Well, clearly you’re one of the dog owners that the OP is pitting, then. I find it unbelievable that you would invite someone to your house, allow your dogs to jump all over them (possibly scratching them, slobbering all over them, or snagging their clothes) and then take offence when that person takes steps to protect themselves and stop your dogs from behaving rudely. I’m guessing you don’t get many visitors.
Just because it’s difficult for you to train your dogs doesn’t mean you have to inflict their behaviour on guests to your home. Leash them when the doorbell rings or put them in another room. It isn’t rocket science. If you just don’t care enough about your visitors to prevent your dogs from molesting them at your doorstep, just say so. Asserting that it’s impossible for you to prevent it is bull - you just don’t want to be bothered or you just don’t care.
My dog certainly isn’t perfectly behaved. She did try to jump up on people when she was a younger dog. For as long as she showed the inclination to do that, I held her collar when I answered the door and made her say hello politely. It was a pain in the butt, but she eventually learned not to be an ass when the doorbell rang. It was worth it not to have an asshole dog that people hate to see coming. I suspect your dogs are those types of dogs. If you don’t care, that’s fine, but don’t try to trot out a bunch of lame justifications about how it’s perfectly acceptable to have rude dogs because it’s just too difficult to address the problem.
i do the knee in the chest thing too. I do it gently - just to stop the dog jumping on me. In recent years I’ve only had to do it to one dog - a large spoodle. He appeared to be untrainable but I believe the owners have given him to a nephew & the dog is doing much better now.
If you told me to leave because of that, I’d happily go. I don’t like dogs jumping on me.
Me neither. Come to think of it, I can’t think of a single person I know that likes being jumped on by dogs. You’d think all dog owners would figure that out.
I forgot another dog. A friend of my daughter’s kept bringing her tall, thin untrained dog over when she visited. The dog didn’t jump on me, but she jumped all over everyone else. Since the owner only laughed when she did this & chased our cat, my husband asked my daughter to tell Sonia not to bring the dog here.
Well, in my case they try to and find it doesn’t work
Both of those things seem to be in short supply among both parents and dog owners these days.
The other day a little old lady picked up her little old poodle mix and shoved it at my two dogs in my car. When they reacted in the correct way - barking like hell because I wasn’t near by - she got offended. Look Dorothy, my dogs don’t know you or your little dog, what did you expect? Sheesh.
This is right on. Dogs should be trained to Not Jump On People. Period.
Side note - I’ve met several fellow dog owners who encourage their dog to “shake hands” - the dog brings up paw, presents it to be grasped by the human in a sort of handshake. This teaches dog to put their paws up on people - which they will then usually do at inappropriate times and to people who don’t appreciate being pawed. A truly stupid dog trick.
This, and encouraging or allowing a dog to jump up on people is a disservice to the dog. Dogs can be smart. That is, f the owners are.
In his younger days, my dog was the sort that would jump up on people. He just loved attention. Mind you, at his highest reach, he wouldn’t reach an adult’s kneecap, because he’s that tiny, and he never hurt anyone. Just the same, if someone came to the house unexpectedly, he was put in my bedroom or sent downstairs. It is common courtesy that you do not inflict your animal on someone. That person may be afraid, they may be allergic, they may just not want a dog on/near/around them that day. And they shouldn’t have to forewarn you to be courteous about it, either.
I agree that all dogs should be trained sufficiently to (among other things) not jump on people. I have a very large GSD and she is a sweetheart but I am very clear that few people like a 100 pound dog who can look an adult in the eye when she stands up jumping on them.
I guarantee my dog will not jump on you if you come to the door.
However, she will be at the door with me to greet guests. I have never met a dog who won’t go to the door when people are coming in.
When you enter the dog is going to greet you and give you a sniff and meander around your legs. A child will be at head-height to my dog and my dog is going to lean in for a sniff and, possibly, a lick to a little kid (especially if the little kid has had something yummy to eat recently and some of the yummy stuff is still on their face that the dog can smell).
If my guest has a child who is afraid of dogs that guest needs to tell me ahead of time and I will be sure to restrain the dog and keep it away from the child. Not knowing that however I will let my dog do her thing. She is well trained, polite, gentle and it is her house too. I see no need to restrain her at the door since I know she is a polite and well behaved dog.
Frankly little kids generally annoy my dog so mostly she does not get in their face much beyond an initial “hello”. She does not mind kids petting her and such but bouncy kids wanting to play with the goggie and pull her tail and ears she does not have much time for. Since she is so big she is not threatened by little kids and more than capable of just walking away (in as much as a kid cannot restrain her as they might a small dog).
Bottom line this is a two-way street. The owner of the dog has a responsibility to properly train the dog and not let it jump. If it is a jumper then the owner needs to restrain the dog when guests, particularly new guests who do not know the dog, arrive.
On the flip side the guest needs to make their host aware if someone is afraid of dogs. If the little kid in this case is so afraid then even if the parent does not know whether a dog is there or not they need to let the host know just in case. Don’t assume there is no dog there and don’t think it is the host’s responsibility to notify anyone coming they have a dog.
I have friends who (this is awhile ago now) have a yellow lab they got as a puppy. She was quite an exuberant dog and took to jumping on guests. My friends are good dog owners and worked with her to train her properly. Eventually they got the dog to not jump but the dog’s exuberance was still there and she wanted to jump. So you’d walk in the house and the dog would stand there bouncing up and down on her front paws as her brain defaulted to “jump” and her training kicked in and said “don’t jump”.
Was very cute to see (as the dog grew older it mellowed and that bouncing behavior stopped).
I have a German Shepherd who behaves similarly, Whack-a-Mole. Using hind legs, springs front legs up and down, into thin air, wanting to jump on person but doesn’t - having been trained this is not allowed.
The dog is now 5 yrs old and doesn’t show any sign of waning exuberance.
I’m a dog-lover and have two I love dearly and I, too, find myself getting very annoyed at a majority of dogs and dog owners. I do not enjoy being jumped on, having to shove 30-lb+ dogs out of my lap when I’m trying to sit on a chair, being clawed/pawed, slammed in the face, mouthed, licked, drooled on, or humped - neither do a majority of people I would assume. This is why my dogs have been trained not to do any of these things unless invited (it happens that it wasn’t too hard to do so, because I don’t have dogs that are enthused about most people - it sure depends on the dog). If you can’t be bothered to train or at least attempt to train Poofy to be polite to people he encounters and control the bad behaviors you haven’t discouraged yet, than I will at the least train him to be polite to me - usually with a stern ‘NO’ and pushing/kneeing him (often with some force) out of my personal space. Tell me to get out of your home because I physically stop your dogs from slamming their bodies into me and raking me with their claws - I’ll go, and think you’re a clueless douche forevermore. Put your dogs on leashes or hold their collars, or in another room if you can’t control them around guests.
Dog owners deserve our bad name, because most of us permit our dogs to be rude and invade the personal space of other people who don’t love them like we do.
Rest assured, we ALWAYS leash our dog when guests come. She’s a Westie and EXTREMELY stubborn and enthusiastic when people come to visit. So we put a leash on her and make sure to keep her controlled when we have guests. Eventually then she mellows down.
Our last Westie was much tamer and easier to train. Not Lexie. She’s got a mind of her own. But that doesn’t mean we just throw our hands up in the air and say, “oh well, we can’t control her!” Nope, we make sure to keep her in hand. That’s what a responsible dog owner does.
(As far as putting her upstairs, sadly we can’t do that. She’s not allowed in any of the bedrooms, because she chews things and will grab stuff and not let it go. We can corral her into the kitchen, at least.)
Yeah, I have a dog who jumps on people. He knows he’s not supposed to, he’s been corrected for this behavior frequently. But he is an enthusiastic people lover and he is not always so good on self control. Luckily, he’s not a big dog, about beagle sized, and he responds well to the inevitable chastisement. But when people first come in the door its difficult for him to restrain his enthusiasm.
He’s four years old and he’s a boston/pit mix- definitely a ‘bully’ breed, he looks a bit like a boxer in miniature. Although I make every effort to correct him and teach him manners, the fact is - I’m a bit reclusive and I don’t get a lot of visitors. So he just has not had the frequency of experience in greeting new people to have the ‘manners’ thing down pat. But he tries and so do I.
I am a dog lover and I would not hesitate to put my knee to the chest of a dog that was jumping up on me uninvited. It’s the simplest, kindest way to let them know that they have overstepped their bounds - something that their owners are often unclear about. A dog feels more secure if it knows its restrictions. Nor would I have a problem with someone ‘kneeing’ my dog down, if they get to him before I do - as long as they are not being brutal about it. Raising your knee to a dog is more about blocking them than trying to hurt them or dominate them.
My dog has never bitten anyone, never snapped at anyone, didn’t so much as nip at anyone even when he was a teething pup. So I am pretty confident that anyone who comes into my house is safe from aggression. That said, this will not save them from his claws as he jumps on them joyously. So I always end up being the barker, 'Markie, down, manners!" Which he obeys, however reluctantly.
My feeling is, if you will not discipline your dog yourself, then you are placing the onus on you visitors to discipline him for you - and you have no damn business getting pissed off about it. And if you don’t like that, don’t have anybody over. Problem solved.
We don’t have kids, we have dogs. But when guests come over, unless we KNOW that they are dog lovers and would like our dogs to be present, the dogs get crated or tossed in their outdoor kennel. This goes double if little kids come over. We DON’T expect people to love or even tolerate our dogs if that is not their thing. (We can’t guarantee that they won’t get dog hair on their clothes, though.)
Our friend Bill is a huge nature lover, environmentalist, etc., but inexplicably not a pet lover. I asked him about it once, and he said he likes animals as long as they stay outdoors where they belong. Fair enough. Our pups go out when Bill comes over. (Though once he did pop in for a brief hang-out when they happened to be in the house, and he didn’t seem to mind them – perhaps because they largely ignored him.)
I miss the days when we had Buster, a fat little beagle who despite all diet and exercise attempts stayed fat and lazy. He was perfect for when little-kid visitors wanted to pet a doggie, because he moved slowly, couldn’t jump up, and loved the attention. (He was also sequestered; we would take the child to him.) Our other dogs were too big and too excitable for the little ones.
It sounds like most of the dog owners who posted here are thoughtful and considerate to other people, and endeavor to train their dogs. I say thanks to all of you are.
In my personal life, I know a few people with dogs that are considerate owners. Unfortunately, over 1/2 of the dog owners I know are not considerate. They let their dog jump all over people. I don’t want your dog jumping all over me, or licking me, or trying to sit in my lap. If you invite me to your house, or if I meet you on the street, I think the onus is on the dog owner to keep the dog out of my personal space, unless I make it clear that the dog is welcome.
Having said that, if I am knocking on your door uninvited by you, then I don’t expect that you will rush to put your dog in another room before answering. I am the one intruding, after all.
P.S. Your dog barks way more than you think it does, and the barking is way more annoying than you think it is.
For kneeing the dog when it jumps up? I’ve heard dog trainers say to do this gently to keep the dog from jumping. I don’t really get why this is so upsetting–the dog may have its feelings hurt for a couple of minutes, but in the long run, it’s not like it’s going to traumatize them.
We don’t allow our dogs to jump on people, so I’d like to take this opportunity to pit our guests, who, seeing our waggling dog trying to hold a sit and not jump on them… promptly call the damned dog over and pat their legs to encourage her to jump up!
Why? WHY must you engage in behavior that obviously and directly contradicts what we’ve been training her to do? It burns me, it does.
