Neighborly relations

[summer_jackel]

Bliss is of the opinion that neighbors should be met with great joy and wagging, followed by an armful of joyous, wiggling collie, a personal human necessity that he is happy to meet. I am of the opinion that if people want 70+ lbs of collie in their arms (and this only because he's a thin beast), they will ask, and the canine in question is to sit politely until they have indicated this desire.

We keep having this discussion, and it's hard to train him out of it when he is almost never poorly behaved in any other context (other than that 'not liking food' thing). The problem is, the neighbors keep encouraging him. I need to teach them to wait patiently while I correct him, before running up to him excitedly and accepting the proffered armfuls of collie. That's much harder to accomplish than training the dog.

Comments

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Yeah. The neighbors have to be trained, too. ;)

I assume that the proper thing is to make sure collie ALWAYS sits and waits, before being called and leaping up into their arms. Do that enough times, and it'll become ingrained as the New Routine. But...bad habits are hard to break, be it canine or human, so assume it'll take a LOT of repetitions.

On both sides.

Bliss, on the other hand, sounds like an adorable pooch, so it'd be HARD to resist his charms. :-)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I am working on more smoothly asking people to step back and let me get them calmed and sitting before petting Bliss. It's certainly a nice issue to have with a dog; after people watch me do this, they are even fonder of him. Collies are really endearing dogs.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

Oh, good heavens, are collies endearing dogs. I still have fond memories of the old rescue collie my mother had for a while, Sam. Bliss and I would probably get along great. :-)

And I hope someday I have that chance.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Collies really are endearing---they have charming personalities and a lot of character. You'd enjoy Bliss now that he is more dog and less pup.

[saigh-allaidh.livejournal.com]

Humans are the hardest animal to train. Goats are probably the second hardest.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

ahahahahahaha! I have never tried to train a goat to do anything other than stand still for miking and...actually, no, now I do see your point about training goats.

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Bliss is quite the extrovert. And I can attest to the charm of hisself flung cheerfully into ones arms.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

That's the thing---he's such a sweet dog, and most people he does this with see that he is just delighted to be in their presence. I don't actually want to squelch this, as it's one of his happiest, most animated moments. At the same time, I can't let him get into the habit of throwing himself at strangers. I'm trying to put him on a sit stay, then ask the neighbor if they'd like to pet him, wait a beat and then release him. Ideally, he would then walk up politely rather than fling himself, but, well, he's only 3!

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

Did you really name him Bliss Like Chaos because he was the type to walk up politely?

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

You have a point. He has to be chaotic about something, right?
...other than food.

[smudge-dragon.livejournal.com]

@.@ lol! Remind me to warn you anytime I (and James) might see you. This is the exact behavior that will send poor James climbing the nearest tree in pure terror. (Poor guy)

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

See, this is exactly why it's necessary to train Bliss not to do this (well, that and the fact that it annoys me...)

If the other person gives me time and space to set them up, they are all actually quite well-behaved, even (especially?) as a large group. In the presence of a person who was nervous about dogs (but who wanted to work on it with mine), I would put them all on down stays and have a quiet conversation with the person until I noticed that the pack's general energy had subsided. Then I would call one of the shelties, who are a lot smaller---usually I use Rogue for this, but when dealing with a very nervous person, I would probably ask Coba, because he is also so reserved. Coba will rarely approach someone he doesn't know well, but he will sit quietly when a stranger (such as a judge, heh) approaches gently and touches him, without reacting other than perhaps with a quiet wag. If James got that far and then decided that he wanted more dog contact, I would have him choose which dog, and then keep him or her calmed down and on close command, for a fully supervised and controlled encounter.

...This is how I like to introduce them, anyway---if the stranger ramps up the excitement and walks up into the middle of my pack, there is not a lot I can do to keep them calm, especially Mr. Social Butterfly Bliss. Even then, though, I'm still workin' on it.

Any time you're in the area, let me know. I'd love to visit. :)