This is the hardest thing apparently for people to do with dogs. I have instituted this rule at my house. My dog Annie gets all excited and jumps up on people. They dont mind because she is 14 lbs. They would however mind if it was an 80 lb German Shepherd. They cant understand that its the same thing.
When a dog jumps up it is a way of claiming you as theirs. They dont have any manners at all. They are not respecting you or your space. When little dogs do this people think it is cute and that they are just wanting attention. The problem comes when a hyper larger dog does the same thing, all of a sudden it’s not so cute. It gets rather annoying.
A friend came over for some empty egg cartons. When I answered the door, before she even stepped inside, I asked her not to talk, touch, or make eye contact with the dog. She stepped inside and asked why? I told her because the dog is new and he needs a chance to be polite. He needs to get to know her like a dog would. Nose first..then eyes..then ears. By sniffing her he gets to know her, then will make eye contact, and move away unless she invites him to her. This way also makes a more calm dog. I told her to never pet or encourage a hyper excited dog to come to her. Only when they are calm do you want to reward them with your affection. She totally understood and my puppy was very polite, sniffed her, made eye contact and then backed away and sat quietly. She opted not to pet the pup. It was a very first meeting for the pup.
The problem came today when my mother in law came to borrow our jack. Again..no one can resist the cute puppy sleeping on the floor. She came in and immediately said in a high pitched voice, “AWW the pupppppppyyyyy!!!” and made a beeline to the pup. I stepped in front of her and said, “NO! no touch, no talk, no eye contact.” She stepped back and said, “What?? Why?” I told her that the puppy needs to meet her first with his nose, then she can pet him after he is done sniffing. Well what does she do…Looks down at the dog sniffing her. Well at that moment the pup looks up, see her making eye contact and takes that as a “give me my space.” So the puppy moves away because that is what is expected in dog language. Well once the puppy moved a way, he went and laid back down on the floor where he was. I told her that she could go pet him and she got all huffy and said no and left.
My parents are just as horrible at listening. They let Annie jump all over them and don’t understand or follow my rule. I quit inviting the over for a while. Maybe when they have an 80 lb dog trying to jump on them they will heed my warnings.
I don’t make these rules up willy nilly. They are what dogs do and it is a respect issue. If we respect the dog in his dogginess, then he will respect us in our humanness.
Happy Homesteading!! 😀
I am the wife of a wonderful husband and mom to two pre-teen boys. I am a stay at home mom and I homeschool my children. I long for a simpler life and a more self sufficient life. I hope you will join me on my journey.
Simply Grown Farms 
I’ve got that 80 lb puppy, and it’s not cute. It’s a work in progress!
This puppy is 7 weeks today. He already knows when he comes in to sit at the door..even just after potty with no leash. I also trained a 1 1/2 year old dog to do that in 3 days. It can be done..keep up the good work. A calm dog is a happy dog and a happy owner lol.
It’s difficult when people only come to your door every so often, and then like you said – they can’t resist the urge to pet the jumping puppy. Ugh!
Thanks for the lesson. I have been guilty of it with a full grown cane corso. No wonder the person was a bit annoyed with me. They said that I was spoiling the dog but in truth I wasn’t spoiling her, I was letting her be the leader
Right. It’s about educating people who don’t know. I just wish everyone would listen. No matter what dog you meet you should practice the no touch,no talk, no eye contact. I have seen horrid dogs settle a lot faster if you ignore them and let them do their thing. Dogs are not people but praising at the right time is important..Calm=praise hyper=ignoring 🙂
I admire the skill. I always adopt old dogs because I’m not bright enough to train a new one. 😉
Well old dogs learn new tricks too! I tried to go old but she had issues I couldnt fix. I would have rather not had to teach the skill of crate training and potty training lol. Its going well..crate training done..potty training well not quite done but close!