Emma’s Principles to Live By

By Emma the Advice Dog

From time to time Sue and I tweet on Twitter about things that people can learn from their dogs. I thought that it would be a good idea to put them all together; to give you an idea of the principles that I, and many other dogs, live by. I think that humans don’t have a clue about valuing the things that are important in life. By following my principles, you’ll learn about valuing those things that are truly important. Sue thinks that a list like this may have been written before. I assure you that I am not trying to steal anyone’s material.

Remember What’s Important

First of all, your loved ones are extremely important. You should let them know this often. When you’ve been separated from them, and you come back together; enthusiastically let them know how happy you are to see them. When you are together, hang out with them, give them kisses, and let them give you massages.

Of course, food is important, so eat with gusto, even if you find that you are eating the same food over and over. Always take new foods when they are offered to you. If they taste funny, try to eat them, anyway.

If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Enthusiasm

I find it strange that people will do things reluctantly, or slowly. As far as I’m concerned, anything that you feel is important enough to do should be done with enthusiasm and much energy. Go ahead, have fun with whatever you’re doing, even if you have done it many times, and think its just the same old thing. It’s never really the same.

Sleep is important, so take lots of naps. Play is important. Play as often as you can. Play is even more fun when shared, so always invite others to play with you, even cats. Even if someone in your house has never played with you before, keep inviting her/him to play. Maybe one day s/he’ll join in. If no one will play with you, play anyway.

Never Pass Up an Opportunity to Make a New Friend

Making new friends is important. Everyone you come into contact with is a potential friend. Let each being that you approach, or that approaches you, know that you’d be happy to meet them. If they show any interest in you, invite them to play. Play is a great way to make friends. Let cats know that you want to be their friend. If they hiss at you, keep trying. If they swipe at you, bark at them.

What’s Not Important

Now, Sue disagrees with me about putting in this last part. She says it’s not really a principle that humans are going to want to learn. But, I think that it’s important to say, and I know that many dogs will thank me for saying it. Baths are not important. They are evil. If someone tries to bathe you, resist it as enthusiastically as you would do anything that you like doing. If resistance doesn’t work, then act pathetic, so that the person who is bathing you will feel really bad about it. Humans, get this, cleaning is what tongues are for, so stop with the bathing already.

So, there you have it, my principles to live by. I hope you found it useful! Until next time, Emma.

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I’m often asked about stopping dogs from jumping on people. Before answering this, let’s look at why dogs jump. Dogs were once wolves. Wolf puppies jump up and lick around the mouths of adults wolves in greeting after a hunt. This causes the adults to regurgitate food for the puppies to eat. So, when a dog jumps up in greeting, it’s being a submissive puppy asking for resources (usually attention).

There are many “surefire” techniques for stopping jumping out there: “step on its paws,” “knee it in the chest, “grab its front feet when they’re off the ground,” “teach it the command ‘off.’” All of these have worked with some dogs, but none works with all dogs..

Let’s start with stepping on the paws. You can’t step on the front paws if they’re off the ground, and stepping on them after it jumps is ineffective, because your dog will associate it with coming down from the jump, not with jumping up. Stepping on them before the dog jumps just creates a weird game. And you’d have to be extremely agile to step on the back paws while the front paws are off the ground.

Then there’s the ever popular “knee it in the chest.” This can be effective if you catch the dog in the chest as it’s coming up, and knock it backwards. If the experience is unpleasant enough, your dog won’t want to jump on you anymore. However, that doesn’t mean that it won’t jump on someone else. And, the real problem with kneeing a dog in the chest is that most people just lift up their knees to block their dogs’ jumps. Unless you’re really conscious of how you’re lifting your knee, your back will bend a little backwards when you lift your knee, pulling your head back. Dogs can interpret that bending backwards as an invitation to come closer, or worse, as submission. This is not what you want to communicate to your dog when it’s jumping.

Grabbing a dog’s front paws when it jumps could be effective if the dog has an aversion to having its paws held onto, or if you can hold the paws long enough to make the dog uncomfortable. However, it requires really good timing, and everyone who meets the dog initially has got to be willing to do it with good timing. Then again, your dog may see the paw grabbing as your way of giving it the attention that is seeking when jumping. Oops!

And then there’s the “off” command. You tell your dog “off” when it jumps. When it gets off, you reward it. The problem is that to get “off,” the dog must first get “on,” ao your dog has to jump in order to get the command. You could use the “off” command before the dog jumps, and reward it if it doesn’t jump. However, this a non-specific command. You are telling the dog,” Do anything but jump.” This is a hard concept to teach.

The answer to jumping lies in its purpose. Your dog wants attention, so teach it something specific to do to get your attention. I like to teach “sit” for this purpose. A dog can’t sit and jump at the same time. When your dog wants to greet you, say “Sit” before it jumps. If the dog sits, greet it. Let it know that sitting will get it attention. Then, make your dog sit before you give it any attention. And, any time your dog is approaching a person, have your dog sit, and let the person to give it attention.

So, what if your dog jumps when you say “Sit,” or your dog jumps up while you’re petting it. Then, withdraw your attention; even turn your back on it. If the dog keeps jumping, walk into it while not giving it attention. If it’s jumping on your back, walk backwards into it. Pretend the phone is ringing across the room, and you know it’s an urgent call. Nothing is going to stop you from getting to that phone. You may knock the dog backwards with your knee, or step on its paws, as you walk, but your dog is not going to be confused by your body language. Don’t look at the dog, or talk to it other than to repeat the command “Sit.” Be consistent, and soon you’ll see your dog sitting without being told whenever it comes to greet you.

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“Nothing for free,” or “make your dog earn everything,” you may have heard these phrases before. What do they mean? It’s simple really, you have to earn your paycheck, make your dog earn hers/his.

What is your dog’s “paycheck?” It’s everything that your dog values; food, attention, play, walks, access to toys, the right to get on the couch, treats, whatever. How do you make it earn these? Through giving it commands to obey, of course.

Giving your dogs commands could mean a formal training session, obviously. But, it could be as simple as having your dog sit every time that you want to give it attention. I highly recommend a reliable “sit” command. I’m not talking about your dog sitting because you’re holding a treat in your hand. Nor am I talking about your dog sitting after you have repeatedly told it to. I’m talking about a sit that happens immediately after you say the command, and that eventually happens without a command any time your dog anticipates something from you. For instance, if your dog knows it has to sit to receive your attention, it has no reason to jump in greeting. In fact, it’s hard to sit and jump at the same time. If your dog knows that it has to sit in order for you to open the front door before a walk, it won’t bolt out of the door ahead of you. If it knows that you won’t throw the ball until it sits, it will sit to keep the game of fetch going. And the bonus in all these cases, is that you are showing your dog that you’re in charge the easy way.

One of the ways that I use “sit” is to help remind my dog that food comes from me. Since food is an important resource to all living things, it is understood among social animals that s/he that controls the food, controls everything. So, my dog Emma knows that she has to sit when she sees me handling food. If the food is for her, she has to stay sitting throughout the preparation process, and while the food is being placed in front of her. In fact, she has to continue to sit until I release her from her “stay.” If she gets up without permission, the food is removed from her reach until she returns to staying. She understands that I will make sure that she gets the food that she needs, but that it will be on my terms. I am in control of the resource known as “food.”

You don’t have to limit yourself to using “sit” for everything. There are countless ways of getting your dog to earn things. Your dog can earn treats or toys by giving a paw on command or “speaking” on command. It can earn them by pretending to die when you pretend to shoot it. It can earn more play by bringing a ball back to you, and giving it to you. Be creative, and have fun with it. Your dog will, too.

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