Obedience

[kat.villacortalopez]

Hey guys, what if my dog only behaves when I am around? She already knows a few basic rules and how I like her to behave, but anytime any other person is around she just forgets everything; like jumping on them and biting their hands. This is quite and issue because whenever she knows I am close or looking she´s perfect so I cannot correct her when I am not around. And it is not like I can ask everyone to teach her and have patience. Help!

[JMFS]

Hi Kat,

 

Gertie does this with the husband because he inadvertently invites said behaviors. She's learned, like your pup, how I expect her to behave, but each new person brings an opportunity to push the boundaries. Okay, more like she's never met a stranger and hasn't seen said new person in like Forever, even though she's never met them. I've almost gotten the husband trained (ha) to accept the behavior he invites and to eschew the behavior he's not fond of. Example: Gertie will go over to him and nudge his hand while he's on the phone and he'll absent-mindedly start scratching or petting her. Then when he's Not on the phone and she does it he wonders why she's doing that. :rolleyes:

 

I think it's a combination of training the people and the dog, with more emphasis on human training. We had a couple younguns over the other day and the sister pretty much ignored Gertie after the initial "oh my gosh, a puppeeeeeee!" while the brother hugged all over Gertie at every opportunity. Gertie ignored the sister and wiggled all over the brother. One thing I've learned is to load guests up with treats (our cherished Zuke's minis) and every time Gertie comes over to them they can toss a treat away from them and Gertie will go after the treat. Eventually she keeps her distance, hoping a treat will come her way. It takes longer with certain people. My mom is Not an animal lover like the rest of us so of Course the dogs and cat flock to her. ;) She's perfected telling them, "no, I don't want you," and proceeds to ignore them. They learn quickly that she's boring (sorry, Mom) and they move on to better things (sorry, again, Mom). My trainer, on the other hand, Loves animals and she can hardly contain herself, though she does manage. The dogs sense that energy about her and it takes them much longer to settle down. Especially Momo - he adores her.

 

That wasn't really advice as much as it was commiseration. As she ages she'll mellow, and as folks are consistent with her she'll learn. I take Gertie everywhere I'm allowed so she gets exposure to all sorts of people and situations and the hope there is that she'll come to find new situations to be interesting but not Totally Amazingly Exciting Adventures. The more repetition other people are willing to do with her will also help. E.g., coming in the door - the more she sees that happen, the more commonplace and mundane it will become and the less energy she'll put into greeting folks. The biggest issue is getting willing humans to do repetition. We'd make awful dogs, lol.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

I can feel your frustration. More than deliberately "forgetting," I think that your dog is over threshold from all of the excitement of having guests over. Her cognitive functions shut down just like a child who can't focus at Disney World due to all the exciting sights and sounds. You can read about dogs being over threshold here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

 

An aggravating factor is that your guests are likely delivering body language and excited tones and expressions (awww, ahhh, so cute!) that encourages her jumping and nipping. There are several things you can do to work on this issue. Here are some ideas:

 

-Jennifer offered you a great starting point. With guests tossing treats, her focus will be more on catching/searching treats rather than jumping and nipping. This can establish a new routine versus rehearsing the jumping/nipping behaviors.

-If you want to kick things up a notch, invite over compliant guests (initially start with one or two) that can participate in training her and establishing calm behaviors. Have them ask her to sit with you nearby and reward her. Keep her on a leash if that helps her stay calm.

-Over time, gradually move farther and farther away (this means weaning her off the leash). If your dog starts jumping or acting nippy, then tell your guests to turn around and cross their arms until she acts calmer. If she keeps jumping on their back, tell them to even leave temporarily (if they can open the door without her escaping out of course!). Once she is calmer, then they can turn around again/come back, ask for a sit and reward.

-Alternatively, if you have her on leash, when you notice she is about to jump, turn around and walk away so that she must catch up and follow you. Then, try to approach again and have the guest try again to have her sit. The goal is to make it clear that sitting leads to treats, and jumping/nipping leads to either the guest leaving or you putting distance between the guest and your dog by leaving with her on leash.

-Here's a fun exercise, once her emotions are better in check: have guests over to sit on the couch and ask her to target their hands and reward her with a tossed treat. Dogs who target hands are less likely to nip if they are rewarded well for it: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

-How about having guests sitting on the couch take turns calling her, asking her to sit and then tossing a treat?

-You don't need to have guests who teach her for the whole visit. Make the exercises short and sweet, once she has done a few great reps, you may want to call it a day and keep her in an area to chill and enjoy a stuffed Kong. Many dogs get super tired when guests are over and when they get cranky this is often when they misbehave.

-Another great exercise is training her to go to her mat and stay when guests are over and you need to excuse yourself for a minute or two. Make sure to practice this a lot and use high-value rewards. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

-If you know you have non-compliant guests or guests who excite her too much, you can always keep on leash with you or keep her behind a baby gate/separate room until she is calmer. Many dogs act calmer if they are kept in a room and then introduced to guests who are sitting on the couch versus greeting them at the door while the guests are moving and standing up.

-Never let your dog alone with guests so to not allow her to rehearse the problematic behaviors.

-Enroll her in group dog training classes. These offer an excellent opportunity for training your dog to behave despite the presence of people and other dogs. This can provide you a starting point and foundation to apply in other contexts.

-Of course, if your dog is biting and the behavior is getting out of hand (overly aroused dogs may bite with more force in exciting situations), please consult with a dog behavior professional using force-free methods for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification.

 

In most cases, this behavior is seen in young dogs who are overly excited and haven't been trained enough in spite of strong distractions. Only practice makes perfect, but one fundamental ingredient is finding compliant guests. Most of us dog owners face this problem. Failure to find compliant guests willing to follow clear directions, may only lead to setbacks and rehearsals of problem behaviors that risk putting roots. It's therefore best to manage the dog (put on leash with you, behind a baby gate) than allow reps of problematic behaviors when dealing with such guests.

Edited June 9, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[kat.villacortalopez]

Thanks girls, great tips. Although I think my situation is quite different than usual. I live in a two floor apartment and my dogs are kept in the upper terrace (where my room and office are) because my mom doesnt like dog smell or prints on the main floor. This becomes a real problem when anyone comes up, for example; the lady who comes -for hours- to clean up the house and everytime she comes up my dog would go crazy, but I cannot ask her to stop what she`s doing to wait for the dog to calm down... ugh, well I hope like as you say it will fade out eventually. Thank you so much!

[JMFS]

Oooh oooh oooh! I can vouch for the "go to your mat" method for that situation. It took months, and we still have oopses here and there, but Gertie is Finally to the point to where she'll stay on her bed when the husband comes home. It took a lot of Zuke's minis (still does some days - just like us they have their good and bad days) and repetition. She Knows she better move her little but when I start counting. None of us know what happens when I get to 3 and one day I'm going to have to figure that out. :D For now by the time I get to 2 she's plopped herself on that bed and is pouting.

 

So here's our scenario: we're in the office, husband comes home, Gertie and Abbi go the baby gate at the kitchen to greet him. Abbi, well, whatever. Some days I can get her to stay on the bed and others she's too anxious to see "Pop Pop." Gertie, on the other hand, I've invested some real time and effort into and I can recall her from the gate and get her to go to the bed. Most days she'll stay on the bed, but others she's wanting to greet.

 

What I did: every time her furry little tush got to hustling to greet "Pop Pop" I'd whistle, throw a treat on her bed and tell her, "bed." The first few times it was 3 - 4 treats to get her attention. She'd chomp that down and go back to greeting, at which point I'd catch her with a whistle and toss a treat on the bed and say, "bed." Over and over and over we did this. She's not perfect at waiting, but it's 185% better than it used to be. My daughter really gets her riled up because dogs love people who want nothing to do with dogs. :D My child is a cat person, but I still love her dearly. I do the same thing - whistle - treat - say "bed" until I get her (Gertie, not my kiddo) to stay on her bed so we humans can converse without a hairy bundle of energy wiggling all over the place. Once Gertie stays for a few seconds, and before she can't stand it any more and gets up, I toss about 5 treats on to the bed, trying to hit each corner so she has to give her attention to finding them, which helps quell some of the excitement over the person.

 

I work from home and it was definitely a detriment to my work output when I'd have to repeat this over and over again; however, it was worth it in the long run. Besides, I can work any ol' time - that's why I'm often up at 2 a.m. It's in those wee hours that no sub-contractors (or husbands or brother-in-laws) are calling, texting, or emailing needing something, and I can work uninterrupted. And the dogs are asleep, that helps, too.

 

Yard day is another challenge. The guys come by with the weed whackers and blowers and the dogs go wild, despite this being a weekly occurrence for the past 2 years. I've begun anticipating when the guys are going to be here and I put Momo in the crate with a Kong, Gertie gets a different Kong with treats in it, and Abbi, well, she's usually just sleeping and doesn't make a peep until the bigger dogs do. Today it worked like a charm. Normally I have to put more effort into settling everyone down so I'm hopeful we're all on the same page. Yard guys = peanut butter and cookies in a Kong!

 

It's going to take tenacity and repetition, but she Will get there. Dogs are über social and we're asking them to go against the grain when we tell them to go to their bed instead of going to greet someone. Kind of like someone asking me not to twirl my hair - I don't know if I'd be so great at complying and I think I'd opt to ignore them more often than Gertie ignores me! There will be days when you'll wonder if your training is taking at all because she'll ignore your attempts to settle her down; but then there will be days when you'll realize she's on her bed even though distractions are happening and you didn't ask her to stay. Those are the awesome days when you know your effort is paying off. :) Gertie is still plenty puppy'ish, but with training she's learning to be more reserved and wait for an invitation to interact. I suspect that by this time next year she'll be quite a lady (who occasionally rolls in stinky disgusting gooey stuff . . .).