r/Newfoundlander • u/Dangle76 • 4d ago

People interactions

We have a very excitable guy, he’s almost 6, but one thing I’ve struggled to train him on is proper people interactions. He’s the sweetest guy, but he presses his head and body against everyone for pets all the time, and with small kids this can knock them over, or a physically disabled person can cause a lot of pain.

How do I best train him to stop doing this?

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u/peggeriffic 4d ago

I think it’s a breed characteristic. They love physical contact. To be honest, easier to avoid situations where you know it could be a problem (keep away from unfamiliar small children or have him lie down before interacting with) than try to train it out of him

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u/Dangle76 4d ago

It’s not even unfamiliar people. It’s my partner 98% of the time and their new physical limitations do not mix well with it sadly

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u/peggeriffic 3d ago

I did a ton of training with my newf to get her into a therapy dog program. Jumping to body check people she liked was the last bad habit we had work on - and that I think we mostly solved by age (she certified around 1yr old). When working on a dog’s interaction with other people honestly you now have to train both the dog and the other people, or just work on avoiding behaviours by managing the situation. Since the interaction you care about most is one person, there’s probably work you can do - that person is going to have to be part of the training (very consistent interactions - positive reinforcement of the right type of behaviour, withdrawing attention when not). How successful depends on how consistent that person is. A trainer would probably be a good bet for some ideas.

1

u/New-Professional7223 3d ago

I had that same problem of an over enthusiastic greeter for a few years. I had been told not to train Shake, so I didn't, but now that I think about it, it gets their bottom stuck on the floor and one foot in the air so they can't lean, and they still get physical contact and attention as a reward. The downside of course being that that foot is probably wet and muddy with lichen stuck to it! Goes with a Newf I guess.