Premier MannersMinder Instruction Manual page 56

Chapter 13: Visitors at the Door
and lies down, give him treats every :03 seconds so he stays down consistently for at least
:30 seconds and relaxes. If you give him only 1-2 treats and then he gets up again and you
repeat this pattern multiple times, you may accidentally teach him to get up so that he
can run back to the rug to lie down and get a treat.
After Fido is down and relaxed, the visitor can pet him when he's lying down on his rug,
but if he gets up, the visitor should immediately stop and stand up straight. So, in this
step, Fido learns that he doesn't get attention when he gets off his rug, he only gets
attention when he lies down on his rug like he's supposed to.
Repeat this door practice multiple times with each practice visitor. If Fido gets practice
with many visitors over a short period of time, he'll quickly learn that he should stay on his
rug when visitors come to visit.
Once your dog's fairly relaxed for visitors coming to the door, with treats coming rapid-fire,
and stays on his rug reliably because you've blocked him when he's gotten up before you've
given him the cue to get up, then you can gradually increase the interval between treats.
Congratulations! You and your dog have completed "Polite at the Door" training.
Troubleshooting
What If Your Dog Barks?
If at this stage Fido still barks, you've probably accidentally rewarded him for barking
by giving treats after he barks and not giving treats frequently enough when he's quiet
to keep him quiet. You can tell when you've rewarded the wrong behavior because your
dog may bark a few times and then looks at the MannersMinder, or if he barks every time
you bring the MannersMinder out, then he thinks that barking earns him treats. To fix
the behavior, when he's placed with someone at the door, give him treats continuously to
teach him to be quiet. Give them quickly enough so that he doesn't have a chance to bark.
Gradually increase the amount of quiet you require before giving him a treat and gradually
increase the interval between treats. When doing this, make sure you still have the treats
come rapidly enough so that he doesn't have a chance to bark.
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