Hi everyone!
Yesterday we talked about the "official" way I'd like our training sessions to go when I arrive. Controlled greetings around visitors (especially "exciting" visitors) are so important to practice with your dog, no matter what he/she is in training for!
Yesterday's information was geared towards those of you who'd like to have your dog sit or down-stay as the visitor came in. Today's information will be geared towards those of you who don't care what your dog is doing (no specific position or stay required) but just don't want the dog jumping up or being obnoxious when the visitor comes in.
Here's how it goes.
1) Leash up your dog about 2 minutes before our scheduled session time. In this version, you will be holding the dogs leash while you wait for me.
2) When I knock at the door, come towards the door to open it -- but do *not* let your dog pull you to the door! Insist on correct loose-leash walking, using the resets, honor stands, rewarded check-ins and other leash walking techniques. I will wait for you! Do not get flustered and decide it's taking too long and you will just let the dog pull "this once."
3) Open the door for me, and then with your dog immediately step backwards so I can come in but your dog is too far away to jump on me. If you are too close and the dog does jump up, move farther back.
4) Now you are going to plant your feet and let the dog fuss about or carry on if needed. I am going to ignore all that fussing, but immediately when I see the dog calm down and have all feet on the floor, I'll go in to greet. If it jumps up again, I'll move back. I might look like a yo-yo but this technique is so effective that you will often see it working within minutes -- and you don't even have to say or do anything!
5) Once the dog is quite calm, I'll tell you when to drop the leash. Don't make a huge deal of dropping the leash; just set it down. If the dog immediately rushes me and leaps, calmly pick up the leash and take the dog away -- a little "time out" consequence. The lesson here is "calm dogs get off-leash privileges."
Any questions? Let's start!
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