How to get your dog to behave on Thanksgiving

Grandma has just arrived, all the dishes are set to come out of the oven, and the turkey is resting.

Things are all going according to your masterful plan until someone lets in the dogs! Before you know it, one is after the turkey while the other has already knocked grandma over. This is not the Thanksgiving you had hoped for.

Jumping up and food thievery are the top two issues dog owners face on Thanksgiving. It may sound impossible to manage your dog’s behaviors while also hosting the most important family meal of the year, but with the right plan and approach, it is possible. This year, give your dogs a chance to enjoy Thanksgiving; they are a part of the family after all.

Just like planning the perfect Thanksgiving meal, having well-behaved dogs will take some planning and preparation ahead of time. Our positive reinforcement dog trainers say to have the perfect dog on Thanksgiving you need to follow these five steps

Start correcting the jumping today! As humans, we tend to respond to jumping with “No” or “Off.” However, dogs struggle to understand the absence of something clearly. They do much better when we provide a replacement behavior. Your dog needs a way to greet people and for people to recognize that is what your dog is doing. Responding to jumping with a “Sit” command is the best way to teach you dog how to greet people and get recognized for it. Another issue with “off” is that its just a standing position, so when the dog runs up initially the energy level is high, they stand for a moment, like “hey I’m off,” and then they revert right back to jumping when it doesn’t work out the way they hoped.

Giving them a sit command to focus on is going to calm your dogs energy and is more likely to catch positive attention from people coming in the door. It's a heck of a lot more approachable than a dog running up right under your feet the first thing you walk in.

Read the article: https://alaskadogworks.com/how-to-get-your-dog-to-behave-on-thanksgiving/