# Teaching Ceylon good manners



## heatherk (Feb 24, 2011)

I have a confession to make. The one behavioral issue that I don't like about my Ceylon is how crazy excited he gets whenever there are new people or dogs around. And by that, I mean, he goes absolutely NUTS. Like, bonkers insane. But, I have only half-heartedly been trying to work on that - a part of me has been so focused on socialization that I have been actually glad that he is glad to meet other people and dogs, and then also, he is so small that when he goes bonkers, it is annoying at best and not really (I thought) that much of an issue.

Then I watched an episode of Dog Whisperer where Cesar was working with a tiny dog who went nuts around other dogs at the dog park, and he pointed out that just because the dog was small and fluffy and therefore seemed "cute" when charging other dogs or people, that it was in fact very rude behavior and would not be tolerated by a bigger dog by the humans around - it was only because the dog was so small and fluffy that they tolerated it, but that really wasn't fair - not to the other dogs, or the little dog himself. I don't take much stock in most of what Cesar says about dog psychology in general, but he does have a knack for pointing some things out that just make sense, and I realized that I have in fact been doing Ceylon a disfavor by allowing him to get so super excited around people and dogs.

So today when my daughter brought her friend home and they knocked on the door, when Cey went to go crazy barking and jumping at the door ready to jump all over whoever came in, instead of picking him up (with him struggling and almost wriggling out of my arms the entire time) as I usually do I instead made him back off before I opened the door. Not by trying to pin him down or trying to show him that I was 'alpha' or anything like that, I just made it clear to him that he had to back off and didn't open the door until he did. Then, I wouldn't let him greet my daughter's friend until he was calm (again, not by trying to alpha or anything, just by letting him know that what he was trying to do, i.e., jump all over her, was not ok). By the time he was calm enough that I asked the friend to say hi to him, he was SO nice and calm and gentle, he was like the Ceylon that I know and love at home! He definitely said hi to her and licked her and took a petting from her, but he did NOT go crazy and jump all over her! It was incredible - even my daughter was amazed!

Granted, Cey is SUCH an easy dog - I wouldn't even know where to begin with a dog that had any sort of real behavioral issues. Ceylon absolutely HATES being admonished, even just slightly, and is so eager to please, so a simple 'hey!' and finger pointing from me was enough most of the time to get him to back off (though a couple of times I had to physically stop him from approaching her). The hardest part was keeping it up when he kept trying to go jump on her - I have to admit, I felt a bit like a tyrant, or like I was doing the 'alpha dog' or 'be dominant over your dog' bit, which I vehemently do not agree with. And I think that was why I never did this before with him, which is _why _he gets so hyper-excited around new people and dogs. But now I think I really am realizing that teaching your dog good manners and giving them limits does not mean you are trying to be Cesar Millan lol. And Cesar _is_ right in one thing - a dog, like a child, needs limits and boundaries. I've just had such an easy time with Cey in every other aspect... -Not that I didn't have to work, and work hard, on potty training or recall training or getting him used to grooming, etc. with him, because I did - but this, for some reason, was different, and was so much harder for me for to even realize that it needed to be done.

It's just the first step, I know - to get him to be constantly relatively calm around new people and dogs will take a lot more work. But it was a big step for me, and he did so incredibly well, so I just had to share


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Hi Heather. What you need to work on is generally called impulse control . Here is a bit on it. http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/Impulsecontrol.html also follow the links .


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## heatherk (Feb 24, 2011)

Hi Dave, thanks for the article. Sounds a lot like Ceylon when he gets super excited, and that is the part I know I need to address. 

The hard part for me is, Cey is SUCH an amazing dog the rest of the time. He's never aggressive or fearful, and has never bitten anybody or snapped or even growled at them. No food or resource guarding issues. He loves everybody, and everybody he's met loves him. He lets me bathe him them groom him out for hours. He listens to me, is easy to train, loves to snuggle, goes with us in the car (and doesn't try to jump out of the car door until we tell him to), walks nicely on a leash, stops when I tell him 'NO', and so on. Like I said, some of that took patience and training, but, it was a different kind of training. So, 90 - 95% of the time, he *is* calm and *does* has impulse control (we've also been doing the 'its your choice' training with him since we got him, and he does really well with that), and he really is the perfect dog, behavior-wise. Except when he gets around new people and new dogs... and then, he loses it. Sigh.

I read the article and some, but not all of it (I do exercise Cey and feed him a high-quality diet, I think) applies to us, and, the parts that do apply to us really hit home. I will also follow the links and see what they have to say.

Thanks again


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## Ruthi (Nov 10, 2011)

I have that issue with Gabby. She is the perfect dog, except bouncing off the walls when someone new comes in.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

heatherk said:


> Hi Dave, thanks for the article. Sounds a lot like Ceylon when he gets super excited, and that is the part I know I need to address.
> 
> The hard part for me is, Cey is SUCH an amazing dog the rest of the time. He's never aggressive or fearful, and has never bitten anybody or snapped or even growled at them. No food or resource guarding issues. He loves everybody, and everybody he's met loves him. He lets me bathe him them groom him out for hours. He listens to me, is easy to train, loves to snuggle, goes with us in the car (and doesn't try to jump out of the car door until we tell him to), walks nicely on a leash, stops when I tell him 'NO', and so on. Like I said, some of that took patience and training, but, it was a different kind of training. So, 90 - 95% of the time, he *is* calm and *does* has impulse control (we've also been doing the 'its your choice' training with him since we got him, and he does really well with that), and he really is the perfect dog, behavior-wise. Except when he gets around new people and new dogs... and then, he loses it. Sigh.
> 
> ...


Congratulations on how wonderful he's turning out. It does take work , and it sounds like you're doing an outstanding job. Keep reading , there's lots of good stuff on how to work on this. Make sure the people you introduce him to are low key when greeting too. Koodos.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Ruthi said:


> I have that issue with Gabby. She is the perfect dog, except bouncing off the walls when someone new comes in.


good for Gabby, of course anyone or any dog named Gabby has to be good. LOL


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

This post rings true for me too. Atticus is really good in most ways. He's 10 months and I'm really proud/pleased with his behavior. However he LOVES everyone who comes by. I worked hard at socialization as we have lots of caretakers,visiting nurses,friends and family coming by(my partner is ill). Anyway he is so darn cute most people say "oh it's ok" as he jumps all over them and pops in their laps. However THE TIME HAS COME! I have started putting him on a leash when any one comes and treating him for sitting. I have realized that he just can't sit to be petted at their feet yet,even with food. This has to happen far away from them. I'm focusing on just having him be calm when people are in the house.YIKES! Keep me posted with how you are doing! Jody


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## heatherk (Feb 24, 2011)

Ruthi said:


> I have that issue with Gabby. She is the perfect dog, except bouncing off the walls when someone new comes in.





Atticus said:


> This post rings true for me too. Atticus is really good in most ways. He's 10 months and I'm really proud/pleased with his behavior. However he LOVES everyone who comes by. I worked hard at socialization as we have lots of caretakers,visiting nurses,friends and family coming by(my partner is ill). Anyway he is so darn cute most people say "oh it's ok" as he jumps all over them and pops in their laps. However THE TIME HAS COME! I have started putting him on a leash when any one comes and treating him for sitting. I have realized that he just can't sit to be petted at their feet yet,even with food. This has to happen far away from them. I'm focusing on just having him be calm when people are in the house.YIKES! Keep me posted with how you are doing! Jody


I know how both of you feel! For me, the hardest part was _realizing _that I really shouldn't allow him to be all excited and jump all over new people and dogs, *because *I worked so hard to socialize him (--so therefore I was still somewhat glad that he was glad to see people and dogs, and was unwilling to recognize his over-excited behavior as something that had to be corrected).

Since realizing that correcting his over-excited behavior doesn't mean that I want him to be anti-social and that neither does it affect any of the work that I did to socialize him however, I have successfully stopped him from 'attacking' (with affection and excitement) *everybody* that came into the house or knocked on the door (mailman, etc.) literally every single time since I wrote the first post on this thread, and I have to say, it is really wonderful. At first, it took a minute or so to get him to back off when the knocks came at the door. Now, just a few times later, all I have to say is 'Back off Cey!' and wow, he does. And even if the person comes into the house after that, he is so much calmer around them than ever before... wow.

I haven't yet tested this out in public since the opportunity just hasn't come up yet, but, I am looking forward to having the same calm guy I am used to at home when out and about, with some training from me, especially now that I know that he actually *can* do it, and, so can I


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## heatherk (Feb 24, 2011)

davetgabby said:


> good for Gabby, of course anyone or any dog named Gabby has to be good. LOL


p.s. haha Dave


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

You know that just changing your manner with dealing with your dog denotes you as the alpha. It is all in attitude. And you are correct to not let him jump on other people. Some people are scared of any dog, even little ones. One of my nurses wouldn't come into my house until we put Rosie in another room. Years ago, I had a little schnauzer in my office and a customers little girl went over to pet her and got bitten. Luckily it didn't break the skin and the father admonished the child for bothering the dog. At that time, I knew that the dog was to be trained to get in her basket under my desk every time a customer came in. She did and I never had another problem with her, although she would let us know when someone came into the building, but never got out of her basket.


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## Atticus (May 17, 2011)

Yes tho most of my friends are dog people some of our medical people are not and they have a job to do here so Atticus's antics are not appreciated. He is pretty smart tho and beginning to get it. If I can't be training ,I put him on a leash by his bed with a treat and he is good. If he goes in the crate he just barks. We are training each other!


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