Polite Dog Human Greeting Part 1

"Can I pet your dog?" This may be a question you hear & start to worry about how your dog will greet a stranger. Will your dog jump on your guest? Will your dog knock your guest over when saying hello?

Why do dogs even jump up on people? In most cases it is just because we are taller than them & they are trying to get to our faces for a social greeting. This is a pretty normal dog behavior, but something most humans do not appreciate. This article is the first in a series that will start you & your dog on a better path to polite dog and human greeting behaviors.

Your Family: First lets address how you & your family greet your dog. After a long day at work you are probably eager to see your dog & start baby talking your dog, "Dexter Ive missed you so much! Oh, you are such a handsome boy!" If you are speaking to your dog in a high pitched, excited tone you are likely going to increase his excitement & your dog will start to get bouncy & jumpy. So, lets tone it down a bit.

Walk in your house calmly & smile softly at your dog. "Hiiii. Deexxter." Quickly squat down to your dogs level and gently rub his chest & talk very softly to him. If he jumps up, stand up & ignore him until he gets all 4 on the floor again. Repeat. It will be a bit of a Yo-Yo exercise for you. Dont yell at him, dont tell him "off," just stand up and ignore him. My rule is I have an "Invisible Dog" when my dog is jumping up on me (or barking for attention). As soon as those feet go back down, he reappears.

Fast Tip: You can jump start your dogs polite greeting behavior by the use of food or toys. When greeting your dog, or coming home from work, or letting your dog out of his crate, have some dog treats or dog food on you or in your pocket. As soon as you see your dog, drop a dog treat or dog food kibble at his feet. Repeat as soon as he finishes eating the treat. Do this as you walk around with your dog or take your dog outside to potty. As your dog gets better at this routine, your kibble drops will be spaced out more. Instead of a kibble drop every second, its every 3 seconds, 5 seconds, etc until they are no longer needed.

To use a toy in polite dog greeting behavior, you must first find a toy your dog thinks is very exciting and he wants to eagerly fetch or hold. Sometimes this means having a cupboard full of new dog toys to keep them interesting & engaging. As soon as you see your dog wiggle the toy & toss. You may need to have a few toys in your hand so you can keep tossing as you walk around with your dog. Again, this is a behavior you can fade over time.

Exercise and Attention: Please remember that your dog needs to be adequately exercised every day both physically and mentally. If your dog does not get physical & mental and quality bonding time with you, he is unlikely to be successful. If you are unsure if you provide your dog with enough exercise & attention, keep a log book for a week. Write down your daily activities with your dog. And when I say "with your dog" I mean that you are actually paying attention to & bonding with. Not that your dog is laying on the floor in the same room. Dogs are Mans/Womans Best Friends for a reason. They need you & your attention.

Read the second installment of polite greeting!

Need some extra help?  I offer both in person & online, web, video instruction!

Please feel free to contact me for details.

Tonya Wilhelm-Global Dog Training http://www.globaldogtraining.com

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Day 1 of 28 Huh what happened

Well, this one is really quick & easy to explain. I fell off the wagon.

So, today was Day 1 of 28 again. A quick hit out this morning. It included 2 mountains, rain, thick fog, a little sunshine, rain, one tosser driver & 198kms later I was home.

My favourite cafe, on the top of Mount Nebo, is closing down for 2 months over June & July. The two owners are traveling overseas. They had a management team organised for the 2 months but this just fell through a few days ago.

No decent excuse to stop for a rest on top of this mountain now :-(

Oh, while I type about my not so important day there are many in SE Queensland & Northern NSW that are getting smashed with a huge amount of flooding due to rain, strong wind damage & to top it off there is a very serious warning of a huge tidal surge that will more than likely cause much more damage & flooding along the coast. Keep safe everyone!

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Games To Play With Your Dog Game 1 Find The Treat Toy Mommy

Dogs are very playful creatures and continue to enjoy play throughout their lives.  I would imagine that is one of the reasons you brought a dog into your home: to have a companion to spend time with and enjoy. Building a good play relationship with your dog can greatly enhance your relationship and bond.  By becoming a good play partner, you will become more important and valuable to your dog.  In turn, they will prefer to be with you and will listen better. 

Play sessions ideally will be short and sweet and speckled often throughout your day.  By asking your dog to play often, he is less likely to be demanding about getting attention.  Play is a great way to teach your dog emotional control.  During your play sessions, take frequent pauses in order to teach this important life skill to your dog. 

Inappropriate play relationships can have the opposite effect on the relationship.  You will want to teach your dog ways to play with humans.  Those ways are different than the ways two canines play together.  Inappropriate play behaviors between dogs and humans include body slamming, biting, mouthing, jumping, wrestling or teasing.  Playing and spending time with your dog should be the highlight of your day, not a battle. 

Here is one easy game to get you started.  Find The Treat, Toy, or Mommy.  Ok, Daddy would work too.  ;)

Find The Treat-Start by grabbing a handful of healthy, tiny treats, or your dogs food.  Ask him to Sit/Stay and place one treat about 5 from him and say, "Find It!"  Repeat this process, but you can start placing more than one treat around, and in harder to find places.  If your dog does not have a Sit/Stay with distractions, you can start by tossing a few treats in one direction, then placing a few in the opposite direction and tell him to find them.  You can build on this game by tucking the treats in harder to find places.  Just remember, your dog will go to those places, so dont hide them in spots you dont want him investigating.

Find The Toy-Start by playing with one of your dogs favorite toys.  Get a nice game going.  Ask him to Sit/Stay (or hold him back if he does not know it), and place the toy 5 from him and say, "Find It!"  Once he grabs it, start playing again.  Build on this game, putting the toy farther away.

Tip:  If your dog can stay while you leave the room, place the toy in another room as you tell him, "Find It!"  You can encourage him as he looks for the toy.  But dont start out of room finds until your dog know hes suppose to look for a specific toy.

Find You-Ask your dog to Sit/Stay as you leave the room and tuck yourself behind something.  Once you are hidden, quickly say your dogs name in a sing-song voice, then be quiet.  Let him look around for you.  Give him a chance to find you.  If he has a real hard time finding you, make a little noise.  When he finds you, make a big fuss and play.  If he does not have a stay, you can hide when he is not paying attention, or drop a few treats on the floor and run away and hide.

Remember, these are GAMES and are meant to be fun.
You dont have to have strict rules, and you can easily improvise.  Have fun~
Need some healthy treat, or toy ideas?  Click here for some fun!

Tonya Wilhelm-Global Dog Training http://www.globaldogtraining.com

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