Turtle Needs Some Manners!

[Stewie_the_Frenchie]

Hi everyone.

OH and I have been racking our brains on this one. As some of you know, we live remote (no puppy schools, etc.) and the only other dogs here are camp dogs.

Here's my problem. Everytime someone comes around to our house, or whenever we take Turtle anywhere (just shy of 6 months, Newfoundland), he gets so over-excited! People become quite wary of him and end up backing away. He doesn't jump up on them (yet), but I think his size really intimidates people - and the drool, I can understand when it's not your dog! I went over to the basketball court last night in our community, where the OH was playing with some of our students. One of my kids (student) ran over to pat Turtle and he was so excited (the dog), he wouldn't sit (when I told him) or settle down (he was on a leash) enough for the kid to pat him. He's also going through the selective deafness stage, which doesn't help!

I am certainly not whinging about his drool or his size (I knew all of this b4 I got him and it really doesn't bother us), I just would like some help as to how to have him more settled around people. I'm guessing training is involved, just not sure where to start!

Thanks in advance guys.

[cassie]

I'd say you definitely need to nip this in the bud whilst Turtle is still a (relatively ) manageable size. If you think people are unsure of him now at 6 months, wait til he's fully grown and still misbehaving! Ahhhh the joy of giant breeds hey!

I'm sure others (Erny etc...) will be along soon enough to offer their wise words of advice, but maybe one thing you could try would be to ask the assistance of a volunteer or two, and don't allow them to approach until Turtle is sitting and is calm. Tell him to sit, and keep his focus with food, or a squeaky toy, or whatever works for you/him, and THEN let the people approach him and say hello. I had success using this method with my Bernese when he was a youngster. Good luck!

[chloebear]

but maybe one thing you could try would be to ask the assistance of a volunteer or two, and don't allow them to approach until Turtle is sitting and is calm. Tell him to sit, and keep his focus with food, or a squeaky toy, or whatever works for you/him, and THEN let the people approach him and say hello. I had success using this method with my Bernese when he was a youngster. Good luck!

Was on Holidays last year when my little girl saw some dogs going for walk (large breed) in a outback country town and she was wanting to pat them. The man heard this and straight away said she would be more than welcome to pat his dogs because he likes to keep them socialised with young children, so he gave he a couple of dog treats, but the dogs into sit and let my 3 yr old (at the time) give them the treats and pat them, he made dogs stay in the sit position. I thanks the man for being so kind, and he said "no thank you for helping me train my dogs, they need to have contact with children" (I don't let my daughter pat other peoples dogs without premission from the owners plus until I am confident that the dog is safe)

Edited November 22, 2007 by chloebear

[Stewie_the_Frenchie]

ah, thanks cassie and chloebear, this is sounding like wise advice...I just hope I haven't left it too late! I will give this a go on the weekend. We are heading back to see family in Melb/Hobart over xmas/new year, so he will have lots of opp. to practise this then. again thank you!

[chloebear]

ah, thanks cassie and chloebear, this is sounding like wise advice...I just hope I haven't left it too late! I will give this a go on the weekend. We are heading back to see family in Melb/Hobart over xmas/new year, so he will have lots of opp. to practise this then. again thank you!

I am sure that you haven't left it too late, my puppy is 6 months old and I am still working with her not to jump and mouth on my kids aged 2 and almost 5 and we are making progress everyday. My puppy is also a large breed of some kind (rescue puppy) so we have to make sure that we take control of her. Don't stress to much, remember it will take time and patience. Have a great holiday!

[percyk]

yep exactly!

get the kids to help you practise settling Turtle

they will love it and will get a sense of ownership...what a lovely bond with you and your students!

lots of treats in pockets and no pats til all is calm ...may take a while but the more exposure he has ..the quicker he will be trained in this aspect

so grab anyone you know ( in little remote community its easy !) and get them to repeat the exercise with you four or five times

good luck...looking forward to reading more of Turtle the Wonder Dog of the Kimberleys!

( my own dogs..a gsd and an aussie terrier used to go camping with all of the local kids when i was in NT...great for the kids and great for the dogs...they all had a ball down at the rivers..nothing like a life out in the bush for the dogs)

[saintlysusan]

I dont think you have left it too late at all..

I have a very friendly St Bernard and I also had this problem with people allways wanting to pat my dog.

All I can say is I insisted he be sitting and wait until he was calm before he was able to get patted.

I didnt need to use any food reward , the cuddles from people is reward enough.. I just had to ask the people

to wait a minute until hes still and they dont mind, its better that than them being knocked over with cuddles!

Edited November 26, 2007 by saintlysusan

[Stewie_the_Frenchie]

That's very true saintlysusan!

percyk :wink:

UPDATE: we took Turtle for some leash training just outside the community last night. As we were walking along (him heeling at my left side beautifully!!) some of my OH's kinder kids came running along. We thought, ooh this will be a good opportunity to get started. Turtle was rediculously excited, so we gave the kids some treats and told them to wait until he was sitting and calm. Well he sat, and he stopped shaking for maybe 2 seconds so we grabbed that opportunity! It took quite a while before he was even remotely resembling the dog I knew, but he calmed down considerably. He was still not any where near as calm as I would like, but he was showing improvement. Practice makes perfect!!