Doggone Etiquette —

Friend Or Foe?

By Bardi McLennan

A Word to the Dog:                           

This is the time of year when people come into your home, sit on your sofa or chair, or swim in your pool. They even put food and drinks at poolside or on the deck and you aren’t allowed to sniff, eat or drink any of it. It’s enough to make a dog go crazy. There’s an even bigger problem and that is trying to figure out who is an invited guest and who is an intruder. Sometimes it’s just a matter of opinion. For example, you may not like Uncle Harry because he’s one of those “intruders” mentioned above, yet your VIPeople seem so pleased to see him. On the other hand, you love that deliveryman who keeps treats in his pocket, but your people just say, “Thanks” and he leaves. Even your very own people are pretty hard to figure out sometimes.

A Word to the Dog’s Owner:            

Let’s face it: Dogs have their preferences regarding people and generally there is not much anyone can do to change their minds. In the winter, people mostly arrive for parties or during the holidays, so the dog’s likes and dislikes of people may go unnoticed. In the summer when life is more casual, there are apt to be more drop-in visitors, weekend guests and family you haven’t seen for ages. Some of these people may be new to your dear old dog. Or, of course, your recently-acquired dog may be new to all of those people!                              

Lots of problems can crop up in either situation, and the only way to tackle them is through your control of the dog’s behavior. You may know that every person Brutus meets is greeted with a friendly wagging tail – and lips drawn to expose a lovely set of teeth. If you know for certain that it’s the dog’s way of “smiling” and you can explain it or end it, your friends will learn to accept it. They may even think it’s amusing. But if this dog is new to your home, run the problem by the trainer when you go for those all-important obedience lessons. If your old dog has developed any strange reactions when meeting people, check with your vet to see if it could be related to sight or hearing loss.

Then there’s the dog that craves attention, jumps up on every person that walks through your door. (Okay, I’ll admit it – I have one like that!) It is very hard to teach an overly-friendly dog to Sit-Stay, but there are two things that can help. Use “saturation” to teach the dog to “Sit” in a designated spot away from the door. “Saturation” merely means that you ask as many friends as you can round up to come (one at a time) to the door and knock or ring. Put the dog in his special spot before you open the door.  Enforce the Sit-Stay and greet that person and he/she leaves so the next one can go through the exact procedure over again. This goes on (almost forever) until Rufus stays put out of sheer boredom. Some dogs do better on a Down-Stay which is fine. The other way is to use a martingale (or double loop) collar on the dog so you can grab the smaller loop which tightens the larger one for control. Again, the dog goes on a Sit-or Down-Stay before you open the door. 

While you’re at it, you might want to teach your friends the word to use when Rufus jumps up in greeting them. The word is “Off” said firmly as you make the correction. The most common mistake is to tell the dog “Down” which to Rufus means “lie down, flat on the floor.”                    

By the way, there’s nothing wrong with letting your visiting friends and family know just which chair, or which spot on the patio, belongs to Rufus. Also, that all food left within reach is fair game for the dog’s demolition derby!

                            

Until next time – BE GOOD!

-  Bardi

Bardi McLennan bred, trained and showed Welsh Terriers for 30 years during which time she wrote a monthly column on canine behavior in Dog fancy Magazine. In addition to contributing to numerous dog publications, she has written 15 books on dogs, the latest being Rescue Me! which received the ASPCA Humane Issues Award last year.