What Is Your Sign? (Not Zodiac sign!!)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Melissa of Porter and I were recently discussing what sign we would hang in our entry if we wanted to instruct our arriving guests how to "behave" in our homes-especially in regard to interacting with our doodles.

 

Melissa's was:

"If you are female please shower the dog in the armchair with attention

If you are male please ignore the dog until your third visit"

 

Mine would be:

"Please remove your shoes and keep your hands at your sides"

 

Okay, the SHOE part is for me but "hands at your sides" is because people waving their hands about seem to trigger some friendly "spaz out and attack" mechanism in Tara.

 

What would your sign say?

[Adina P]

I think it's ultimately MY responsibility to train my dog polite manners and not my guests responsibility to comply with a set of behavior rules.  My guests should be able to make kissy noises, be excited to meet my dogs, or...whatever...and my dogs should, through training, be able to keep four feet on the floor to greet them or hold a stay or whatever.  But in the meantime, if others don't want to do anything to correct or deal with the jumping then they can't complain :-D

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree that it is my responsibility too! I  just appreciate and can use all the help I can get!! LOL!

[Adina P]

I know, it's frustrating!  But if my training is good...then it won't matter what they do.  If people are coming INTO my house (vs. my yard while the dogs are already out and loose) I always contain Boca first or strap on a leash.  That way I can keep it a training moment and not just hope that the people do the right things to condition my dog.  If it's in the yard...and I can't wrangle the dogs away I keep telling friends what to do, but if they don't follow the advice, tough luck to them.  It won't change the training I do...it will only show Boca that when she's not under command she can still get away with that stuff.  Which sucks, but ultimately once she's off lead reliable it won't matter because I will be able to tell her sit stay and she will do it.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I think that part of the issue with Tara is that minis are just not annoying enough to people when they jump on them. They think it is cute!! Most people say "It's okay!" I'm SOOOO tired of hearing that!!  I keep Tara on a leash too when people arrive and she has been doing well. The other day though I decided to try leaving her loose when a guest arrived and it was a disaster!! Definitely a reverse training moment!  Back to the leash...

[Adina P]

Just wait till summer when everyone is in shorts...let Tara's nails grow out a bit ;-)

I did an in-home consult for a client (not dog related) and she had a small dog of some variety with really sharp claws.  I was wearing capris and as we sat at a tall table on bar stools her little dog would NOT stop jumping on me and inadvertently clawing my legs.  It was soooo annoying and I tried SO hard to be polite and professional but eventually did ask her to confine him. 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I LIKE it!!! Hee hee hee (evil laugh!)

[Melissa & Porter]

Nice thread, Tara.  I passed it by yesterday, thinking someone wanted to know people's Zodiac signs :-))

 

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Thanks, Melissa! I was trying to come up with a clever attractive title line!! Sounds like I failed! LOL! Okay, I added a little blurb to help clarify...non-Zodiac!!!

 

 I'm glad you found it since you were part of the inspiration!! :)

[Melissa & Porter]

Urgh, I just realized I called you Tara.  Sorry!  Feel free to call me Porter.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Believe me after living with the name Ricki all my life being called Tara is a welcome change!! :)

[Kate C Pappas]

IMHO, rules for visitors is the BEST idea. But it should be serious and you can let your friends and family know, "they are helping YOU train your puppy".

The way to be around a dog (and teach children this especially) is to fold your arms across your chest and then

NO touch

NO talk

NO eye contact. 

If the dog starts getting wild (my Yarra does this to this day and she's almost 5) you keep turning your back on her and within seconds they realize they don't get to make eye contact with you until they're calm. That is why dogs jump up too. They want the eye contact. Yarra was especially hard with that one whereas Yindi isn't a *jump up on you, kind of girl*.

If necessary, have the leash on and step on it so they cannot jump up. Or, a good down stay (Yarra's is almost two hours as she's a therapy dog and must know a long down stay).

When they obey that, praise and or treat them. I'm a firm believer of clicker training and recommend Karen Pryor. Here is the link to her website. http://www.clickertraining.com/store?gclid=CMaL_qq0nKgCFRpVgwodeCnDHQ

 

Because of our years in agility, eye contact communication for Yarra and me is excellent and I'm able to 'look' at her rump and she will sit...I then look 'down' and she will lie down. We use hand signals too. Yindi is not quite there yet but she's learning. She's only 17 months old.

Women's voices are usually more likely to trigger the excitement in a dog due to it's pitch. Children can trigger it if they start squealing and waving their arms....which is natural. That's why you teach them to be still and keep arms folded across their chests in a neutral position.

Our Doodles are very intelligent and cheeky and if you don't train them, they will be brats. Dogs and children are much happier with rules and structure.

Good luck to you. :)

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

Sometimes I think it might be easier to train the people!! LOL! Thanks for the good advice!! And I love that Yarra will sit if you look at her rump! That is awesome!!