Training Not To Jump On Child In Wheelchair

[greying-fast]

Robbo is a gorgeous 7 month old greyhound (maybe 80% of his full height when grown, but only 21kgs at the moment - should end up in the lower 30kg range) who we are rehoming to a lovely family.

One child in the family is a paraplegic in a wheelchair. She can't talk or give hand signals, but laughs at funny dog antics (so Robbo should be a delight to her, as leaps around like a gazelle).

Robbo has only had basic training so far (I've got him as a foster), but it suddenly occurred to me that it will be absolutely vital that we stop him from jumping up on the child in the wheelchair.

I'd be really interested in any tips people have got for a) training Robbo not to jump up generally and b) training him on appropriate behaviour around the wheelchair.

Naturally the new family will do some training but I would like to get him off to a good start (he goes to them permanently around 8 Feb).

[The Spotted Devil]

One approach would be to teach the pup an alternative behaviour. Off the top of my head......either have the dog sit to receive any attention whatsoever (a dog that is sitting can't jump!) or you could teach the pup to rest his head on a person's arm or in their lap when they are sitting down. I would probably use clicker training myself as I get really rapid results with my Dally. You can sit quietly and the second pup offers the appropriate response you can "click and treat" or give a verbal reward marker if you prefer. Good luck

Edited January 20, 2008 by The Spotted Devil