. I'm Samantha Ballabin. Meet Winnie. She's 25 pounds, very cute,

adopted from a shelter in 2019, loves to bark at doors. Which was annoying, but not

really a problem until we moved into a condo building. Nine units, nine doors, plus the front

door. Winnie barked at them all. I tried saying, I tried shutting her in a separate room. I tried

giving her a treat when she was quiet. I tried to never have another Zoom meeting ever again,

not possible. And then I tried calling a trainer. So I've been having a lot of practice with

her. Now meet Abby Israeli of District Dog Training in Washington, DC. We work on interrupting

the behavior. When Winnie barks, I say, uh-uh, and go to place. She knows if she goes to her dogbed

and lies down, she'll get a treat. Good girl. Yes. And Mark, yes, before the praise. We work on

desensitizing her to hostile door sounds. Abby knocks on my wall and I shovel string cheese into Winnie's

mouth. Yes. Good girl. Good girl. Whenever Winnie ignores a door slamming shut somewhere in the

building, which happens more and more now, she is heavily rewarded. She's so much better when she

you want the dog to be comfortable and happy and understand the rules and be capable of following

those rules in whatever life situation you have. That is a really good basic goal that I would have

for every dog out there. That's Kayla Fratt. She's a certified dog behavior consultant and runs

journey dog training in Colorado. She says dogs like structure. They like to know what it is. We're

asking of them. If you don't take the time to help your dog understand the rules in your household

and teach them how to interact politely with you and with society and with your household,

you're likely to become frustrated with your dog. And that's not necessarily fair to the dog

for you to be upset at them for jumping on guests. When you haven't taken the time to help them

understand that that is an important household human cultural norm. A well-trained dog that doesn't

jump on people and knows how to behave in different situations gets to go more places. Like dog

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