I’m not confident.
With humans, that is.
Training a Great Pyrenees or other Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD) is not an easy task. You have to be confident. You have to be ready to be challenged.
I’m confident in my ability to handle an independent-minded Great Pyrenees.
I’m not confident in my ability to handle other people.
One of the biggest challenges many people face is ensuring their dog greets other people properly. The definition of “properly” varies from person to person, but it involves all paws on the floor. Because I have such big dogs, I prefer them to be in a sit or down when being greeted.
Mauja and Atka don’t jump on people, but they tend to be a bit wiggly since they’re still puppies. Not to mention Atka likes to lean on people – he could knock you over if you’re not prepared!
I know the most effective way to work on this skill. Ask the individual wanting to pet them to wait until both of my dogs are in a sit. Once they are seated and calm, the individual can pet them.
It is so easy, but I never do it.
Instead, as people approach Mauja and Atka with outstretched hands asking if they can pet them (as they are already petting them), I go with it. It isn’t the best decision. Not only does it reinforce the wigglebutts, it means I have to try to get the fluffies into a sit or down while they are being gawked over. This makes their training very inconsistent. Mauja and Atka don’t have a clear understanding of my expectations of them. Can they stand or do they have to sit when people approach them? They don’t know because I’m not confident enough to provide them with consistency.
Do you ask people to wait before interacting with your dog? Any recommendations on how to improve my confidence?
Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week is hosted by Cascadian Nomads,Rubicon Days & Tenacious Little Terrier. This month we are sharing stories of our flaws as trainers. Like every month, any and all posts or comments about positive reinforcement pet training are welcome. The blog hop is open all week, so if you are a blogger, add a post and if you are a positive pet training enthusiast, hop around by clicking the thumbnails below, learn and share. Next months Positive Reinforcement Pet Training Week begins August 3rd and the theme is improving our pet training skills.
I don’t blame you, people are much worse than dogs.
Agreed.
This is something I struggle with, too. I’m better with it when it’s little kids because it’s a safety issue and Barley is more comfortable being pet by kids if she’s in a sit and getting lots of snacks. With adults, Barley doesn’t jump, just wiggles, so I know she’s not going to knock anyone over with her enthusiasm and usually just go with it. Our trainer tells us to imagine that alligators are going to eat our dogs (or the ground is going to turn into lava and swallow them up) if we don’t get them to do what we asked immediately, so maybe imagining the people as dog-eating gators would help build your confidence 😉
I like that idea!
I avoid people as much as possible! On leash anyway. At the dog park, my German shepherds aren’t really that interested in people. Sometimes people really want to pet them, and Leo or Mia will sort of stroll by, allowing people’s hands to graze their backs before wandering off.
That’s a good tactic. My problem is I take Mauja and Atka to a lot of social places (Petco, fairs, etc). It’s hard to avoid people with 250 pounds of fluffy dog 😉
I also don’t always find it easy to ask strangers to do things the way that works best for my dogs. But, I do it anyway (most of the time) and what I’ve learned from trainer, Justin Silver, really helped us out. I start putting my dogs into a sit/stay like 20 feet from the oncoming dog/dog parent. Then we walk a few steps and I put them into another sit/stay and continue doing this until we reach the dog(s). At that point, I get in between the two dogs to make sure all’s well (I’ve asked on the way to the person if their dog is friendly, so I already know they are). With just people, I’d do the same thing. It calms them down, so when they reach the person, they’re focused on you (do this with the Look at me command when you seat them and with treats, of course), and not focused on pulling toward something, but more on listening to you. Try it. Hope it’s helpful. Would love to know. Good luck, Kelsie!
That’s a really great approach for when we’re out on walks and in less crowded areas. Maybe if I work on that area then I’ll be able to work on the influx of people at social events 😉
Great post! I tend to be the same way or I will just tell the people “no” so I don’t have to deal with instructions or tell them Phoenix is skittish, etc. I need to get better about this, for sure!
I can’t even say no… haha. I’m a wimp.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done any dog training. My German Shepherd, Star, died a couple of years ago. But I used to have her sit, too, when being approached by humans. Especially children. I’m not sure why, even. She never jumped up on people. It just seemed like a polite thing for her to do. And she did it. She was the greatest dog. I miss her.
I understand this struggle! It is always a relief when another human knows the correct greeting protocol, but they seem to be few and far between! Sometimes humans take more work than the dogs do!
I tell little kids they need to sit before saying hi. And I tell people Mr. N doesn’t like being petted over the head. And if I need to, I’ll tell people we’re too busy or he’s too shy if I feel like they’re not going to be appropriate or if it’s a bad situation. I’d just tell people your dogs are “in training” and it would help a lot if they waited until they are sitting to pet. Most people will listen. Some won’t but that’s how it goes!
Your dogs are so gorgeous and so sweet and so approachable that I can see why you have this problem.
My dogs are gorgeous, but they’re also very excited and barky when they get noticed. This is pretty intimidating for many so they usually don’t approach me when I have all 4 dogs. If I have 1 or 2, then people are braver.
I’d recommend remembering that you are your dogs’ voice. Whenever kids approach me (when I’m with 1 or 2 dogs) and the parents are asking if they can pet our dogs, I simply say “no.” This one word makes everyone stop and gives me an opportunity to say “I need them to sit first,” or explain that Sydney would prefer not to be touched, but Rodrigo would love it.
That one word – doesn’t have to be snippy – stops people, I think, because they’re not expecting it. 🙂
My dogs are jumpers when approached; however I am capable of getting them under control when people allow me the time. And, no, no one ever allows time. When I correct them for jumping and ask people not to encourage it, the response I always get is “Oh, it’s OK, I don’t mind!” It’s hard. It’s not just being confident; it’s not wanting to seem like an @ss with everybody the dogs meet. 🙁 Good luck to you! (BTW, I noticed zero unwanted behavior from your dogs at BlogPaws.)
Oh man, did I ever used to struggle with this too. I was almost…embarrassed? that my dogs needed time to chill out first. It was our trainer who suggested that I give the OK to pet them and then quickly offer, “Do you want to give them a treat?” Both boys are trained to sit as soon as treats come out and that is 99% of the time more exciting than someone new, so they sit politely. It’s not really training them to be any better behaved, but at least it’s not reinforcing bad behaviour… much.
I’ve had the exact same issue. Honey, at 50 pounds, flabbergasts people with her excited wigglebutt greetings.
I don’t know if extra confidence would help. People who are determined to greet your dogs won’t listen to you asking them to hold back no matter how confident you are.
I try to use my best understanding of human body language to find those people who insist on greeting Honey (they usually start by squealing) and working with her quickly before the people strike.
Katie was a wild loose cannon until she was about four! In Germany where we lived she was off leash as were most dogs most of the time as we were on a beach that was 1km wide an 12km long. Katie would run up to and jump on people all the time. Mom had many heart attacks and is grateful no one was ever knocked over. She could have been strict and kept her on a leash and worked on training, but it was a free for all, so she just went with it. No tips unless you want to just be strict and have people think you are odd but it would work.
I agree with Pamela–my experience is that even people who ask if they can pet my dog are already making grabby hands at her! People are really polarized by a german shepherd–they either LOVE shepherds and just MUST touch her (regardless of whether she even knows they exist), or they cross the street when they see us. Except for the minority that asks “Does she bite?” as they reach their fool hands toward her! Humans. Much harder to train and deal with than dogs.
Anyway, maybe if you do enough set-ups as Jody suggested above, the fluffies will just sit automatically when they see people who might pet them! Wouldn’t that be nice? 🙂
Know that a proper greet comes with time… as you know R+ training can be a little slow but once they get it they get it…. even for years later, Riley will sit patiently but wiggle her butt in a sit waiting for a pet… there are also times we do training sessions with strangers… but don’t ever think you are failing, as it is from these so called failures that we become stronger trainers 🙂
Sometimes people approach so fast! Our biggest issue is dogs not people, Ziva is a bit reactive if she isn’t given a proper and polite greeting.
When meeting strangers I ask my dogs to sit before the person gets to us (if I can) or tell them, “Please wait, we are training.” This tactic works really well in our PetSmart where I take our dogs. Working individually with your dogs in high distraction environments will also help. You can teach, “look” and then use the command when you have strangers approaching. 🙂
Such a great post – I struggle with this myself. I nearly have a heart attack any time a child comes up running towards Laika, and for the most part I can put my arm out to caution them but when they’re parents are around it gets a big awkward.
I try my best to keep Laika calm, I just wish I had the guts to tell more people to chill out around my dog.
I relate to this so much! Although I prefer for people, especially children, not to pet my dogs, I also have a hard time saying no. I have to remind myself that my dogs are my sole and most important responsibility, even at the risk of seeming like a grouch.
Thanks for joining the hop, Kelsie!
I think that’s a great reminder and one I need to take to heart.