March 2025 - 2 Minute Trainer

Greetings Game: Statue and Fuss

We call the Greetings Game “Statue and Fuss.” That describes the people’s assignment, not the dog’s. It’s up to the humans to demonstrate what happens when the dog jumps (Statue) vs. sits (Fuss).

The vast majority of dogs are happy to see you. They love meeting people. Dogs will offer an enthusiastic welcome even if you’ve only been gone two minutes. Exuberant dogs reach a level of excitement that has them, literally, bouncing off the walls, the floor, the furniture, and you.

Most people don’t really like dogs jumping on them. They’ll tell you it’s okay, but you know it’s really not. The problem is getting your dog to clue in on that, too.

Imposing polite

One of the reasons this behavior is hard to extinguish is that you may not get a lot of cooperation from other people. When they’re puppies, dogs are incredibly cute, small, and fairly harmless. People like having little puppies say hello to them. Most people will even override your wishes, insisting “It’s okay. I want to say hi!”

Enforcing your training protocols when other people are around takes a lot of fortitude and a willingness to seem rude. If people ask “May I pet your puppy?” (most won’t bother to ask) and you say “Not if he’s jumping on you,” most people will stampede right over what you say and reach for your bouncing, wiggling, adorable dog. Don’t let them.

That’s easier said than done. But every violation of the protocol you set means a step back in training. That’s one of the reasons teaching polite greetings takes time.

Statue and Fuss

The Greetings Game requires that you set it up with a trusted person. Don’t play the game in public before your dog has a pretty thorough understanding. It’ll just be frustrating for both of you.

Depending on how nutsy crazy your dog is to meet people, you have a couple of options for the setup.

If your dog is a wildly excited jumping fool, don’t start with a doorbell and someone coming into the house. Have your dog on collar and leash and have your helper come into the room and walk up to you and your dog. Instruct the person not to look at the dog, pet the dog, or interact with the dog in any way.

When the person comes over to you, do not tell your dog to sit. The dog has to learn to make a good decision. Don’t make it for them. They have to find out on their own what will get them what they want.

If the dog is jumping and being generally manic, your helper person should stand there, arms folded, staring at the wall behind you or the ceiling. When the dog sits, or at least has four paws on the ground, the helper should immediately fuss over the dog, pet the dog, and talk to the dog. And be ready to instantly stop if the dog jumps. In mid-word, if necessary, revert to “statue” mode. Stop, fold arms, stare at ceiling.

The alternating statue/fuss will demonstrate to the dog what they need to do to get what they want. Dogs get what they want (attention) when we get what we want (manners).

Not quite so nutsy

If your dog is exuberant but not over-the-top, you can play the same game of Statue and Fuss, but start with someone entering the house, not just the room. When your dog starts remembering to sit when someone comes in, you can add the next level of thrill – the doorbell.

There will, inevitably, be incidents where the person slips up and fusses over the dog when they should be a statue. It’s hard to resist giving attention to a being that so clearly adores you. That’s why it takes a while to build the habit of polite greetings.

When you embark on teaching your dog polite greetings, be sure that everyone in the house is in on it. If you’re trying to teach your dog to make good decisions and your partner is dragging the dog off people, it’s not going to work. Everyone has to be willing to play Statue and Fuss. Do everyone a favor and make sure your dog’s nails are short and smooth before you start. Statues take a bit of a mauling when you start playing the game.

Let your dog look

Ever heard the quote from Robert Heinlein’s Lazarus Long “Never attempt to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and annoys the pig.” ? There’s a lot of wisdom in choosing to fight only the battles you have a chance of winning. You can’t start playing training games, or do any kind of training, unless you have your dog’s attention. And you’ll never get their focus on you if you expect them to laser-focus on you and ignore other dogs, people, treats, etc. Do yourself a favor. Stop fighting a losing battle. Let your dog look.

Face the distraction

One of the most futile things everyone does in training class is try to turn their dogs away from whatever’s attracting their attention. It’s not going to work. It’s just going to divide your dog’s attention – they know they should be listening to you. But there’s a dog over there! Or a person walking! Or a Squirrel!

Dogs are hard-wired to notice motion. That’s a common trait among all predators. It’s not something you can change, nor should you. Instead of trying to fight your dog’s instinct, work with it. Don’t try to get your dog to ignore the distraction. Let them face it. You move between the dog and the distractor. Let them watch. Don’t let them get closer. You don’t let them check it out. Just let them look.

At some point they’ll look back at you. That’s when you pounce! Give them a treat, a toy, a big, fat, juicy reward for focusing on you. That’s when it’s your job to be more interesting than anything else around.

Isn’t that letting the dog win?

It’s not a contest. You and your dog are a team. Neither of you is trying to beat the other. In this case, you may have to concede, for a minute or two, that your dog finds watching whatever it is more rewarding than paying attention to you. So you let that distraction become familiar.

An old saw says “Familiarity breeds contempt.” That’s what we’re going for. When your dog comes to the realization that playing with you is more fun, interesting, and rewarding than staring at the dog across the room, that’s when you both win. You want your dog to become familiar with the world around them. Then they can successfully ignore it and focus on you.

A pivotal decision

The first meeting of a new dog training class is always loud and a bit chaotic. That’s because everything is new and different to every one of the dogs. By the next class, and certainly by the third, the dogs are accustomed to the routine and calm prevails.

When your dog is obsessing over something over there, it can be frustrating. You know there’s nothing interesting. But there’s no way to explain that to your dog. This is one of those times when you muster your strength for the hardest part of dog training – waiting. You don’t repeat things your dog isn’t listening to. You don’t wave a cookie in their face. Initially, you don’t do anything but wait.

Your stillness may prove more interesting to your dog than all the gyrations you’ve tried before. Because you’ve never done nothing to attract your dog’s attention. You’ve tried everything else, now it’s time to do something that might actually work.

Let your dog look, and then look back at you

Your dog may think you’re broken, because the pattern they’re used to isn’t there. When they finally do check in with you, praise and reward lavishly. Your dog will think it’s a pretty good deal if all they have to do is look at you to get a jackpot. Next time you wait for your dog’s attention will be shorter. In time, the distractions will get a glance and you’ll get the dog’s attention.

Play the hard training games

Remember when you were in school and there were classes you loved, classes that were okay, and those you loathed? Your dog’s version of school is playing training games with you. There are some games they love. And others that they have a hard time with. If you want your dog to live up to their full potential, you have to play the hard training games.

Fortunately, even if you play the tough ones every day, it’s only a couple minutes at a time. The agony will soon be over. And one day, probably sooner than you’d expect, it will suddenly click for your dog and that impossible game becomes a favorite. That’s the way it happens.

Dark, dark, dark, dark. Light Bulb!

A great example is Hope’s French Bulldog Torque learning the “Send Away Sit” (#306) sign in Rally. When you come to the sign, you and your dog stop. The dog sits. Then you tell your dog to go to a pylon or cone which is about six feet away (the Send Away part). You tell your dog to “Sit!”

For the longest time, Torque didn’t understand it at all. Hope tried everything: a target near the pylon, a mat, throwing a treat or a toy. Torque just was not getting it. He wouldn’t go far enough, or too far. He wouldn’t sit, or moved away to sit.

It’s not like Hope pounded away at it. She’d try for a couple minutes about every other week or so. While each little session was a bit frustrating, the failure wasn’t allowed to color all of their training games. Then, after a few months of occasionally trying, it clicked. Now Torque gets it perfectly every time. It took a while, but once it did, it stuck like glue.

If it matters, keep trying

Not everybody has competition goals. Mastering a particular Rally skill may not be on your radar. That’s okay. There are everyday behaviors that are difficult for dogs, yet vital for everyday life. Jumping on people is a good example. If your dog’s idea of saying “Hi! I love you!” is to jump on someone, that’s a problem. If they’ve been doing it for a while, it may take a while to fix. But it’s worth it. Polite greetings require dogs to think, to suppress their impulses, to make good choices.

Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s not worth doing. When you were a child, was it easy to learn how to ride a bicycle? Or tie your shoelaces? Did your friends or siblings have an easier time than you did? There were also things that you understood faster and more easily than they did.

Lean into the hard stuff

It’s unfortunately an absolute truth that the training games your dog understands least are the most important ones to play. This week we introduced the impulse-control game “Whatcha Gonna Do?” in our puppy class. One of the puppies got it in no time. It was almost like he’d been waiting for a chance to shine. Another puppy, who had far exceeded the first in every other game, had a terrible time. During class he showed no sign of understanding at all. And that’s the game we recommend his people play the most.

Almost all of the training games are designed to teach your dog skills that make your life together easier, happier, and more fun. Playing some of them may seem pointless when your dog just isn’t catching on. Dog training isn’t a steady upward climb. There are dips and angles, triumphs and failures. Overall, the trajectory is upwards. The training game your dog finds impossible now will be puppy’s play in a few weeks.

Keeping your sessions fast, fun, and short means there’s always another chance to have fun with your dog. If you play three training games a day (just about 15 minutes), there will be a major difference in your dog’s behavior and understanding in just a couple weeks. Prove it to yourself. Take video of a session with a difficult training game today. Play that game a couple times a week for a month. After that month, take another video and compare. The evidence of progress will be right before your eyes.

Teach a release word

Many people neglect to teach a release word to their dogs. If you don’t, how does your dog know it’s time to stop what they’re doing?

All good stories have three parts; a beginning, a middle, and an end. Dog behaviors or tricks are the same. Each should have the same three parts. Most people do fine teaching the beginning. They understand that a good set-up and focus is crucial.

The middle is sometimes trickier. Rather than teaching the dog to keep doing what it’s doing, they’ll constantly repeat the command. “SitSitSit.” And when they stop saying it, the dog thinks it’s done.

Rarely do we encounter people who emphasize the end, the Release Word. It’s the clearest way to signal that it’s time to move on.

Stop and Go

It doesn’t really matter what word you choose for a Release Word. Many people use “Free” or “Okay” or “Go.” We tend to recommend a word your dog doesn’t hear constantly (like okay). Trainers debate about this all the time. Some are convinced their dogs can discriminate between a command and normal conversation. Others think using a common word is a mistake. You should use a word you can remember and all family members will use.

Release words are most often used in conjunction with the “Stay!” After all, for every “stop” there should be a “go.” If you don’t teach your dog when it’s okay to stop staying, they’ll decide for themselves and the “Stay!” loses meaning.

Steps for teaching the Release Word

Start with the “Stay!” Get your dog to sit, either in front of you or at your side. Holding a treat, bring your hand up to your ear and slowly lower it toward your dog. If your dog moves any paw or their butt, bring the treat back up quickly. They are allowed to move their head or tail only.

If your dog doesn’t move, when your hand is lowered to your dog’s level, give them the treat. Repeat this about three or four times.

Here’s where the Release Word comes in. Don’t move – use exactly the same motion and posture you had for the “Stay!” part. This time, stop your hand’s downward motion slightly above your dog’s head. You want your dog to have to move to get the treat.

When your motion stops, say your dog’s Release Word and wait for them to hop up to get the treat. Don’t move and don’t repeat. Just wait for your dog to move on their own. If you want your dog to understand what a Release Word means, you have to let them figure it out. When they hear “Free!” It means they can move.

It takes patience

The Release Word is pretty easy for most dogs to understand. The hard part is pairing it with other behaviors. You can also use it for “Place!” And it makes a good ending for any other training game, like Puppy Push-ups, or Perch Work.

You don’t always need to use a Release Word. In the “Recall” exercise, you leave your dog in a “Stay!” and walk away. When you get to the other side of the ring, you call your dog to you. In this case, the new command (Come) tells your dog it’s time to do something else and you don’t need to double up with the Release Word.

Whenever you play training games with your dog, think about the beginning, middle, and end. It’s a story you and your dog will enjoy.