How do you make a dog stop spinning in circles?

Answer 1

It's normal for dogs to spin and some breeds of dogs do it more often than others. They are either chasing their tail or just being silly and having fun. It isn't a issue that you have to break unless it is interfering in commands you give your pet or while the pet is on a leash.

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• Since it's hard to rid an animal of instinct, it will take a lot of training and maybe a shock collar.

ANSWER:

PLEASE do NOT use a shock collar or any other sort of violent or stressful solution! Note that excessive circling/spinning may be a sign of stress in a blind or blind/deaf dog. My blind/deaf JRT just yesterday exhibited for the first time moving around in very tight circles to the left over and over again after we took him to our new house. At first he was fine, but we were there for several hours cleaning, etc., and it seemed to be too long and too stressful for him to be out of his normal element. He started circling in tight circles to the left over and over again. I belong to the blind-deaf dogs list and circling or spinning is a subject on the list. Since our JRT never showed this behavior before, I can only deduce that it was a response to an overload of new information being in a strange place. Postings on the blind-deaf dogs site have stated that the spinning or circling may be used by the stressed dog to establish their location, but it becomes a habit in reaction to too much stress. I would say that even if your dog is not blind or deaf, you should still show compassion and try to re-direct the dog with some gentle touches or by moving him in a straight line. Reassurance after the circling or spinning stops would reward a more positive action by the dog.