[nagdu] pet-proofing your dog

[Jenine Stanley]

These are just some  things I do to get my own dogs to ignore petting. I'll
start with an exercise we do at GDF called Meet and Greet. We do this during
class but encourage people to practice it often. 

Let's say you come up to someone with a dog and want to say hello. Both
people make their dogs sit and stay. The first person comes forward and
shakes hands with the second person then asks if he can pet the dog. The dog
must not break its sit/stay. If it does, the first person steps back and the
whole thing starts over again. Meanwhile, the first person's dog is sitting
and staying at the end of a long leash. The first person gives a short pet
to the chest or shoulder of the dog and goes back to his dog. The second
person then repeats the exercise. The key here is not to step in front of
your dog. It teaches the dog that the important interaction is between the
humans, not with it. 

If and when I do allow petting, my dog may not go to the person. My dog must
sit or stand near me and not move toward the petting. I've done a quick 180
turn to my right at times to get my dog's attention if he or she was
straying too far and not listening to me. 

With Swap, who can be pretty social, I have used hand targeting to get his
attention back on me. If he is looking hard and wagging at someone, I'll
make a fist with my right hand and place it just to the right of my right
thigh. I will then ask him to "Find it." This means to touch my fist.
Sometimes there are treats that magically appear from the fist. 

The other thing to do, and I know this sounds really old school, is to
practice obedience. Do it where there are distractions. The more you do it,
with most dogs anyway, the more they will understand what's expected. 

I've had to use the gentle leader on Swap for initial encounters such as
first days at conventions, where he's just over stimulated and wants to
sniff everyone and everything. That does help and I can usually take it off
after that first day. 

Swap has it figured out though. He has a move we call his bucking Bronco.
When he sees someone he likes, person or dog, he will stand still and jump,
first the front feet go up then the back feet go up while the front goes
down. He will stay in the same place by my side doing this until whoever
comes over to pet or sniff him. He's not a small dog so though it's kind of
cute how he figured out that he can't move toward the distraction, it can
get a little wild at times. 

If you do use the hand target, start out with really high value treats, like
liver or lamb lung or cheese. You can use the hand targeting for so many
things but redirecting attention is a great one. 

Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com