Ok-so-I've just started the adoption process-human not canine-and will shortly be visited at home by a social worker. This is terrifying enough but my 2 year old lab Vespa has to be 'assessed' too.. Any tips on turning her into the best behaved dog ever who does not get over excited whenever anyone comes to the door? Dog lovers understand and seem to like her (how could they not??) but if the social worker is not a 'dog person' they may be less impressed, especially with a view to letting me adopt a small child. Any tips AT ALL very gratefully received!!!
Re: Visitors.. Help! Well congratulations on starting the adoption process! I hope it goes really, really, super well. I would be working on honing Vespa's 'sit'. For a few sessions train for a really fast response with you quite close, and then once you've got her slamming her butt to the ground work on extending the time (by waiting a bit before you mark and reward). Get her to 'sit' everywhere and anywhere - on a walk do 10 strides then 'sit'. 20 strides then 'sit'. 5 strides then 'sit'. 12 strides then 'sit'. Big, tasty reward each time. Then you can cue your sit anytime Vespa is in danger of nicking the social worker's cup of tea If Vespa is very excited when people arrive try roping in some friends (or just your hubby) to help you practise. Hubby goes outside. Have Vespa in a sit inside. Reward the sit with treats. Hubby quietly knocks. If Vespa stays sitting, give her a treat. If she gets up, move away a bit further and ask for a sit. If she sits, treat. Try again with the knocking at that distance. Gradually build up to having your hubby open the door and then actually come in the door and then pat Vespa - but only progress to the next step while she is sitting and able to control herself. That is a pretty sparse outline so I hope that makes sense.
Re: Visitors.. Help! Well, the only way to do that is to train for it and practice, practice, practice! I'm working on this with my pooch, with limited success. He is now very good at sitting a distance from the door while I open it and pretend to be talking to someone with my back to him, and if I go outside and ring the doorbell and come in, he will sit just fine where I left him. But now I have to add people actually at the door : I need to set up some situations with people, but I keep forgetting. It's not always easy to do this, However you have reminded me that I need to move forward on this so I'm going to be more intentional about it! How long until the social worker visit? I think that they will not be too worried about over-exuberant greetings, but rather any sign of aggressive behaviour would be a problem. But I don't know that for sure, just a hunch. Is there anyone you could call to find out how they assess a dog in a potential adoptive home?? And by the way, congratulations and huge respect from here on taking this step. There is someone out there waiting for you, and what a blessing you will be for him/her!! PS I see Rachel has chimed in with some excellent advice while I was typing, phew!
Re: Visitors.. Help! [quote author=MadMudMob link=topic=5076.msg63742#msg63742 date=1395834183] In my experience a freshly exercised tired dog is a steady and happy one [/quote] ... Especially if it has just been fed, too.
Re: Visitors.. Help! Gosh thanks for all the tips.. Yes, exhausting her to the point of inability to stand up had occurred to me ;-) I will definitely be taking her on a looooong walk with lots of training to mentally tire her out and then feeding her something amazing! I'm really grateful for the step by step stuff about sitting while someone comes to the door. I teach at home quite a lot and a buzzer goes first to let pupils in downstairs. This is when she runs to the door, wagging like crazy. At the moment I'm then leading her to the kitchen where she lives while I teach (max 1 1/2 hours at a time) because I don't have time to do much more than that and some of my pupils are scared of dogs or arrive with boistrous younger siblings etc. If a friend comes round she hangs out with us because all my friends like dogs but she tends to jump on the people whom she jumped on right at the start-partly because I was clueless about stopping her and partly because some friends encouraged her. The friends she never jumped on because they were really calm and ignored her for a bit etc she is totally calm with now. She never jumps on me either so it's hard to train her not to if that makes sense. The thing about setting up situations with a friend etc is exactly what I was looking for but couldn't find it explained in a step by step way like this so thanks loads. The social worker could come any time after a month from now [operation deep clean the house starts here..] and will continue to visit I presume for a long time, all being well. I'm adopting on my own so am extra nervous because of greeting the social worker and not having someone else to be responsible for Vespa for a minute. That's a cop out though I know-I just need to sort it out. The post man will thank me! Re the aggressive/ friendly thing, she's definitely not aggressive but just dying to meet everyone under the sun. People in my area stop and pet her all the time and it's like she's addicted to it. Ok that's ridiculous! Anyway, it will be a long process both before and after the first visit, for me and for Vespa. The lady I spoke to on the phone said having a dog can count against you. Since I firmly believe in how amazing dogs can be for children especially those with extra difficulties, we might be disagreeing on that. Anyway, THANK YOU. I'm going to start right now!
Re: Visitors.. Help! I've worked really, really hard on not jumping up - with moderate success (the methods do work, just take time...). If I'm desperate, I'm afraid I resort to my instant quick fix - which is a pile of chicken kongs. Works a treat. So Charlie doesn't get any food because I need all the food for the kongs, and then I make up 5 or 6 "ultimate" kongs. Give him one on the rug in the kitchen, and when the visitor comes in, he picks up his kong, wags his tail like mad, waves his kong to say a really quick hello, then goes back to munch on the rug. So long as the visit is not too long, I can kid anyone that my dog is reasonably sane. Here is the recipe: [quote author=JulieT link=topic=3103.msg32841#msg32841 date=1383142125] My current tatic is: Chicken in the bottom, a single layer of dry kibble rammed into the chicken with the end of a wooden spoon. Bit more chicken. 3 or 4 gravy bone biscuits shoved into this layer and tucked under the rim, mashed up kibble mixed with chicken (more kibble than chicken) fills the middle between the gravy bones, and tiny bit more chicken and a hard sea biscuit is then pressed down into the top until the kong is as packed as a tube train in rush hour. Freeze for 30 minutes min. 3 of these are half his daily food allowance. [/quote]
Re: Visitors.. Help! Some social workers are really happy for a dog to be in the home, as long as the child and dog have their own space. I would definitely go with Julie's suggestion of a kong.....I have used this and it is fab Good luck on your visit x
Re: Visitors.. Help! Ooh yes good idea. Maybe starve her for a few days first. (That's a joke before I get shouted at!) Yes I use filled kongs to give her if I'm going out for a bit. Fab. Thanks! Yes I'm hoping the social worker on the phone was just referring to certain dogs rather than all dogs and that as you say, it's things like space, allergies of the child maybe(?) and good behaviour/control that they'd be looking at. Anyway, I'm sure it will be fine as long as I do my bit and work hard with Vespa in the meantime. Thanks everyone!
Re: Visitors.. Help! I started a post this morning but got distracted and had to go to work! Just as I just posted on another thread (the chap with the wife about to have a baby and a small pup - user name escapes me - sorry ) I would recommend the kong approach! Either into a crate, or on a mat/bed. What a wonderful thing you are doing with the adoption. A long drawn out process, but I wish you the very best of luck xx
