This topic has been on my mind for a while now, but today a call motivated me to write about it. An older lady called today and complained about some behaviors being exhibited by her 9-month Rottweiler. One was her jumping on guests. The lady said she had had Rottweilers for 35 years and always told people to put a knee in their chest when they jump. It’s just not reasonable to expect others to correct your dog. Corrections are all about timing and consistency. Many owners struggle with that on their own, so it’s impossible to expect that from other people.
When I visit clients, they are most worried about the dog jumping on the kids and older people (parents & grandparents) on blood thinners. Of course, they cannot be expected to put a knee up. Most people lead low impact lives and are not used to getting hit, bumped, and tackled. The chances of them standing on one foot as they knee a dog and it being effective with them not losing their balance is slim.
Our mission is to turn dog owners into dog handlers. People often comment about how dogs that are usually out of control don’t jump on me and Frank when we come into the house, if they do, they are immediately corrected with a nonverbal correction. By ignoring them and correcting them in this fasion we let them know that we speak dog and are not like other humans. Within minutes the dogs lay down.
Leash pulling and jumping are the most reported unwanted behaviors by far. They are nothing more than symptoms of a bigger problem. We don’t address symptoms; we attack the problem. The problem is always attempting to correct canine behavior issues with human behavior solutions. Humans attempt to fix problems by talking instead of action. The more you try to address canine behavior issues by talking and handing out treats the more the dog sees you as a broken record without any worthwhile information. Traditional dog training is about getting dogs to do things by giving them treats, Focus Based Canine Training is about getting dogs not to do things because they trust and respond to you because you are a loving and consistent leader. The less you talk to them and the more you move with them the more they will respond to you. When you do talk it is always positive. No “Stop” “Don’t” “Leave it” “C’mon” “Calm Down”. These things are pleading, not commands. Commands have an immediately recognizable physical response that anyone watching can understand. Commands like heel, sit, down, stay, and come.
It is interesting to note that after the Silent Loose Lead Walk & Focus Drill dogs stop jumping on people without addressing the jumping. You can’t hold a person or a dog accountable for doing or not doing things that have never been explained to them in their language.