All lot of people seem to think they need to address these bad behaviors – the dog is jumping, the dog is barking and they think they need to tell the dog ‘no’. What I like to do is give the dog something more productive to do. Often what I’ll do is teach the to ‘lay down’ and ’stay’ and then once the dog understands that then we will start to go towards that then we will start to have someone ring the doorbell. At that point, the dog is much more excited then normal when they hear the doorbell so often what I will do is keep the dog on a leash and a collar when we are practicing. When approaching the door, have the dog do their ‘lay down’ and if they are too excited, give them a little tug as a little bit of motivation to ‘lie down’ and ‘stay’  then I open the door. It’s often too much to ask to expect the dog to know what to do so you have to guide the dog and show the dog what is more appropriate then just barking.

As for when to take the leash off, I normally do is do it in stages. The first number of times we go through this the dog is on leash. Once the dog gets used to the idea that this is what we do instead of jumping on the guests we drop the leash but he is still wearing it, just dragging it to give him his freedom. If the dog decides not to do what is asked of him, I can still give him a little tug on the leash. Once the dog is doing that well, then what I will do is actually to what I call a ‘tab leash’ which is just a clip with maybe 18″ of light cotton rope attached to it and we will do it a number of times with that. Once the dog is doing perfect there, we will do it with no leash.

What most people do is put themselves in a situation where they cannot communicate with the dog besides shouting at it ‘no, no, no don’t do that!’. That never works but attaching something physical to the dog and giving a little tug now and then. This way you are attaching something physical to the words you’re using and puts you in a position where you don’t have to yell, you don’t have to scream, you can simply get the dog to lay down. Easier said then done, it does take repetition and does take a lot of work but doing it in those stages you can wean the dog off the use of the leash. Its sort of a Pavlovian response – the doorbell rings, the dog goes crazy, the doorbell rings, the dog goes crazy. Now what we are doing is reversing that response – the doorbell rings, the dog lays down. That becomes the natural behavior instead of the going crazy, jumping and barking.

Ty Brown is an expert dog trainer, author, and speaker who specializes in obedience training, behavior modification, protection dog training, and narcotics dogs.  To learn more about Ty and the dog training services he offers, visit www.dogbehavioronline.com 

I have a spring-loaded dog. Ever since he was a puppy he seemed to be three feet off the ground. It was cute when he was small but our bearded collie is getting out of hand as he’s over 80 pounds now and still under a year old. What can we do when people come to the door he’s up around the doorknob? He’s already knocked visitors & people in the park over.

ANSWER:

In addressing his behavior with visitors, there are several things you can do that will soon teach him his manners & get him to stop jumping on people.

Your comment about him knocking people over tells me we need to you a better way of controlling him. I have recently come across a product that controls a strong dog better then anything I have seen to date. Made by ‘Care Collar’

Does he know his ‘sit/stay’? If he doesn’t, get working on it until he won’t break a ‘stay’ for anything.

Next you want to ask for a some ‘doggy’ friends to help with his training. Before they come over, take him for a good exercise session – really wear him out! This makes training so much easier and he will be more inclined to behave well which means more praise versus him acting horribly and everything be negative which will only frustrate you both.

Tell your friend to ring the doorbell (I would have his leash and ‘Halti’ on him already just to make life easier on everyone). Let him react to the doorbell as he normally would, then take his leash, get him into his ‘sit/stay’ and open the door. If he tries to jump up, put him back into his ‘sit/stay’. Have your friend ignore him completely – you don’t even want eye contact at this point. He will probably be doing everything in his power to attract her attention while still in a ‘sit/stay’ (which you may need to remind him of several times) but until he calms down, she is not to acknowledge him. Once he is calm, have her greet him while he is still in his ‘sit/stay’. If he tries to break his ‘sit/stay’, remind him. Once he has calmly greeted her, release him from his ‘stay’ and give him tons of praise and a biscuit or treat (he can get excited at this point as you want him to know he did good and that the ‘sit/stay’ won’t last forever).

Now do it again and then again and maybe a few more times. Once he really has this nailed, give him a break for a day and then have another friend come over. Same drill. If he still doesn’t have it entirely figured out, get another friend into the action but I am guessing that won’t be necessary as both Heelers and Border Collies learn pretty quick.

Next try the same thing with him when out for a walk. As people approach, get him into his ‘sit/stay’. If they want to greet him, fine but make sure he keeps his position. As they walk on or if they don’t want to greet him and they pass on by, release him from his ‘sit/stay’ and praise the heck out of him! He did good and he needs to know that is exactly how you want him to behave.

Keep this behavior up his entire life and you have taken a major step towards having a mature and easy companion. It is also good to build on this behavior but that is for another day!