PAWS ON THE GROUND
Tips for training your attention-loving dog to stop jumping up on guests at the door,
Our dog rushes the door and jumps at guests to get attention. We have asked that people ignore her until she settles down. When she finally sits, we ask that they give her treats from a jar we keep prepared by the door. The problem has not been resolved. How do we get her to behave when people come to visit?
Asking guests to reward a dog for sitting is a common suggestion. While it sounds reasonable, it’s plagued with problems. It reinforces and encourages the very problem it purports to fix. Several elements of the training plan need to change.
First, get rid of the food by the door. Stop asking guests to feed the dog for sitting. Dogs learn where they get paid and by whom. If guests are dispensing food, the dog is going to be more determined to rush them because they hold the key to the food.
They rush the door because that is where the paycheque is given. Owners should reinforce the dog. It should happen away from the door.
Reward what you actually want. Tagging on a sit after misbehaviour does not negate the rushing and jumping. This is a chain of events where one thing leads to another.
Plan and train a sequence of events where one good behaviour leads into another, minus the obnoxious misbehaviours.
Teach the dog to run to a mat and wait when the doorbell rings. Dogs can go visit when released from the mat and they can continue to visit so long as they do not jump.
Recognize that the door has a powerful behavioural history. The sound of the doorbell cues behaviour that has been extensively rewarded. Trying to teach the dog to go to the mat while guests arrive is frustrating at best. Dogs often reject owner offered food and prompts because the door is far too distracting.
Circumvent this issue by teaching the mat behaviour separately in a quiet space. Create a robust behaviour that holds up to all sorts of distractions. If the dog cannot reliably run to the mat while owners pretend to walk to the door and open it, they will struggle when real guests arrive.
Drill and reinforce the new behaviour until it is also strong and fluent. It needs to successfully compete against the temptation of arriving people — a distraction that is added last.
After training the new skill, if the dog jumps, they can be calmly moved out of the room for a minute. The dog learns that jumping no longer works. Rather they are reset to try again, to do each step right. Does playing tug and wrestling cause aggression? I’m worried it will cause aggression. My partner says that I am worrying over nothing. Could you settle our dispute?
Playing does not cause aggression. In fact, most dog fanciers use tug games to reward dogs during sports like agility.
Many police organizations use a game of tug to reinforce dogs for sniffing out contraband at borders.
However, all games need rules. There are three rules that dogs need to learn. First, dogs need to learn to wait until asked to play. Second, teeth need to stay on toys, not human skin or clothing. Finally, the dog needs to stop playing, to drop the toy, when asked.
If these three conditions are met, then humans wind up with a dog that has more jaw control and is trained better than dogs that have not been taught how to control themselves around exciting things.
Play is good. Just be sure to put the work into teaching the rules.