One of the charming attributes of dogs, besides soulful eyes and adorable bellies, is their effervescent, heartfelt greetings.
You could return from a trip to take out the garbage, and still be lavished with delighted yips and frantic tailwagging, as if you’d been gone since April.
For most dogs, saying hello lasts a minute or less. The barking, jumping, spinning and other tangible evidence of their happiness to see us dissipates, and they go back to lounging, looking out the window, or checking out the cat’s litter box.
And then there are dogs like Rocket.
Rocket is a 3-year-old Standard Poodle whose notion of hospitality means a minimum of 5 minutes of air licking, body slamming, and high jumping on the UPS guy, the Chinese delivery man, any and every friend of the family, and 87-year-old Grammy.
Just in time for the holidays, they were determined to get their dog’s behavior under some semblance of control, avoid embarrassment, and rise in esteem amongst their pet-owning peers.
And no, putting him outside or in another room does not “fix” the problem; it just postpones the inevitable onslaught of paws and tongue.
Here is what we did:
1. We leashed Rocket and had him sit in the front hallway, with his owner standing next to him, a considerable distance from the front door.
2. With the front door open, we practiced having another person enter, say hello, and leave.
3. If Rocket remained sitting through this greeting scenario, he received praise and a treat.
4.As the saying goes “Lather. Rinse. Repeat.”
5. Eventually, Rocket always stayed sitting (on leash, of course).
6. We did this with the door ajar.
7. We did this with the door closed.
8. If we went too fast and Rocket forgot to sit, we went back a step to having the door open.
9. A few days later, we tried having him wear the leash with no one was holding it while we went through 1-6 above.
We attempted having Rocket sit without the leash, but he seemed more centered and focused with it on. So at least for the initial welcome, he wears leash. After all, we want him to be successful.
With practice and patience, Rocket’s 5 minute hello became a 1 minute hiya.
For more information on teaching polite greeting behavior to dogs, see Zen and the Art of Sitting and Close Encounters of the Dog Kind,
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