I put out chips, (my weakness) dip and a nice pinot noir. Walking back and forth from the living room to the kitchen; it is there for the taking. Elsa knows that she is not allowed to help herself. She is so good about not touching the food and is rewarded for not scarfing it all back while I am out of sight. Of course this takes a great deal of training; but well worth it.
Responsibility fir basic canine manners fall solely on the humans in charge.
Manners - ways of behaving with reference to polite standards.
The level of manners from one household to another can vary vastly from one to the next. I know people who live by the "no rules" way of life; both in their own interactions and their dog's. There are those who have strict marine like rules to everything in between. So what are manners and how the heck do you teach them to your dog?
Speaking for myself, manners are simple rules in life that distinguish one from knowing how to behave when around others. Manners are manners; both for humans and our dogs. Does your dog understand what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior? Like I said, everyone has a different idea of what manners means so from one dog to another they can be tremendously distinct.
Some rules can be difficult to implement when you have visitors or you are out and about in the world. Let's take Elsa as an example. She is highly social and LOVES people. This causes her to work harder on manners when people come over. She has a difficult time trying to contain her enthusiasm; so when needed, I bring out the big guns. Treats. If I have a food item that is high enough value to tromp out the human value, she can be very mannerly. Of course it depends on the human we are speaking about. Plus, being overly social is not a huge and scary problem, just a physical one. :)
Elsa knows very well that she is not suppose to leap up on people and rarely does. Her excitement tends to stay on the ground; spinning and whirling around with excitement. There are of course, those humans who don't abide by the "no jumping" rules; coaxing and rewarding her up on them, much to my disapproval. When this does happen I will step in and correct the human and remind Elsa what the rules are. Leaping up on people is not okay, at least not in my books.
Humans who encourage dogs to behave badly, are not being the good leaders. You may think that rules are mean and cruel. You don't want to seem like the bad guy when a dog leaps on you. So you encourage the bad behavior much to their owners displeasure. Just because there is a dog or multiple dogs in the house; does not mean that chaos must ensue. Chaos is chaos, adding dogs does not equate this unless you allow it to.
Making sure our dogs are mannerly takes work. That work should begin right from the start. Implementing rules and regulations is easy; that is if you teach your dog what is and is not acceptable. There must be consistency; which can be difficult when everyone is not on board.
Having a mannerly dog is a joy to have around. Your dog, your rules.
