Manding

By default puppies will Mand by jumping up and pawing at us. While this is a natural and normal behavior amongst dogs, it isn't socially acceptable behavior with people. The first lesson we want to teach our puppies is that if they want something, they can ask for it (or Mand) by sitting. The puppy's realization that they can offer a behavior and get a response from humans, is a profound moment of understanding!

Scientifically this is known as making the puppy operant. For a puppy, this means that they see something they want, but learn that they can't just go straight for it - it must come from the owner and they must ask for it the right way.

A small puppy jumping on you might not be a big deal, but your opinion is likely to change once that puppy becomes at 70lb+ dog. Learning to Mand instead of jump on a person is a skill that will benefit everyone

Learning to Mand

We don't expect 4 week old* puppies to intuitively know what I want from them so we start our manding lessons by luring them into a sit position and rewarding them when they sit down. Our ultimate goal isn't to teach the sit command, but instead to teach the puppies to sit whenever they see a human - not jump on them. We will continue working on this daily until the puppies automatically sit!

*Golden Scholar Puppies do not begin learning to Mand until they are 8 weeks old

Manding in a group

Once puppies are successfully Manding on their own, we up the challenge by asking them to Mand with distractions in a group setting.

Manding

Learning to Mand

Manding in a group

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