Monday, March 2, 2009

Instead of Jumping . . .

My Border/Aussie, Noah, was taught early on how to use his bounciness to his advantage. He jumped on people to greet, something I wasn't used to as none of my dogs ever did that. So I decided to teach him to greet with feet outward and him sitting instead. He actually enjoys doing this behavior as you can see in the video I posted below of him greeting my husband. He talks a lot too, he's a vocal guy when he's working.

This is a great example of how to use your dog's abilities in a way that keeps everyone happy. Many dogs jump but all people do is correct it and get upset. It's easier to redirect the behavior to something more productive and polite as well.

We reinforced it so much with Noah that one day the cable guy was in my house and I was corralling my dogs outside to get them out of the way. Noah wanted to greet this guy so badly. He walked right up to him and bounced into his "position" in front of the guy's feet and in his sit position. The cable guy didn't see any humor or politeness in it and I was so thrilled that he did it and sad that the cable guy didn't praise him. I praised him myself and then pet him and put him outside. Cable guys aren't really into dogs much, FYI.

Here is Noah in action. This is exactly what he did to the cable guy too, it really was funny.

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