Getting a Jump on Dog Greeting Behavior

With the holidays approaching yours truly will be given more opportunities to greet lots of humans. Since mom and I recently received a question through our Dear Inquisitive Canine dog behavior advice column, I thought I'd tackle the blog post while my ventura dog trainer mom handles the column. (We make a good team that way!)

Being a dog, I know that jumping up to greet is normal amongst our canine culture - that's just how it is and just how we are. Similar to you humans grabbing each others paws, putting arms around each other, or kissing, us dogs also have an inherent greeting style - and it includes jumping up!

Whether it's family like my nana Mae, long time friends that come over, or new friends that I meet at our inquisitive canine dog training studio in Ventura, I have learned that sitting or having all of my paws on the floor will get me lots of loving attention! (Sometimes a yummy treat too).

I'm still unsure why many of you haven't figured that one out yet, after all, your species has been known to be pretty clever with observing and deciphering information. It seems that there are some myths out there, including we're trying to be "dominant" or "aggressive" or take over the world! HA! That's a good one. Nope. Sorry, but what we're really trying to do is say hello in the loving way we know how.

You can make life simple for yourself and your dog too - while still getting to say hello! How can we all make a polite greeting compromise? Simple:

• Determine what it is you want from us: Sitting? Four (paws) on the floor?
• Tell us what you want in a way we understand: Reward us with petting, praise, treats, play. Yelling, pushing us down or kneeing us in the chest is either mean or time for play. Plus, if we are still jumping up then duh, it's not working! Change your behavior!
• Reward us for those behaviors: We'll do more of what you want if we're rewarded for it!
• Ignore us completely if we're jumping up: Yikes! Ignoring us when we want attention is quite punishing! Which means we'll do less of what we're punished for.

Mom wrote another post on dogs jumping up to greet - you can read that here on her Ventura dog trainer blog.

Hmm, I wonder how many people I'm going to get to meet today? Something for this inquisitive canine to ponder?