Is your dog the Maître D’ of your household?

On more than one occasion, I have walked into a home to be greeted by jumping dog. “If you just pet Sergei, he’ll stop jumping” the client will suggest. I experienced the darker side of this human behavior pattern last weekend when I worked with Sadie, a fearful German Shepherd Dog, and her owners, Sally and Martin. As I walked into their yard, Sadie was barking furiously. Martin suggested showing me what he typically does to manage Sadie around visitors. He ushered me into the kitchen, had me sit in a chair at the table, muzzled Sadie and led her in. He invited her to sniff me, suggesting in soothing tones: “see, Sadie, Peter’s alright”. Sadie, extremely agitated, butted me repeatedly with her muzzled snout until Martin led her away.

I explained to Martin that his approach was teaching her that he and/or Sally wanted Sadie to decide if visitors were welcome or not. She had already voiced her opinion in the yard. I predicted that Sadie would be calmer and happier if she had no responsibility for greeting and assessing visitors. We invited Sadie in a second time. This time Martin made her stay about fifteen feet from where I sat. He corrected Sadie with his voice tone every time she focused on me, praising her promptly as soon as she looked away. Once Sadie understood that she was not responsible for me, she accepted my presence quite comfortably; eventually sniffing calmly on her own terms (which meant a shy approach until she was confident that she wouldn’t be rebuffed).

Just like Sadie, the jumping toy breeds are trying to establish the same primacy with visitors that they feel they “enjoy” in their own household. This leadership position is neither comfortable for the dogs, nor a matter of their ambition. Like Sadie, almost every dog would rather that their humans took charge; we’re much too complicated and unpredictable for any dog to feel comfortable with humans as his or her subordinate.

Submitted by Peter Levy, Certified Bark Busters Trainer