Did you know it's possible to stop your dog jumping on visitors today using positive, pet-friendly methods? It's true, read on to find out how... It's natural for dogs to want to jump up to our face level to greet us or our visitors - however annoying it may be! Let's face it, muddy paw prints on our mother-in-laws best floral blouse aren't going to win you or your best mate any favours! So what would be a better way for our dogs to greet us or our visitors? Most dog owners know that they need to teach Fido to "sit". It's usually the first thing taught in any dog obedience class. If your dog already knows how to sit, you are half-way to having a well-mannered pooch who doesn't jump up on you or your visitors. Most people use the command "sit" when they want Fido to sit. It makes sense to us. It doesn't make as much sense to Fido, though. Fido couldn't care less which command (or "cue") we use. What if we were to fold our arms across our chest every time we asked Fido to sit? Then give Fido a small food reward when he sits, or some play time if Fido isn't hungry. Then when visitors come over, we can ask them to fold their arms across their chest and ask Fido to "sit", then we can give Fido a small food reward for being such a good boy! This achieves two things:
1. It gives Fido something to do that isn't jumping on our visitors, teaching him what we would prefer him to do. 2. It makes our visitors less likely to accidentally reinforce the jumping by "making a game of it" when they try to shove Fido down off them. There you have it! Make sure you always have some small food rewards available when you are expecting visitors, it will make it much easier if Fido is expecting something in return for his good manners. |
