Hi there, We have a neighbour who likes to fuss our dog. She always makes a beeline for him. I know that she is trying to be nice, but, she does everything in an overy exaggerated way and practically lunges on the poor dog. He is generally pretty calm, but he does enjoy attention and sometimes gets a bit excited when she does this cooing and high-pitched over-exuberant squealing. (Sorry, I sound quite miserable,,) We trained Henry not to jump up. However, our neighbour has somehow encouraged him to jump, by sort of slapping her tummy, and now he jumps and places his paws on her when they interact. We told her that we don't like him jumping on people and she seemed understanding. But she did it again, and now he seems to do this by default when he sees er. We really don't like this, because we don't want him to do this to anyone. He is very good at knowing that different members of our family choose to interact with him in different ways, but we are all on the same page about some things, e.g. no jumping up. I have three times asked her not to encourage this, but she still does. I try to avoid her when I take him for a walk!! But she is very persistent and sometimes spots us and will come outside especially. Any ideas?
Well, if he doesn't do it to anyone else, I wouldn't worry about it, personally. Dogs are more than capable of learning that it's one rule for one person and different for everyone else. With her slapping her tummy, she's putting it on cue, so he should be learning that it's OK to do it when he sees that sign. For me, it's no biggie
You could run him through some mud puddles then rub scat on his paws....wait outside her front yard till she calls him over and watch the fun. lol. Just kidding, or am I. Dun dun dun.
I agree with Fiona,I wouldn't sweat over it....Dexter jumps up on me when I come home because I've always let him as I love the welcome but he knows not to do it to anyone else. I do like Johhny Walker's mischief suggestion though ! Maybe wait until she is wearing white trousers too?
Like you @Mooz I would also be very annoyed if someone kept ignoring my request to not invite my dog to jump up them. Your dog, your rules, your training. The jump is now being put on cue by her slapping her tummy - if a behaviour is put on cue the dog could see someone else pat their tummy and jump up them. If you don't want him jumping on her and she is ignoring your requests it leaves it down to you to prevent the behaviour by turning walking the other way when you see her, do a 'sorry can't stop' as she approaches and speed on past and if all else fails prepare for her by putting your boy in a sit and the stand on the lead so he doesn't have the ability to jump up. Good luck
Thanks for all your replies. Yes, it's the fact that she specifically ignores what we ask that bugs me the most. I am going to try to rush away when we see her to avoid giving her time to fuss! I always try to keep the lead short when we walk by. My OH said that our dog had jumped on him once this week when he got home from work-he may have inadvertently 'cued' this, I'm not sure. Or it may be a big coincidence. I think she misses having her own dog who died a few years ago, as she mentioned this a while back. That's fine, but still, I personally, I find her behaviour towards him a little obsessive in the way she makes a beeline for him. She also tries to place her face near his head to encourage licking, which I'm not keen on either!
