Dog manners

Manners - ways of behaving with reference to polite standards; social comportment:

Dog training has many different aspects to it; from basic manners, socializing, house training, obedience, field, agility and far more. As soon as we add a puppy or dog to our family it is or should be “in training.”

Training - the education, instruction, or discipline of a person or thing that is being trained:

Some of the most important training a dog will ever receive is the learning of manners. I’ve met some amazingly talented obedience dogs who have no basic manners and others who have no official obedience training but excel in the manners department.

So what are the manners that we want to instill in our dogs? The first would be not to take our food from us. Which is not the same as not begging. To me begging is a non issue; it is our dog wanting our food but waiting until we give it to them, just like in the wild. Of course if your dog is accustom to getting food from you when you are eating then they are going to hang around and wait for it.

Other manners include not stealing from the counter tops or coffee tables. Not jumping all over guests when they come over to visit. And pretty much any rule that you the guardian would like followed in your life. Sitting before going out or in a door and not barging through; knocking everyone over. That would be considered a manner.

Teaching manners is easiest when you start right from the get go. If you don’t want your dog on the couch then don’t let your puppy on the couch. If you don’t want your dog to steal food from the counter; then start training now as they join your family.

Manners are really very important, both for us and our dogs. There are things that mannerly humans would not do; things like grabbing someone’s food off their plate. We would not barge our way to the kitchen just to get the first piece of pizza (okay, maybe some would.) Saying please if we would like something is essential. Heck I find myself asking Alexa “please” every time I change my mind on music in the day; I really feel rude if I just blurt out demands to her without saying please. :)

Having a dog who is mannerly is very enjoyable. But manners take time to learn and to teach. To start off we need to figure out what we’d like as far as general manners in our home. Once you have that, it is time to hire a trainer and get to work on manners. Sometimes manners are easy, often they can take some work to instill. But teaching your dog manners is really important and you will both benefit from.

I love getting comments from you all; leave one if you’d like, please.

Basic canine manners

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.