Let's teach an alternative behaviour – one that’s incompatible with jumping up … how about a SIT?
Fill a training pouch with some tasty treats – something like small pieces of chicken, cheese, sausage or ham, cut into pea-sized pieces so they can be swallowed easily. We will need a helper - someone who, in the beginning, must refrain from looking at or touching our dog.
Default Sit - First, we're going to teach the "default sit" exercise. With our dog on the lead, just walk a couple of paces and stop. Wait patiently for the dog to sit and, when they do, click and treat. Repeat this in short sessions until the dog is sitting as soon as the person holding the lead stops walking. This may take many repetitions over many days, but persevere and let clicker training work its magic for you.
Approaching Helper - Now it's time to introduce our helper to the exercise. Ask the person to stand quite still, and quiet, with their arms folded. With our dog on the lead, we then approach our helper and stop about 6-8 feet in front of them. When our dog sits, click and treat. Repeat several times in one session, getting a little closer to the helper each time. If our dog pulls towards the helper, we just reverse back, calling our dog to us, and try again.
Helper Approaching Us - We can stand still with our dog for this part of the exercise, and get our helper to approach us. As with the above version, there should be 6-8 feet distance in between us and the helper at the beginning of the exercise. This part of the training probably won't take as long as the stage above, as our dog has a better understanding of what is required ... the sit!
Introducing New People - When introducing new helpers or different people, return to the beginning of the "Approaching Helper" stage and build the exercise up again. With the introduction of each new person, it won't take as long for our dog to get the hang of this exercise. Once our dog is really good at the default sit as soon as we approach people who are standing still etc., we are then ready to ask our helpers to get a bit more animated in their greeting with our dog. This then teaches your dog to remain calmly in the sit position even though the person is more enthusiastic with their greeting.
Polite Meeting & Greeting Training Sessions - the next one is Sunday 14 July 0945 to 1145 at CentreBarks Training & Behaviour Centre, 3 Mercury Road, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 4TQ. See www.WeTrainAnyDog.com Courses Page for details and booking.
Heather Stevens KPA CTP, MCFBA, MGoDT(MT)
Certified Training Partner - Karen Pryor Academy www.clickertraining.com
Registered Animal Trainer - Animal Behaviour & Training Council www.abtcouncil.org.uk
Master Dog Trainer - Guilld of Dog Trainers www.godt.org.uk
Full Member - Canine & Feline Behaviour Association www.cfba.co.uk
Reiki Master and Dog Aggression Specialist
Volunteer Assistance Dog Trainer for Dog AID www.dogaid.org.uk