Meeting People
Prior to 16 weeks, the puppy can choose to go ‘Say hi’ to other people. And he SHOULD, to learn about lots of other people and that they are all safe and non-threatening no matter how they look or how they smell (cigarettes, alcohol, perfume, other critter scents, body odors, etc.). Rule is that the person has to let the puppy come to them. This ensures that the pup actually wants to greet them! And if the puppy says “no” I say “sorry, not today” (didn’t have to say that with my Labrador). :-)
But those people don’t have food or toys and I do! At first the novelty of the people is more attractive to the puppy and that is fine. I’m not going to try to interrupt unless I feel the pup needs it or he’s getting too excited. But I’m available as a treat dispenser or toy operator at any point and each interaction with another person will include & end with the pup getting good stuff from me. I also will call the pup, or lure him a step or two away, give a treat, and let him go back to the other person if he wants, or if they can entice him back with sweet talk.
By 16 weeks of age the puppy has met a lot of people, the novelty wears off a little and what I have is more enticing (his favorite treats/toy)! The puppy has learned that yeah, other people can be interesting, but mom has the good stuff! I can do a quick greet, then get treats!
After 16 weeks, if someone is approaching us to say hi to the puppy (you know the look!) I get a handful of treats and let the pup work on getting them out of my hand while we talk. I tell them they have to keep their feet planted (not move toward the pup) and then try to entice him to come to them (no food/toys at first). If he chooses to leave my treat hand and go to them, that is fine! But my hand is always available and will allow some easy treats as soon as he chooses to come back to it. And I’m right near him, not at the end of the leash. So I can also work on reinforcing an acceptable position (like 4 on the floor) during the greeting or his choosing to stay focused on getting the food in my hand while the person pets him.
This was REALLY hard for Voodoo, who loves attention from people just as much as he loves food! But he caught on. And now, even if I don’t have treats, he will do a quick greeting of a stranger (just long enough to assess whether they have treats, LOL) and then come right back to me. I’ve gotten more lax on this as he has gotten older, so now he knows which of my friends have good treats and will ‘pay out’ if he’s persistent. But I know I could change that quickly with some refresher training if I wanted to.
This training teaches the puppy that if people are talking to me (or him) or trying to call him and entice him, that makes great rewards come from me. And once the puppy is hard to call away from me, I’ll select helpers that can follow directions to hold treats or a toy and even entice the puppy with them, but the treats/toy are never available to the pup from them and choosing to return to or stay with me results in a big reward from me.
THEN I can work on having the pup hold a position (sit or stand) while people pet him (or play conformation or obedience Judge). And I turn attention from others into a cue to look at me! So no matter how hard someone tries to distract my dog, they are just repeating the ‘cue’ to look at me! But I can also use a cue to tell the pup to look where I point (like at a conformation Judge) or give him permission to go say hi.
Zoo visit at 5 mo old shows how he handled crowds by that age.
