The Puppy Training Podcast

Episode #111 Good BBQ Behavior

August 04, 2022 Baxter & Bella Puppy Training Season 5 Episode 111
The Puppy Training Podcast
Episode #111 Good BBQ Behavior
Show Notes Transcript

BBQ’s are fun and we want our dogs to be part of them. Teach your dog to go to their mat for food and you’ll prevent begging from guests and counter surfing to try and steal the burger from the grill. You can teach this same behavior when your guests arrive and ring the doorbell! Tune in for training tips.

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Hi everyone! Welcome to the Puppy Training Podcast! I am so glad you are here. Whether you have been tuning in for a while or are brand new, thank you for listening. 


How are your dogs doing? Anyone have a dog who loves water? Are you finding fun adventures together whether it is boating, kayaking, hiking near rivers, running through sprinklers or swimming in pools? I hope so! Summertime is full of adventures and dogs LOVE to be part of it. Anyone having a summer BBQ? Or have you already had one? Several you’re saying? How did it go? Was your dog well-behaved or did a burger go missing? Maybe you have one coming up and you are feeling a bit worried! Today’s podcast is all about helping your BBQ go well! 


A few business items before we get into today’s topic. We are starting new rounds of our BASIC, INTERMEDIATE and ADVANCED online courses August 17th. If you have a new puppy, get registered today. Basic and Intermediate are six week courses and Advanced is four weeks. They run on different days and at different times all via Zoom so you participate from home with your dog. We demo things with our dogs and invite you to share video of you and your dog working if you want to. We have a good time!  If you can’t make class live, we always have recordings available to you - I get it. Summer vacations, work and family time are different for everyone! You can join these by becoming a member of the online puppy school then clicking CLASSES & COURSES. 


Okay, so when it comes to having a BBQ I tried to think about it in sequential order of things that would be helpful for your dog to do. First, greeting guests. How is your dog at this? Does your dog get SO excited to see new people, barking at the doorbell and jumping all over them? Or, does your dog get a bit apprehensive and unsure when new people enter your home? Maybe they shy away from petting or retreat to another room rather than interact. It is important to get to know your dog and help them be the best they can be given their personality. 


Let’s start with the excited dog! We need to start BEFORE the planned BBQ. Expecting our dogs to be on their best behavior without any practice at what that looks like is unrealistic. Dogs will be dogs - they know dog behavior so if we haven’t spent time teaching them what we want them to do and making that behavior worth it to them, they most likely will do what they want to do which often are the barking and jumping when excited. Start several weeks ahead if possible. 


Teach your dog to lay on a mat when the doorbell rings. Begin by teaching your dog to go to their mat, lay down and wait there until released. Start in a quiet room with no distractions and food rewards for payment. 


Next add the doorbell as the cue. Practice by recording your actual doorbell sound to your phone, then hit play randomly throughout the day. Each time help your dog find their mat and reward them for remaining on the mat while you begin doing distracting things like touching the doorknob, turning the doorknob, opening the door, talking to a pretend person, talking to an actual person, welcoming a person in, and so on. 


Can you see how I structured that from easy to hard? Now I said that in about 20 seconds. This will take several weeks of practice with several short sessions happening daily. Only make things harder as your dog is successful. I like to think of it like driving a car. Whenever I teach my dog something new, I push forward (make things harder) when they can do five out five reps correctly. If they are getting 3-4 right, we stay at the same level and keep practicing. If they are only getting 0-2 successes out of 5, we reverse and make things easier. Then push forward when we get successes. 


You’ll find success more quickly by getting successes at easier levels than trying to force them with too hard of criteria. We coach many clients on this very behavior inside our online puppy school and are happy to help you too. 


Next, once the guests have arrived, what does that look like? What is your dog doing and what would you like them to do? I help them stay out of people’s way by engaging them in play with a tug toy, or going through their tricks off to the side. I keep my dog on leash at this time to prevent them from being overly interested in the guests who just walked in. Doing this for several minutes as your guests come in, talk to one another and settle down, helps your dog relax around them as well. The initial excitement diminishes and we can then carry on with the plans at a lower energy level. 


If your guests would like to interact with your dog, try this game. Have the guest toss a food reward over your dog’s head. This allows your dog to turn away from the guest, keep all paws on the floor, find a yummy food reward and turn back to the guest. At which point, the guest tosses another food reward away from them for your dog to go get. After 4-5 reps, ask the guest to wait to toss the next food reward until your dog sits for it. As soon as your dog sits, have your guest toss the next reward. Now you have a sit to greeted behavior! Well done! 


The activity I just described works well for the shy dog too. Give these dogs a place to retreat if they prefer, like a separate room or a crate set in the distance and let them come out when they are ready to engage. Do not force interactions with guests if your dog is not enjoying it. Simply let them observe from a safe distance. 


Finally, because it is a BBQ, food is involved! Let’s chat about how to prevent your dog from stealing the hamburger patty or begging for food from your friends. 


Good news! You can use the same go to bed or mat behavior you just learned with the doorbell for dinner time too! Place a dog bed or outdoor rug - this works well if your dog likes to chew the bed - on your patio or deck. You want it close enough that you can reward often. Cue your dog to go to bed and reward intermittently for them staying on the mat. As mentioned before, this is not something I would start training at the BBQ. Start teaching this to your puppy now so when BBQ time comes, they are at a level they can handle doing the behavior with lots of new distractions around. This may take a few days, weeks or even a month depending on how often you are training. 


Mat work is awesome! It gives your dog a job to do which keeps their brains busy and focused on good behavior. Be sure to make it worth it to them by paying them every so often. This is seconds for new puppies, minutes for adolescents and by the time they are adults, on the hour even. Keep expectations realistic for your dog’s age and attention span. If your dog can relax on their mat for 15 minutes, reward and release them, then they can go to their crate with a favorite chew, be on a tether or out in a play yard away from your guests. 


BBQ’s are fun and we want our dogs to be part of them. Teach your dog to go to their mat for food and you’ll prevent begging from guests and counter surfing to try and steal the burger from the grill. Help your dog enjoy the guests by getting them to play if they are willing. See if your guests can get your dog to do things you’ve been practicing like touch, sit, down, stay etc. Play games from our Games & Activities page. Dog friendly guests are great training aides! See if they are willing to help you practice the basics! This will help your dog see strangers or guests as fun and positive. 


All this talk about BBQ is making me hungry! I guess we need to schedule one soon! I challenge you to do the same - BUT - do your homework first and help prepare your dog for the distractions that will be present before expecting the good behavior! Thanks for listening today. I hope you have an amazing week. Happy training.