Chapter 9: Rewarding Calm Behavior - Premier MannersMinder Instruction Manual

Chapter 9: Rewarding Calm Behavior

Recommended Daily Practice:
Two 10-minute sessions.
If even after working on Say Please by Sitting
(Chapter 6) your dog still loves to jump on people
or he's more motivated by attention and play with
humans than food, then the following variation
of "say please by sitting" will give him the focus
he needs.
Step 1: Suddenly Settle
Now that Fido knows he should say please by sitting
in order to get your attention, you have a built in
ON-OFF switch. You should be able to jump, cheer
and get him bouncing around with you, and then be
able to freeze and expect him to immediately sit in
a game called "suddenly settle." So, he's still
allowed to play and run around when it's okay with
you, but when you give the body posture cue he
should immediately settle. Practice this several
times each day.
Step 2: Changing Reward to Petting & Praise
Now we'll make it habit for Fido to sit politely to be
petted. The best way to do this is where everyone
in the house concentrates on each interaction with
Fido for the first 24-48 hours. Without this special
attention to this exercise, it's the humans who will
have problems changing their habits. Fido will just
do whatever you reward him for.
Every interaction with Fido is a training session, so
he's always either learning what we want him to
learn or what we don't want him to learn. If people
pet him for calmly sitting, he'll learn to be calm
when he wants attention. If others pet him or give
him attention when he's jumping, he'll learn to jump
for attention. If individuals are inconsistent, Fido
will be inconsistent, too.
In this exercise, when Fido comes over to be petted,
stand up straight and ignore him until he sits.
Step 1: Suddenly Settle
Practice several times each day.
You should be able to jump, cheer and
pet Fido bouncing around with you.
Then stop and wait for him to sit.
Step 2: Changing Reward to
Petting & Praise
Practice this with every interaction
with your dog.
If people pet Fido or give him attention
when he's jumping, he'll learn to jump
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for attention.