Episode #168 Polite Greetings

Hi and welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast . Thank you so much for listening . It's because of you that I get to do what I love doing , and I really really appreciate it . Also , thank you for sharing this show with your friends .

My goal is to help anyone who has a dog enjoy living life with their dog , so if you know someone looking for help , send them our way . Today I want to talk about greetings . Does your dog need to sit when being greeted ? Is it okay if my dog is excited ? How do we help shape our dog's behavior , even when they're bouncing around like crazy ?

I've been there . I know many of you have been there . We have these exciting dogs that are just super happy to see people , and what do we do about it ? So if you are thinking , yep , that's my dog , no worries , you have a happy dog , which is good , but today's tips can help with their greetings and to be more polite . So just remember , dogs are dogs .

They don't know human rules , and it's our job to teach them how to interact with a human . Now , just as important as teaching your kids how to properly act around others . Dogs need to learn an appropriate way to say hello to people , as this will inevitably be a part of everyday life while living as a member of our families .

Now note I said an appropriate way , not the appropriate way , as this will be different for different people and dogs . Each dog is a living , breathing creature with their own mind , and they get to make their own decisions .

So we just want to help shape their behavior in a nice , polite way so that when they greet other humans , it's nice and polite to that human as well . It is a rare individual who enjoys it when a stranger's dog abruptly introduces themselves by jumping all over them . Now , smaller dogs they tend to get away with this more than larger dogs . Go figure right .

It is simply good manners to teach our dogs how to properly greet people . Now , this can and should be taught correctly from the very beginning of our training , but it's never too late to get started . So if you have a dog that you know you're one or two years down the road and they maybe aren't super polite when they greet a person . That's okay .

Starting today is better than next week and next week is better than next month . So just pick a goal Today . I'm going to give you a few different ways to teach your dog to greet a human and then choose one that works for you and your dog and get started as soon as possible .

So , as mentioned again , I'm going to give you several options and I just want you to pick one that resonates with you and works for your dog . Now , first things first . When a visitor arrives at your home or you meet someone on the street , imagine what you want your puppy to do . What do you prefer this encounter to look like ?

What are you trying to achieve ? What behavior ? Would you love it if your dog gave that behavior ? Now , without a clear picture , it's hard to expect much , as I guarantee your dog has their own ideas . I initially pictured my dog calmly walking over to the person , sitting at their feet , waiting for the person to acknowledge them .

In reality , it looks a little more like my doodle excitedly walks over to the person , tail wagging , to the point that his little bottom is moving from side to side . He then sniffs their pant leg a little and plops his behind on the floor , looking up at the person as if to say please , please , will you please pet me Now , if he really likes the person .

His whole body wriggles with excitement as he tries his hardest to remain seated for attention and he does a great job at this . He knows , as he's been taught , that sitting is the fastest way to get what he wants . So he sits to say please , say hello to me . Now . That's a little bit of a compromise , but I'm totally fine with it .

In his own little way , he is sitting to say please Now , even though my puppy's actions may vary slightly from that nice and relaxed version in my mind . My puppy did , in fact , in his own way , exactly what I wanted him to do . There was no jumping , no pushing , no licking . He controlled his excitement , you know , as best as he could .

He still wiggled and wriggled and moved about . That's okay , but he did sit waiting for attention , and that is important . So keep in mind that your dog , again , is a living being with a mind of his own and , as he's learning , always remain positive and reward the good , better and best behaviors .

Try to focus on marking and rewarding the polite greeting of sitting for attention , even though his version of sitting for attention is a bit more excited than maybe what I had pictured in my mind . So I will continually work on fine tuning it as he gets more experienced . But in the beginning make sure that you capture these small wins , any little small win .

You know he gives you attention . Mark and reward that he sits for a second . Mark and reward that . That's all great . And then we can strengthen this behavior of sitting to be greeted as he gets a little older and he's more mature .

But we're getting the behavior initially , we're rewarding the small successes and eventually it will evolve into that nice calm sit to say please or sit to be greeted . Now , if your puppy is too excited to sit initially , that's pretty common right . So try tossing a food reward away from the person they're wanting to greet .

You'll have to make sure that your puppy knows what you have , that it's a higher value food item . It's probably not a piece of kibble . That's not going to be more exciting than the person they want to meet . Meat and cheese items are usually at the top of the list for most dogs .

So find something that excites them and then again , you're going to put that food reward right on their nose and , as they look at the person , immediately toss or roll I like to roll it on the ground even so . They get to chase it because that adds to the fun but roll that little food reward away from the person .

So they get to see the person turn away , chase a piece of food , collect the piece of food and then they're going to turn around to come see that person again , immediately send them away to chase that piece of food . You're going to do this five to 10 times until they figure it out . Oh , I look at the person . She tosses food . I look at the person .

She tosses food away . And so they get to do all sorts of fun things in this game . They get to see as an exciting person , they get to chase a piece of food , they get to eat the yummy food and then they get to come back and play it all over again . This is multiple wins for your dog .

Now , maybe you've done that 10 times , or maybe even just five times , that's okay . Several times . So they get the game and then , as that dog starts to turn back to the person . I would see if they could do a sit to say , please see if that dog will sit , and then we toss the food .

So now we've instigated a new rule that , okay , we're playing the same game but instead of you just looking at the person and I toss food away , you're going to look at that person , you're going to sit and then I toss food away . Some of you will be able to play this game within five , six feet of the exciting person .

Others of you might need to be 10 , 12 , 15 feet away from the exciting person . You do what's best for you and your dog , what your dog can handle . Again , remember , we're always trying to set our dogs up for success . That means , in this moment where I want my dog to greet a person politely , what can I do to make this experience easier for them ?

Distance is going to be your best friend . So usually , if a dog is too excitable , they won't focus on the little piece of cheese you have that you're tossing away . Just back up a few steps , see if you can move away four or five , 10 more feet , and then will your puppy chase the little piece of food ?

You're going to get the same repetitions , the same practice , but just from a distance that your puppy can now win . That's going to move the training along much faster . The more wins and successes your puppy experiences , the faster that overall end behavior starts to happen . And then you know , you practice from a distance away . We start to move closer .

We play that same game , but we move a few feet closer as the dog can be successful . So again , set your dogs up for success . But this is a great game because the puppy gets to see the person that they want to go say hi to , but they can't really hold still , they're too excitable so we get to send them away from the person .

All sorts of wins are happening on our end as well . The puppy's attention is being drawn away from the person . All four paws are staying on the ground and , like I said , after repetition five , six , seven , eight , nine , 10 , that puppy , you can start to get them to sit to say please , to start the game and look what you're building .

You're building that nice sit to be greeted behavior , all while playing a game where your puppy can move , which is often what they need to do . Anyway , they don't know how to control their impulses with this exciting stranger around . So create a little bit of distance , start playing this game .

You can even have that person toss the food away if you want , if they want to help you out . What about the puppy who's a little nervous to greet strangers ? Maybe it's the opposite problem , right . Maybe they're not so excited , but they're like I don't know what to do with this stranger .

So every time your puppy sees a stranger and they seem a little nervous , you'll be able to tell by their body language . If you need help reading your dog's body language , we have a class on that . So check out our classes and courses and click on body language .

But you'll turn and walk away from the person and I just want you to immediately feed your puppy as you walk away .

So you'll just say , let's go , we'll turn and walk away , we'll feed them as we walk away and once you are a distance away , where your puppy starts to relax again , you'll notice by their body language that their stress is starting to melt away . Then we ask our puppy to sit and we feed our dog food rewards while that person walks past .

Now , when the person's gone , we stop feeding . It's ideal if we can get multiple repetitions in with this same person . So what I might do in this session would be see the person turn and walk away , reward my dog for walking away . Maybe I can get them to sit and watch the person for a little bit . Or maybe you just simply turn back to the person .

Let the dog see the person turn away again , let's go . We go the opposite direction . We create distance . We reward our dog for turning and walking away and then we turn back around . We see the person , let's go . We turn and walk away again . So I'm getting multiple repetitions in of I see a person , I feel a little anxious . We just turn and walk away .

We create that distance , the stress levels come down and then , yeah , a couple of those times , maybe you get a couple of those repetitions in , and then we do the sit to say please , or sit to be greeted at behavior where they see the person . But we're just practicing the sit component of it . Anyway , sounds

good . So if you have a dog that doesn't really want to greet a person , I would never force that interaction . I would never let a person come and approach my dog If my dog's appearing nervous about it . I would just ask the person to give us a minute or maybe say politely not today , but thanks for asking . That's okay .

Be your dog's advocate and if your dog's not filling up for it , they do not need to greet a person . So this week , think of how you picture your puppy greeting someone and begin teaching your puppy to do it better . Remember to keep your dog's perspective in mind . What will work best for your dog and their personality ? Remember to use the leash .

That's our management tool and we always pair the management with the training . So just by keeping your dog on a leash we can prevent them from practicing jumping all over people . Don't let them get close enough where they can practice the jumping .

Keep your dog on a leash at a distance from the person where they can't reach them , and then start playing the games that we talked about today to build that nice , good greeting behavior . All right , you guys are amazing . Enjoy your dogs this week . Go live life with them . Do something that you both enjoy together . Happy training and we'll talk soon .

If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question , visit my site , baxter and Bellacom , to contact me .