I am a veterinarian, briefly a hunting trial judge, a competitive obedience trailer, and a dog trainer. I loved winning ribbons and putting titles on the dogs I had; before children and work took over. But if your dog has no manners, I don’t care how many titles it has won, you probably don’t enjoy your pet as much as you could.
A child can be the most precocious, brilliant genius on the planet but who wants to be in the same room as the little dear if he is a horror. Dogs are the same. Manners can also have safety consequences. Perfect heeling on your left is expected in the competitive obedience ring but not necessary in everyday life. You want to be able to have your pet on a loose lead, not hitting the end of the leash charging things. I once babysat a young Labrador that, as I descended steep stairs to a concrete floor, would suddenly leap around me from behind and hit the end of the leash in front of me. I considered this dog barely leash trained. I try to train all my dogs from puppyhood not to pass a person on stairs going up or down. Especially if you have fragile elderly family members with canes. I try to train all my dogs to stand back as I open a door to allow me to precede them through the door or order them through ahead of me once I know the other side is safe.
Get out of my way. Dogs love being underfoot. Larger dogs especially love to lie across doorways rising to their feet just as you step over them. As puppies, I deliberately walk into my dogs. I scuff my feet so as not to hurt them, but I will scuff into a puppy lying in my path gently with my toes until they get up and move. I have had people comment in my house and when I visit them about how my dogs move aside for people. Big dogs can knock you down and the little dogs can be inadvertently hurt if they get underfoot.
Don’t leap into me when I have a bowl of food or water. All my dogs stand back as a person leans down with the food or water. I recommend training all dogs, not just those with dominance problems, to sit and only be released once the bowls are down with a command. I hate having a full bowl of water knocked out of my hands and I once saw a friend have her front teeth fractured against a Labrador skull coming up.
Don’t jump in or out of the car without permission. I want a chance to get a towel to wipe those muddy feet before seventy pounds of Labrador leaps in the back of my truck, or my Papillon’s tracks cover my upholstery. More importantly, if I open the tailgate in a parking lot, I don’t want anyone leaping out into the path of a vehicle. My dogs are trained from the start not to get into or out of a vehicle without being ordered. I do not angle my body in front of doors as I often see people do, to prevent avalanches out of my car… that is incredibly dangerous.
I could go on with a multitude of examples limited only by time and my imagination. Most of these things will never be taught in a formal obedience class but good manners will always improve the quality of your relationship with your pet and make it easier to include him in your fun activities once the ground rules are understood. The same training principles of consistency, timing, and praise apply. Start to teach manners when the new family member arrives on the very first day. We all try to love all kids and dogs, but everyone knows some behaviors make some of them a heck of a lot easier to love.
