Yesterday I had the joy of watching a dog THINK her way through a situation to get what she wanted.  Sweet Ziva, a 12 month old doodle, is a wonderful loved family pet.  She’s beautifully behaved on leash and the family loves nearly everything about her.   “Nearly” everything.

You see, Ziva jumps on people.

“Don’t all dogs jump?” you ask?

Yes, but Ziva becomes….frustrated, for lack of a better word when her family shows displeasure at being jumped and clawed.  She’s 80 lbs of jumping crazy!  While spending the day with me, I let her get a little overstimulated during a jumping spell to see where she would go if left to her own devices.  She progressed to jumping more frequently as well as clawing and grabbing my clothes.

Not a good sign.  Now, I don’t recommend you allow your dog to become anxious like that. It was a decision I made on the fly out of curiosity.  I also did it to see how quickly she would recover from the stress.

She surprised me!  As soon as I told her to do something, like sit, she visibly began to calm down.  OK!  NOW I can start working.  she’s never been told how to ask for attention and get the happy love she wants!

So, throughout her day with me, we worked on using a sit behavior to ask for a treat or a game of fetch.  By the end of the day, I ran into a young girl who wanted desperately to pet Ziva.  Luckily, this girl and her family had attended one of my classes and was a great listener and helper.

Without being told, Ziva sat!  When she did, it became the permission for my young helper to move towards Ziva.  If she stood up or jumped, the helper stopped or moved back.  In a half dozen sits (Ziva’s choice) my helper was able to pet the once jumping bean of a dog!

So, “Why didn’t you just make her sit?” you are probably asking.  The answer lies in Zivas brain.  When a dog learns…I mean TRULY thinks and learns a way to get what they want (that the humans want too), that new way becomes their default.

Yes, it needs to be practiced and rewarded.  But I’ve found over the years that if a dog is an active participant in their training the behavior is always more reliable.  It’s also great to see how owners are just blown away when they watch their dog CONCIOUSLY offering a behavior to be in control of the outcome!

Ziva still has a way to go, but her family is on board with using positive reinforcement to get the dog of their dreams.

Ziva relaxing after a training session at the School for Dogs.