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

[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!