Dealing with Unwanted Pet Behaviors

By Sophie Kininmonth · 5 Feb 2026 (updated 21 Jul 2026) ·6 min read

Unwanted pet behaviour is almost always a signal rather than badness. Barking, biting, destruction, or toileting inside usually points to fear, frustration, boredom, or discomfort, and each of those has a fix. The good news is that most of it responds well to a steady, evidence-based approach: rule out medical causes first, then change the environment and teach a better behaviour with reward-based training. Punishment tends to suppress the signal without fixing the reason underneath, and it can make fear and aggression worse.^{1, 2, 3} This is a guide to reading what your pet is telling you and responding in a way that actually holds.

What "unwanted behaviour" usually means

"Unwanted" is a human label. For the animal, the behaviour is doing a job: creating distance, seeking attention, easing tension, burning off energy, or responding to pain. The aim is not to win a contest of wills. It is to work out what is driving the behaviour and then replace it with something safer and easier to live with.

Common examples you might recognise

Excessive barking or vocalising
Jumping up, mouthing, nipping, biting
Growling, lunging, reactive behaviour on lead
Destruction (doors, skirting boards, shoes), digging
Toileting inside, spraying or marking (especially in cats)

Why it happens

Behaviour problems most often sit at the intersection of learning, environment, and health. Common drivers include:

Fear and anxiety (including separation-related distress)
Over-arousal and poor impulse control (often in young dogs)
Boredom and unmet needs for movement, chewing, sniffing, scratching, foraging
Incomplete training or inconsistent cues
Pain or medical conditions that lower tolerance and shorten the fuse

Because illness and pain can change behaviour, a veterinary check is a sensible early step, especially if the behaviour appeared suddenly, escalated quickly, or comes with other signs (sleep changes, appetite changes, stiffness, itching, vomiting or diarrhoea).⁴

Start with safety and management

When behaviour has sharp edges, management matters. It prevents your pet from rehearsing the unwanted behaviour while you work on the underlying cause.

Prevent access: baby gates, secure fencing, closed doors, covered bins.
Reduce triggers: distance from other dogs, block window views, quiet visitors, predictable routines.
Use the right gear: a well-fitted harness, a long line for training at distance, muzzle conditioning if recommended by a professional.
Supervise or confine kindly: pens, safe rooms, enrichment, and calm departures, never as punishment.

Training that works: reward-based learning

Reward-based training builds behaviour through repetition rather than force. You reinforce what you want to see again, and you quietly remove the payoff for what you do not.^{1, 3}

Positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement means adding something the animal values (food, play, access, attention) immediately after the behaviour you want. Over time, that behaviour becomes more likely. It also helps to be sparing with attention for behaviours you do not want, because even scolding can function as a reward for some animals, especially those craving interaction.¹

Clicker training

Clicker training uses a distinct sound (a clicker or a short word like "yes") to mark the exact moment the desired behaviour happens, followed by a reward. The marker improves timing and helps animals learn faster, particularly for small, easily missed steps.

When to start

Early training and gentle social experiences help prevent problems later, but adults and seniors can still learn well. The difference is pace: older animals may need shorter sessions, lower-impact exercise, and a closer look at pain and sensory changes.

Common mistakes that quietly make behaviour worse

Waiting too long to act. Many behaviours become stronger with practice. Early management and small training sessions usually beat a late, dramatic reset.
Using punishment or intimidation. Aversive methods can increase fear and anxiety, damage the bond with your pet, and may increase aggression risk. They also tend to hide warning signals (like growling) rather than address the cause.^{1, 2, 3}
Accidentally rewarding the problem. If barking reliably brings attention, or jumping up reliably leads to touch and talk, the animal learns the behaviour works. Sometimes the fix is simply changing what gets reinforced.¹
Inconsistent cues and rules. If "off" means off only sometimes, the animal keeps trying, because intermittent rewards are powerful. Consistency from everyone in the household matters.

Behaviour modification: changing the emotional response

Training teaches skills. Behaviour modification changes how an animal feels about a trigger, so the behaviour shifts at the source rather than just on the surface.

Desensitisation

Desensitisation means exposing your pet to a trigger at a level they can cope with (far enough away, quiet enough, brief enough), then gradually increasing intensity over time. If the animal tips into panic, you have gone too far too fast.

Counterconditioning

Counterconditioning pairs the trigger with something good, so the animal's emotional response starts to change. A dog that tenses at the sight of another dog in the distance might learn that "dog appears" predicts chicken raining from the sky, calmly and at a safe distance, until the sight of the other dog becomes less charged.⁵

When to involve a veterinarian

If behaviour changes suddenly, escalates rapidly, or includes aggression, a veterinary assessment is not an optional extra. Veterinarians are trained to rule out medical contributors and to help you decide what kind of behavioural support is needed next.⁴

Medical issues that can sit underneath behaviour

Pain (arthritis, dental disease, ear infections, injuries)
Skin disease and itch
Hormonal and neurological conditions
Sensory decline (hearing or vision) and cognitive changes in older pets

Choosing a trainer

A good trainer should be calm, observant, and transparent. They should explain what they are doing and why, and they should put safety and welfare first.

Choose reward-based methods and avoid trainers who rely on fear, pain, "dominance", or punishment tools.
Ask for a plan: management, training steps, and what to do if things go wrong.
For aggression or severe anxiety, ask your vet about referral to a veterinary behaviourist (or a vet with behaviour training).⁴

Medication: sometimes useful, never a shortcut

For severe anxiety, compulsive behaviours, or cases where learning is impossible because the animal is constantly over threshold, medication can be part of humane treatment under veterinary supervision. It is usually most effective when combined with behaviour modification, not used alone.^{6, 7}

What medication can and cannot do

Can: lower baseline anxiety, improve the ability to learn, reduce panic responses.
Cannot: teach new skills by itself. Training and management still do the teaching.

In Australia, prescription-only medicines for animals must be prescribed by a veterinarian, who is responsible for diagnosis, safety, and monitoring.⁸

Patience and consistency

Progress usually looks like a tide line rather than a straight climb. Good weeks are followed by setbacks when routines change, visitors arrive, or the weather keeps everyone inside.

Stay calm: your tone and movement can raise or lower arousal.
Keep cues consistent: same words, same rules, same outcomes.
Practise little and often: short sessions that end before frustration arrives.
Reward the behaviour you want to live with: quiet, four paws on the floor, settling, checking in.

References

Sophie Kininmonth

Dog lover and writer at My Pets Australia, sharing practical breed guides and care advice for Australian pet owners.