#188 Too Friendly

Could your dog's friendliness actually be causing training problems? This eye-opening episode tackles the paradoxical challenges that come with raising social butterfly dogs—those lovable pups who want to greet everyone and everything they encounter.

Chapters

• 0:00 The Friendly Dog Paradox
• 0:45 Problem With Greeting Everyone
• 2:10 Dangers of Random Dog Introductions
• 3:23 Setting Boundaries With Guests
• 4:20 Teaching Manners to Social Butterflies

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

You know what's funny? Sometimes our biggest training struggles come from having that really nice dog. I'm talking about those social butterflies, dogs that love everyone, wag at every stranger and are dying to meet every dog on the block. Dying to meet every dog on the block. And because they're friendly, we let them. We let them walk up to every person we pass, we let them go nose to nose with random dogs, we let them hop up on the couch next to our guest and snuggle right in Because they're friendly. What could go wrong? Well, a few things Letting our dog greet every human that they pass.

Speaker 1: 0:52

It starts out harmless. A neighbor says hi, someone at the park pets him. A jogger stops and smiles and before long your dog thinks that every human they see is going to stop and give them attention. But here's the problem. First, if we teach our dog that they can interact with everyone they see, you quickly train a dog that pulls toward people and probably ignores your leave it cue people and probably ignores your leave it cue. And second, the person that they're trying to interact with may not like dogs or, even worse, they may be afraid of dogs. So what's a friendly dog owner to do? Easy, stop letting your dog meet and interact with everyone you pass.

Speaker 1: 1:43

Letting your dog meet and interact with everyone you pass. This may mean telling some people that, no, they can't meet or pet your dog, and I know that's a tough one. After all, your dog is friendly and everyone loves him. But to help your dog understand that interacting with other people is a privilege and not a right, sometimes the answer has to be no, sorry, you can't meet that person today. And the second bad habit we create letting our friendly dog meet every other dog they see, and this one's big.

Speaker 1: 2:22

Just because your dog is great with other dogs doesn't mean that strange dog walking toward you is A friendly dog can still get snapped at and growled at or even worse. And too often we walk our friendly dogs into trouble because we think well, my dog's friendly, it'll be okay. But no, it won't always be okay. At some point you will cross paths with the dog who isn't okay with other dogs and your dog will end up paying the price. If you must allow your dog to interact with strange dogs your dog to interact with strange dogs be very selective and very careful. But better yet, skip introductions with strange dogs and limit your dog's interactions to other dogs with dogs that you know.

Speaker 1: 3:17

And another thing that we can get wrong letting our dog be too familiar with guests. I mean, I get it. It's sweet when your dog wants to jump up on the couch and snuggle with Aunt Linda. But what happens when it's someone who doesn't like dogs or who has allergies or just doesn't want 60 pounds of Labrador in their lap? If your dog is used to being the life of the party and no one ever redirects him, he won't understand when someone finally does so. If your dog is a social butterfly, that's great, that's a gift, but it's your job to teach him boundaries, just like with kids.

Speaker 1: 4:03

Being friendly doesn't mean we run up to everyone. We see. Not every person or dog that we want to interact with is safe, and not every guest wants a cuddle, and it's up to you to decide what the rules are and to implement them. So maybe we start small Walk past people without greeting. Reinforce your dog for staying by your side. Instead, let your dog see other dogs without saying hi. Have a place or a go-to mat routine when guests come over and release your dog only if it's appropriate. Being friendly is great, but being friendly with manners, that's even better.