chargirlgenius

Honestly? Most dog training is just people training. I might just start training random strangers. Maybe it'll help.

We do try to get Ben out for a lot of social interaction. Well, a lot for a dog who lives in the boonies nowhere near a town. We get him into town and around people at least once a week. And since he's so cute, EVERYBODY wants to pet him.

He's good with most of the training I've done so far, but he still is easily distracted and excited when people approach. Well, aren't most dogs? Now, if I could get strangers to approach him, but not actually pet him until he settled down, THAT would do the trick. Maybe I should carry a sign - "Of course you can pet my puppy, but please ask me how."

I've got him trained to not grab treats out of your hand. The instant he lunges for it, I correct, and remove the treat. Over and over and over. Now, he waits for me to actually get my fingers to his mouth and he gently takes the treat. Greeting people is the same way. If I corrected, and people removed the greeting, until he was polite, it would be like magic.

Instead, people get all excited about a puppy. It's hard not to! I certainly do. But they get down, encourage him to jump all over them, and go crazy when he goes crazy. It happened tonight. Ben started jumping on a lady, and I pulled him down into a sit. She said, "Oh! That's ok!" At least she understood right away when I said that no, it wasn't ok.

Yeah. It's cute when he's 17 lbs. (He's 17 lbs! He was 9 lbs only 3 weeks ago!) It's not cute when he's 80 lbs. Or after first greeting. Puppies don't know that it's only ok when you're saying hi, or when they're little.

I guess I've got to figure out how to be forward with people, and somehow not come across as too demanding. Or, maybe I just get to be demanding. I'm the one who has to live with his behavior for the next 14 years.

Anybody else had this problem? How do you ask people to not go absolutely gaga over the adorable puppy?