Dog Training 101

The dogs we had when I was growing up, were untrained. And they lived outside. They'd wait by the door and try to run into the house whenever they could. We didn't bond with them.

Dog training promised to make the whole dog experience different for my children. I called around and set up a meeting in our home. This company claimed to have trained some "famous dogs" (used on TV and in movies). The price was high, but I assumed this was the company that a friend of mine had used and highly recommended.

When the trainer came for our first session, I told her that our dog was going to jump up on her when we opened the back door. She asked if I wanted the dog to jump on her. I said, "no."

"Ok, that's all I need to know," she said. I wondered how this petite little gal was going to stop our medium sized, over zealous dog from "greeting" her. She told me what she planned to do. She would lift her knee, hitting the dog in the chest, and the dog would fall back. She said it may take two times, but after that our dog would not jump up on her. This I had to see!

Taffy jumped up at the same time that she pulled up her knee. And just as she described it, our dog fell backward. One more attempt, with the same result and the deed was done. Never again did our dog jump up on this tiny lady.

Notice how I didn't say that she never jumped on us again ... you have to be consistent with the
knee.