# Bad behaviour in public



## Angl (Nov 9, 2012)

The trainer at our pet smart made us (the owner) practice the speech to give to strangers. Something like this "Max is in training, please do not reward bad behavior. Only pet him if he is sitting for greeting, thank you"


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## Harrymummy (Aug 27, 2012)

Do you actual say it? I tried something along those lines before...less assertive...and felt bad as a bit rude

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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

People are actually pretty receptive to Heping teach proper behavior. Some may be making a comment like that even if they don't like the dog jumping on them because they want to be nice and positive. You an always make up an elderly relative that you have that you don't want the dog jumping on if they make some comment like he is small and it doesn't me.


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## Angl (Nov 9, 2012)

Harrymummy said:


> Do you actual say it? I tried something along those lines before...less assertive...and felt bad as a bit rude
> 
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We said it, but we said it before the dog actually had a chance to jump and act bad. So it was more like a plea to help us train him. Everyone was very receptive to it-even other customers and the employees there knew what we were doing.


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## mvhplank (Dec 5, 2012)

You've gotten good advice from other posters!

I love Dr. Sophia Yin's short training videos--free on her web site--for working on behavior problems through positive reinforcement. Dr. Yin's Animal Behavior and Training Videos | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

My Niall (Neely) has the same over-friendly problem, but at 50+ pounds, most people don't think it's very amusing and are pretty happy when I veer off and warn them that he's friendly but will likely jump on them. He's 14 months and we're still waiting for the rest of the order for brains to arrive.

We had a behavior set-back at last weekend's UKC conformation show when one of the judges (a poodle breeder himself) encouraged the boy to jump on him!


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## WhosMyFluffyPuppy (Jan 12, 2013)

Angl's advice does work, but it did take practice for both the dog and ME. It took a couple of times to realize "hey this stranger wants to pet my dog" and assertively say "PLEASE DO NOT PET MY DOG UNLESS HE'S SITTING POLITELY. I'M TRYING TO TEACH HIM MANNERS." Yes, I did feel like I had to yell it to get it out fast enough and assertive enough 

The first couple times I couldn't get it out fast enough before the person would just pet (and then my dog would jump and it'd be all downhill from there). Now I'm much more cognizant and can get the "speech" out and strangers will listen. 

Just like the dog training, it takes practice with you saying it repeatedly and consistently.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I actually will put Lily on sit, down or stand stays in the entrance to pet stores and when people come by they see that she is in training. If they ask to pet her I tell them yes, but only if she holds the stay. Most of the time they like the idea of helping with her training and it is pretty impressive that she will stay in whatever position I order her to in the entry way of a busy store.

If you feel shy about the honest truth of not wanting them to reinforce behaviors you wish to extinguish you can make up a little story like not wanting jumping up on a family member who is unsteady on their feet or say that you hope someday he might be trained to be a therapy dog (no jumping allowed).


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## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

When Nickel was small and enjoyed jumping on strangers, I told Nickel, "No jump! OFF" Then these friendly neighbors/strangers almost always said, "It's okay. I don't mind." This is what I said and it worked.

"Thank you for petting him but he shouldn't be jumping on anyone. It can be dangerous if this becomes his habit. I don't him to think it's okay to jump or push a kid or an old lady."

Almost all of them got my point and were willing to wait till Nickel to sit nicely before petting him. I always ended the encounter by saying: Thank you for training my puppy.


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## pinkteaji (Dec 7, 2012)

If they get offended, it's their fault. I experienced this a lot with when I was a volunteer raiser for a service dog organization; it didn't help that I trained on my university's campus and all the students just wanted to the pet the dog. Some people would say, "oh no its all right my dog does this all the time!" Which then I'll have to explain that he's going to be leading a blind person, I can't have him be encouraged to be rowdy when someone decides to pet the dog. 


Still, even if it's my own personal dog, I would still say the same thing because I'm working on a behavior with my dog. I don't care that you let your dog do that, I don't want MY dog doing that. 

I usually try say a variation of these: 
-"Sorry, he's working/training and petting will distract him."
-"If he sits and behaves calmly, only then you can pet him. He has to be a good boy in order to get his reward. If he acts rowdy, could you stop the petting and take one step back?" (saying it in a sweet voice because ppl get so easily offended as if they have a right to pet my dog)
- (if the dog acts rowdy) "Oh I'm sorry, he's being rowdy. Let me settle him/her down for a minute before you pet him again." (and if the dog doesn't seem to be able to calm down after two or three tries, you can always add on, "I'm sorry, it looks like he won't get to be petted today since he's being too excited." )

When you go out in public with service dogs in training, you meet a lot of self-entitled people and people who just don't seem to get this is not YOUR dog and YOU do NOT get to pet the dog nor have a right to do so. So, you start learning how to deal with certain people and situations without trying to offend them. Hope this helps with you dealing with unwanted petting  

I also ask them to let the dog sniff your hand and then pet them on the chest and approach them slowly (not too quickly) since that usually prevents the dogs from getting too excited


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