I met with a new dog walking client last night and during the interview she was showing me how she was teaching her pup to lie down rather than jump up on her to get her attention. I was really impressed.

First of all she was thinking proactively rather than reactively. She knew very well that when she sat down that puppy, a busy Jack Russell Terrier, would be all over her trying to get her attention. She showed me a number of puzzles that she had bought for her puppy; clever things with drawers and slots and secret compartments that hold treats that the dog has to work for. When he was finished with them, she had a rawhide chewie for him. Soon enough he turned his attention back to his mom and before he had a chance to jump on her she signaled him to lie down and down he went. The nice thing is that since learning with dogs is very contextual (I have an article on contextual learning in my latest newsletter if you’re interested), if she was consistent with her efforts, this young dog could very well learn that when mom is sitting, I lie down.

This approach is very different than most of my clients who allow the dog to make contact first and then ask for a behavior (usually a sit). This is often followed with a treat. The problem with the latter approach is that what the owner is doing inadvertently is training a chain of behaviors: jump on that person, go into a sit and get a reward. In those situations, rather than rewarding the dog immediately after sitting, better to count to 5 slowly and then if the dog still remains in a sit, reward him. The 5 seconds provides a bit of a buffer between the contact and the sit so the dog doesn’t link those two behaviors together.

In general, when working with dogs, being proactive rather than reacting to things after they happen will produce better results for the dog owner.