I once had a swim instructor who played “Simon Says” during game time. And not, “Simon says kick your feet,” or “Simon says blow bubbles,” but “Simon says pat your tummy.” There’s nothing wrong with Simon Says, but she wasn’t intentional about it; she didn’t take full advantage fo the learning opportunities in the game. I think we often forget in training our puppies that we can make the same mistakes, so I thought I’d share a little bit today about one the ways I try to be extremely intentional in training: interacting with people in public.
Everyone loves our puppies (unless they hate them), and everyone wants to interact with them. Here are a few of my “rules” for the “game.”
1. If they don’t ask before reaching for the dog, the answer is always no. Always. Depending on the situation it might be gentle, “I’m sorry, she’s working right now, please don’t distract her,” or “Oh, you need to always make sure you ask before petting a dog in public, especially one in a vest like this.” Or it might be quite firm, “She is working; do not touch her or distract her.” I’ve even, on very rare occasions, had to say, “It is a federal offense to interfere with a working service dog and you can be arrested for assault and battery if you touch her again.” I try to keep in mind that it’s not only our puppies in training that we’re advocating for, but all working service dogs, vested or not, and the safety of the public, who often don’t even know they ought to ask before touching a dog, any dog, in public.
2. If they do ask, I try to do a quick evaluation of the situation. Is it already high stress without adding this distraction? Will the dog be successful? Is the person asking low or high energy? Do I have the energy right now to interact with the public and also be able to maintain training standards? If the answer to any of these is no, I try to go with a very gentle, “I’m sorry, she’s working right now, but thank you for asking.” Whether I allow it or not, I always make a firm point of saying, “Thank you for asking,” or, if I’ve just said no to someone else, “Thank you for asking first.”
3. If I do allow it, I have some ground rules for the interaction. “Yes, right now would be a good time to say hello. However, she needs to maintain her position, and please don’t let her lick you.” Sometimes I have to explain, sometimes it’s just a matter of managing the situation. I’m very intentional about this because avoiding all public distraction will never teach the puppy to choose me over them, but I want to be in control of the situation and I always want to work for success.
I require the puppy to maintain position so that they learn that moving towards a distraction will always result in the distraction being removed. If the puppy is in a sit and stands to move towards the person, I give a gentle, “ah-ah” and step away, doing a “stir the pot” to bring them back into position, setting them back into a sit, and then allowing the person to try to approach again. If, after two tries, the puppy hasn’t been successful, I say, “I’m sorry, she’s struggling to be successful right now.” If they are willing and have time, I might invite them to stand a few steps away while we work for success, but most at this point will give up and leave. If she chooses to remain in position, she gets praise, and if she turns away from the distraction to look at me at all, she is cued with “nice” and given food reward. Worth noting, if you start this early (by 12 weeks), they will almost always look to you immediately when presented with a person distraction in public.
If the puppy is in a down and has been successful thus far, I often invite the person to give her a gentle press on one side and scratch behind her ears, effectively simulating a layover. Again, by choosing to be intentional and thinking about our training priorities, we can use the public to serve our needs as much as they use us and our puppies to get a cuddle fix.
Of course, the no licking is a given, and I try to explain that not everyone likes to be licked, so we always try to limit the opportunities they have to engage in that behavior.
4. When it’s time to disengage, I try to make sure it is on my terms (or the person’s terms), not the puppy losing interest. Whether they stand up and say, “Thank you,” or I have to set a limit and say, “That’s enough,” and take a step away, what we don’t want is for the puppy to control the situation by wandering off. It’s not horrendously bad form, but it does break one of the cardinal rules of training, always end before they lose interest. I also re-engage immediately with a new training behavior. “That’s enough, let’s go,” is the most common, because we’re returning to good position. If they disengage nd re-engage immediately, I’ll mark it with the cue and feed.
Just some thoughts from today on being intentional about our training opportunities, especially after sitting in Starbucks for an hour and watching the very unsubtle way in which the two ladies at the table next to me kept staring at Joanne and then making loud, pointed comments in an effort to engage either her or me (nothing negative, just a very obvious attempt to “key” both of us).
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