TRAINING Control and management
QI am trying to train my 10-month-old Labrador. She walks to heel, sits, and rolls over, but when anyone drives up to the house, she jumps up at the car door and pesters them. What should I do? Helen Hamilton, Cornwall.
Tony says: Dogs don’t deal particularly well with sudden changes in their immediate environment. They require time to gather the information and adjust to changes, or they can resort to excited behaviour such as jumping up and pestering visitors. I imagine it can also be quite bothersome for the visitors.
Some prevention, management, and a little training can help here. Firstly, prevention: if you know you have a visitor arriving beforehand, pop your dog in the kitchen or another room with a tasty stuffed Kong or chew. This gives your dog something else to do. After 10 minutes or so, clip the lead on and calmly introduce your dog to the visitor. The 10 minutes provides a buffer between the chaotic entrance and the calm greeting. The lead is a management tool and means you can gently guide your dog away should she jump up.
You can also teach your dog to go to a specific place when a car arrives. Use a word like ‘bed’ or ‘away’ and toss a treat towards her bed or a particular location, like a patch of grass, or over the house’s threshold. Do this many times so that when the car arrives, you say ‘bed’ or ‘away’ and she will back off to the location and wait for the treat reward.
You are teaching a strategy and routine — when a car arrives, the dog does this. And if all training fails, always have a lead nearby. Call her to you and clip the lead on for some control and management.