Roger is a rambunctious 4 year old German Shepherd whose owners called me to help them with a behavioral problem.
When I rang the doorbell at Roger’s house, he was already barking enthusiastically, throwing his entire body against the door, scrambling with his paws on the screen as if reach through it to get to me. His owner held onto his collar so that I could come in. When he was released, Roger jumped on me and barked, circling me and jumping on nearly every body part. His owner assured me that Roger would stop this behavior as soon as I talked to him and petted him.
Surprisingly, this door answering fiasco was NOT the issue that caused Roger’s owners concern.
I soon found out what it was.
As I sat down at the kitchen table, Roger eyed me and headed in my direction. Without any warning, he swooped down and grabbed my hand off my lap and held it in his mouth. Firmly. With some pressure. Clearly he wanted something from me, but I didn’t hear him say please, so I extricated my hand from his teeth, stood up, and ignored him.
Roger seemed stunned at my response. He circled me, barking furiously. I stood my ground. I didn’t look at him, talk to him, or touch him. I asked his owners not to intervene either. After what seemed like hours but was really only 3 minutes, Roger stopped barking and laid down, albeit never taking his eyes off me. I remained standing during my entire visit.
So, what do we know so far?
For the past 4 years, Roger has managed to get all the adult humans in the house to do his bidding. Roger wants to answer the door – go right ahead. Roger wants to be petted – just let us know where and for how long. Roger wants to play rough – isn’t he cute?
Its not Roger’s fault that he got this way. These are learned behaviors.
Remember the jumping and barking at the guest – that would be me? At one time, probably when he was younger and smaller, he jumped and barked at his owners, who most likely leaned down and petted and talked to him. So he learned that the consequence of jumping and barking on people (not just his owners but any visitor, little kids and senior citizens included) was that is how he could get humans to give him attention. His owners even instructed their company to do this.
My feeling is that owners should train their dogs, not their guests.
Roger had also learned that running to the door and barking furiously was an effective way to get the door to open.
Let’s go back to the hand-in-the-mouth issue.
Although Roger’s owners had been tolerating this behavior for years, eventually Roger had done this to the wrong person. He had grasped the hand of an elderly guest, breaking the skin. That was it. His owners resolved that a trainer had to be called to get Roger to stop from holding onto people’s hands.
It was evident from the interactions of certain family members with Roger that playing with him with their bare hands was a common occurrence. Roger had learned from a young age that human hands are fun toys that fit nicely in a dog’s mouth. In fact, grabbing a hand would usually result in a full-on wrestling match on the floor. How entertaining is that?!
We put together a no-hands policy along with a protocol for proper door answering and visitor etiquette. Being the smart dog that he is, Roger quickly “unlearned” hand-grabbing, and we found a less physical but equally entertaining game he could play with humans.
Does your dog demand attention, toys, games, walkies, from you? And does he (nearly) always get what he wants? Now think to yourself, who might have (unconsciously) taught him to do that?