[NAGDU] Miss social lite

Tami Jarvis tami at poodlemutt.com
Sat Jan 30 18:04:43 UTC 2016


Dar,

I like using redirection with the touch command to get Loki's attention 
back on me, using a firm quiet tone, then a happy quiet tone in praise 
as he settles down and refocuses. I've been working with him since he 
was a wee pup, using gradual approximation and rewarding every little 
bit of improvement. In his world, everyone is a friend he just hasn't 
seen for awhile, and it's only right to touch them on the hand and sniff 
their pantleg where their dog rubs. Convincing him to pass all his good 
buddies without so much of a howdy has been an ongoing process. He did 
finally learn some distinction and only tries to greet people who turn 
out to be happy to be greeted, and he's getting better and better at 
just keeping himself to himself. I still gush praise when I'm aware that 
we just walked right on by a person, though he's getting to not need so 
much cheerleading. By this point, he will often start out a training 
session being overly friendly and needing frequent reminders, then 
settle into more professional mode and even stay in position when people 
approach him. Whew! I try to remind myself that it's a good sign when 
someone comments that my dog is awfully standoffish, so what's wrong 
with him? Um... He's doing his job and being a grownup is what! /lol/

It can also help to have people around who know how to act around 
service dog, then praise the dog for acting right, too. There are some 
folks we walk past frequently who will talk to me and ignore him, so 
that helped him get the picture. Setting up opportunities to stay on 
task while passing people also helps.

Oh, I also try to interact with the people my dog is trying to greet, to 
get their attention off of him, so they're not adding to the problem. 
Then when I praise him, they also approve of him, so that helps him be 
proud of himself for being a grown up professional. The only problem is 
that if I'm having to be really focused on my pup to keep him on the 
straight and narrow, it's tough to have an intelligible human 
interaction at the same time. I should be used to feeling like an idiot 
by now, but the newness never wears off. /lol/ Most people get it and 
are cool, but it's nice to be getting to the point I can just rely on my 
dog to have proper manners so I can chat normally.

Maturity also works wonders, so long as you can keep reminding the dog 
what's proper during the frustrating process of getting there.

Good luck with Miss Friendly.

Tami

On 01/29/2016 08:59 PM, d m gina via NAGDU wrote:
> My dog wishes to greet everyone she can.
> Is there a way to brake this.
> It doesn't matter where you are, a store or in church.
> Even when picking up strangers who are in back as I was in front of the
> cab.
> I get out and she wants to get back in to greet the persons.
> When you have her lieing down, she wiggles like a frog to get to the
> people.
> Friendly is one thing, this is over done.
> Just some thoughts please.
>




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