Teach Your Dog to Greet Guests Politely | Pupford
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It can be really embarrassing when your dog jumps up on people while out on walks or with visitors in your home. Teaching your dog to greet guests politely is all about practicing before the situation occurs!
In this episode, we sat down with Holly Ovington (certified dog trainer) to discuss ways you can teach your dog to greet people politely whether inside or outside.
We discuss how to handle your dog when they start jumping, and also, how you can explain to people how you want them to act when greeting your dog.
INTRODUCTION OF HOLLY OVINGTON KPA-CTP, CSAT
Holly has been passionate about dogs from the get-go! Holly was part of 4-H dog clubs from a young age, learning to train and show her own dogs.
Holly is certified with the Karen Pryor Academy, a Fear-Free Certified Trainer, an Instructor for Dog Biz Dog Walking Academy, and Walks N' Wags First Aid Certified and runs Positive Paws Training in the Vancouver area.
Holly's next goal is to complete a certification in separation anxiety.
Connect with Holly via her website here: https://positivepaws.ca/
Connect with Holly on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/positivepawstraining/
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PODCAST ABOUT HOW TO TEACH A DOG TO GREET GUESTS POLITELY
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OVERVIEW OF TRAINING YOUR DOG TO GREET VISITORS POLITELY
WHAT IS THE IDEAL WAY OUR DOGS BEHAVE WHEN BEING GREETED BY HUMANS WHEN OUT ON WALKS? (Starts around 2:20)
- Have your dog focus on you and stay near your side
- Make sure your dog has all 4 paws on the ground before getting pet
- If your dog remains calm with all four paws down, that is the ideal situation when being greeted by people
HOW CAN WE TRAIN OUR DOG BEFORE GREETING PEOPLE? (Starts around 5:15)
- Practice with a friend, family member, trainer, or someone your dog doesn’t know super well yet
- Have them walk up from a distance while remaining calm
- If your dog jumps, the person can turn around and walk away
- If your dog stays down, they can continue coming toward them
- If the dog continues to stay, you can greet
- Start by coming over without saying anything
- Then slowly raise the criteria. Add in distractions by talking to the dog, using a high pitch voice, jumping, etc.
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WHAT IS THE IDEAL WAY OUR DOGS BEHAVE WHEN BEING GREETED BY HUMANS IN YOUR HOME? (Starts around 7:00)
- Break down the steps and practice beforehand
- Have a family member or friend go outside and knock on the door quietly
- Have your dog with you (maybe on a leash) and redirect them to a sit or a touch or eye contact and reward them for not barking
- Then have that person knock louder and louder
- Break down those steps to set your dog up for success
HOW DO YOU HELP PEOPLE GET ON THE SAME PAGE IN REGARDS TO “RULES” FOR YOUR DOG (Starts around 9:06)
- You want everyone to be on the same page because dogs don’t understand being able to jump on one person but not another
- When training, it’s important to make sure that the entire household is on the same page
- “I know it’s annoying to do these steps, but doing the extra work will be rewarding”
RECAP OF HOW TO TEACH A DOG TO GREET GUESTS POLITELY
When training our dogs, we want to try to set up our dogs for success. Practice proper greeting behaviors before introducing your dog to new people both in your home and on a walk.
Make sure to break down steps and go at your dog’s pace, not your own. This behavior takes time, patience, and practice!
Need some extra training help and advice? Check out our 100% free online class taught by Zak George, 30 Day Perfect Pup. Sign up here!
How else have you helped your dog learn to greet visitors nicely? Tell us in the comments.
Don't miss out! Get instant access to our 100% free online training class 30 Day Perfect Pup. Sign up here!
29 comments
Leave a CommentI rescued two very different dogs this summer, and am struggling to meet their different needs. One is a staffordshire mix, with no prior socialization. I fostered her for 2 months over the winter – she was adopted to people who said they understood how to work with her, but they returned her in June. The other is a tennesse treeing cur/lab mix. I started out fostering her and her pups. After 8 weeks w/o an adopter, and after the staffie mix was returned regressed, I decided to keep the lab mix. She is very very friendly, but jumpy and pushes the other dogs over to soak up the attention. It has been really hard to know “when” to praise her for good things. I feel like I am giving her lots of negative feedback for jumping, while tons of positive reinforcement to the staffie to get her to approach (granted the staffie doesn’t jump, but will at least run straight to my feet now and let me throw my arms around her and kiss her). I can’t praise the lab for putting feet on the ground right away – because that did not decrease the jumping behavior. But if I don’t find something to praise her for within 2-5 minutes of her seeking attention, she looks so rejected, and I’ve noticed that she is slower about coming back inside on those days. She also shows some signs of potential abuse, cowering if I move my hands too fast, but not running away (like the staffie who bolts and runs 20 feet before looking back to see if she is being chased). The lab mix does every bad thing in the book – digs, tears up my stuff, counter surfs, pees on the carpet, jumps, barks – EVERYTHING. And yet I just love her enthusiasm for life. It took me a full year to get my standard poodle to stop doing those things (she is 8, I got her from a breeder when she was a puppy), but the things that worked on her don’t seem to impress the lab mix one bit – sometimes it makes her worse. I’ve had the lab mix for about 5 months. There IS improvement, but I want to see more.
This weekend she finally started returning with the freesbie – so we’ve been spending more time with that at least!
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Thank you for the feedback, Sandy!
Stevi, you sound like a wonderful pup parent! We like SMART x50 for rewarding any positive behavior you see! But that is very hard when you have different dogs who need different kinds of reinforcement and training! We will continue with articles like this! Thank you for the comment.
Thanks so much for this video. Practicing before expecting good behavior outside is a very helpful idea. I’d love to see training ideas for training 2 dogs that have opposite behaviors. One of my cavaliers is an older rescue that is dog aggressive, my other cavalier came from a breeder at 8 wks & she’s 2 years now. Shes super social & wants to be all humans & dogs best friend. Walking both daily about 1 mile in the neighborhood is what we’re doing for the last 2 years. One barks & the other is a social butterfly. The older cavalier has gotten much better with the use of treats & walking away if she barks but all thoughts on this are very welcome!