My four month old pup jumps up on people when she greets them, of course. She loves people! And loves jumping! Why wouldn't she do two at once?
In our puppy class we were shown a very effective way of teaching a dog to sit politely while being approached (and even to check in with you frequently when they see someone coming). That is all well and good. It worked very well in class with the trainer acting as a stranger, walking up to me and my pup to greet us.
However! This is proving very difficult in the real world. Maybe I'm not being direct enough with people, but when they try to approach my pup I say "She has to sit first. Then you can pet her." I think this is very clear...but I get one of two reactions (neither of which are helpful):
1. People go "Oh...nevermind then..." and walk away.
2. People go "Oh, ok. Sit...sit...Sit....SIT!" and then go "Ohhh, nevermind!" and pet her anyway! NOoooooOooo! *I* get her to sit. YOU stand there and exercise some restraint people!
People can't wait the 30 seconds it takes her to calm down and sit. They start trying to put her in a sit, putting their hands all over her (which she then bites...yay, playing!) or just figure that it's torturous for the dog to have to calm herself down so they just start petting her anyway.
How can I be more clear? I don't want to come across as a jerk...but I have told people "I'm sorry, I said she needs to sit first. She's being trained. Please don't pet her yet." And they still don't listen. Or then they REALLY walk away.
I can't be the only person who has been in this situation. What did you do? How do get people to HELP with your training? And not just make things worse! The huuuge downside here is that I live alone and unfortunately have virtually no one to practise this with. I don't have any family in the city and the friends I've tried to get to help me...are worse than the general public! They have nooo patiences and keep trying to correct her even when I've made it really, really clear what their role is. People just don't seem to get training unless they've done it themselves.
Help!
In our puppy class we were shown a very effective way of teaching a dog to sit politely while being approached (and even to check in with you frequently when they see someone coming). That is all well and good. It worked very well in class with the trainer acting as a stranger, walking up to me and my pup to greet us.
However! This is proving very difficult in the real world. Maybe I'm not being direct enough with people, but when they try to approach my pup I say "She has to sit first. Then you can pet her." I think this is very clear...but I get one of two reactions (neither of which are helpful):
1. People go "Oh...nevermind then..." and walk away.
2. People go "Oh, ok. Sit...sit...Sit....SIT!" and then go "Ohhh, nevermind!" and pet her anyway! NOoooooOooo! *I* get her to sit. YOU stand there and exercise some restraint people!
People can't wait the 30 seconds it takes her to calm down and sit. They start trying to put her in a sit, putting their hands all over her (which she then bites...yay, playing!) or just figure that it's torturous for the dog to have to calm herself down so they just start petting her anyway.
How can I be more clear? I don't want to come across as a jerk...but I have told people "I'm sorry, I said she needs to sit first. She's being trained. Please don't pet her yet." And they still don't listen. Or then they REALLY walk away.
I can't be the only person who has been in this situation. What did you do? How do get people to HELP with your training? And not just make things worse! The huuuge downside here is that I live alone and unfortunately have virtually no one to practise this with. I don't have any family in the city and the friends I've tried to get to help me...are worse than the general public! They have nooo patiences and keep trying to correct her even when I've made it really, really clear what their role is. People just don't seem to get training unless they've done it themselves.
Help!