Hey everyone! Here's our very first training tips for the new blog. Some of you may already be familiar with the tips, but it's always a good idea to review.Out of all the requests the Dog Pack at Dog City gets, the most popular is that we try to teach our furry friends that their paws belong on the floor, not on their guardian's thigh, chest, or (depending on how small your dog is) shin. This topic was brought up in the Winter '06 edition of Howl'd by Ellie, which you can see on dogcityboulder.com.
FOUR PAWS ON THE FLOOR
Dogs, just like children, need positive reinforcement. This is a very important concept to remember all throughout our lives with our best friends. As their guardians, we have a duty to ensure that their lives are as happy as they make ours.
So, if your dog is a chronic jumper, it means only one thing: They love you. Since most dogs live and breathe for human attention and affection, they will do whatever they can to get you to notice them. Any response to a jump: "Get off!, Ouch, your nails are sharp!, No, no, no!" is good enough for them; they've gotten your attention. So, in order to reverse this connection in their minds, it's best to ignore them. The Dog Pack finds it most effective to take advice from Nana Will, the master trainer. She's identified a three-step method for encouraging a dog to stay on the floor.
1. Turn your back to them.
2. Step slightly into their space.
3. Do not make eye contact or speak to them.
Once your friend gets the point, he or she will generally take a seat. They realize very quickly that jumping gets them no attention, so their next course of action will be to sit quietly and wait for you to acknowledge how much of a good dog they're being. Then comes the positive reinforcement: Cuddle them, scratch them, and make all those bubbly ridiculous sounds that we can't help making.
RELEASING
Something that goes paw-in-paw with the first topic is to teach your dog not to jump at a gate or a door before you get a chance to open it. This is especially the case here at Dog City, as you all know. The gate at the front is a prime obstacle for jumping. They simply can't contain their excitement when their guardians return to pick them up. Jumping at the gate is just their way of saying, "Hi!, Hi!, Guess what?, Guess what?, I played with all these other dogs today!, Hi!, Hi!" Every member of the Dog Pack will have the dog sit before opening the front gate. But often this isn't quite enough to calm them down as much as possible. So, we do the following.
We open the gate slowly, making sure that they keep sitting. We say, "wait," and sometimes it's helpful to use a hand signal--just a flat palm raised in front of them works. After the gate is open, and they've been sitting patiently for a bit, we say, "release." This is not only their signal to get up and greet their guardian, but also the guardian's signal to start praising them lavishly.
In the picture above, you see Denali, getting ready to play after naptime. She's sitting patiently in one of our rooms in the kitchen. She's waiting to hear the word "release" and she's doing a great job of it. Not a budge! This is the routine that we go through in the mornings with all of our friends who have stayed overnight--it's also what we do after naps. And, in keeping with our "four paws on the floor" technique, if a dog jumps at the bedroom door in the hopes of getting our attention and being allowed out, we turn our backs on them. It's not until they've sat that we turn around and greet them again, sometimes saying, "good," to reinforce the behavior. (Sometimes this goes on for a little while, which we know probably looks funny on the webcams!)
The Dog Pack hopes that this information will come in handy for everyone. What with the coming cold and snow, we hope that these tips will help your dogs keep four paws on the floor and not all over your clothes!
