Not all pets are entirely trained. Even if they are, there can be some ''off days''. How do you handle it with your pet?
We have a female doberman at home. Her favourite past time is to run up and down in our garden and bark excessively at anything that moves in the street below. This stresses me a bit as I don't want to upset the neighbours. I have come to realise that the more I shout at her to stop barking the more she barks. I suppose she thinks I am joining in with the barking session. So now what I do is to call her very sweetly to come inside and immediately obeys. Besides that, she is overall a very obedient dog.
I just have to say how hard I laughed when you mentioned that she may thing you're laughing along with her. LOL
It depends on the individual pet. I have had lots of dogs over the years and some are just more stubborn than others. Our basset hound that we have now had came from a shelter. If we even slightly yell at him, he is devastated. He must have had a rough time before coming to our home. He is a sweet dog and we rarely have any problems with him.
It really depends on what the pet did. I know that if the issue is a minor one then I just scold them. However, if it is a more serious issue I scold them and they know they are upset. Now the scolding is more of telling them they are bad and not petting them when they want to.
I generally give him a stern look and let him know by my expression and tone of voice that I am displeased with his behavior. It almost always works, in fact - thus far it has worked. They are uncannily telepathic like that, especially dogs. If the behavior is really bad, they get a gentle pat on the bottom immediately following the behavior.
I must admit, when I had my 15-year-old Shih Tzu she was quite disciplined and acted properly. The only times I can recall of her acting up was when she had her food. You never mess with her when she was eating. Other than that, she never barked at anyone, bit anyone, kept to herself, etc. Now, my fiancee has two lovely male cats. Again, I don't think they ever act up. Sometimes they fight each other, but when it becomes too violent we break it up and speak sternly to the one that instigated it.
My (female) dog gets out of my control when my grandma comes to visit. She HATES her! They've known each other for years so it's not because she's someone "new". When she does that, I try to be near her so that she calms down and stops barking.
