[Dusty the Dog]

Curious to know what you do with your dogs when you come home from work? Do you pet them? Do you give a pat and end it at that? Do you mush them with love and kisses?

Typically, Dusty greets me with tail waggin and happy face. Sometimes when i come home i just woke her up so she is sleepy and we sit on the couch and i pet her. I try to keep it mellow...not too much excitment.

I was told by a trainer that you should give your dog three important things in this order: Exercise/Disipline/Affection...........

I try to live by that, but sometime mix-up the D and A.....

 

[GSDGAL]

keep it in the trainers order, i was told the same thing, dogs needs balance and structure. i'm very mellow when i come home and ignore them for the first 5 minutes and then greet them, with a pat and a walk

 

[Keechak]

I typicaly ignore them and then let the outside. Then once they come in they get loved up and mushed

 

[lucyloo2]

I do what GSDGAL does Totally ignore her at first. Lucy used to get veeeeery crazy excited when we got home from work, so the trainer I was taking obedience from told me to do that. I come in take off my shoes, go put my purse away, etc...etc...and then if she's calm I greet her and give her some affection. She has calmed down sooo much from this!

 

[FourIsCompany]

I ignore the dogs for a few minutes when I come home. I don't ever do a formal greeting, I just start interacting with them after about 5 minutes.

I strongly believe inthe exercise discipline affection model.

 

[winniec777]

When my dog was a puppy she would get so excited when we came home that she would pee so we spent a lot of time working with her on low-key entrances. She's now at the point where it's a pretty mellow greeting, although we do have a ritual we go through.

When she hears the garage door open she knows someone is coming but is not sure who, so I boo at her as I'm opening the back door so that she knows it's me and not some stranger coming in the house. She boos back and when I hit the kitchen I put my things down and then get down to her level and say hello. Sometimes I invite her to jump on me; mostly she just wants to snake around me like a cat and make growly noises. It's very cute and one of the highlights of my day, esp. after a long drive home.

Have to admit I don't subscribe to the exercise/discipline/affection philosophy in terms of there being an appropriate order for them. She gets all three, but not in that order. She gets them when she needs them. When we see each other after a day apart, affection seems to be the first appropriate thing to offer. Then food, since she's usually been running around playing with 30 other dogs all day and is starving. Then play and sleep. If she does something she's not supposed to, I wouldn't call what I do discipline, although I guess that's just semantics. I redirect her to something else. I don't think it's the order of things that matters so much as the proper timing of them, e.g. disciplining a dog who peed on the rug an hour later isn't going to do any good. Withholding affection when your dog is excited to see you seems ill-timed to me, too, unless you're dealing with a particular problem like excitement peeing or SA.

 

[ownedbypups2010]

i guess i am the odd ball out with my pups, as soon as we get home we give them loves mushes and TONS of attention the FIRST thing when we get in the door they get love treats and so much more for the day.. then we let them out to play and get their energy out, then bring them in for cuddles and loves for the night

we do not beleive in the whole structure thing for a b c thing.. nope, they get what they need when they need

 

[sheltiemom]

I do pet my dogs and love them up right away...if they're super excited or rowdy I'll have them sit first, whichever is calmest gets petted first, then I let them out to potty. The only exception is sometimes the aussie...she's the most hyper dog I've ever seen, sometimes I have to let her out first because she's not being still enough to pet. I won't pet her if she's jumping up or nipping.

 

[Willowy]

From what I've seen, greeting a dog too enthusiastically can leaad to some serious separation issues. I just say "hey dogs" and let them out. Then the lovin' comes when I let them back in .

 

[ownedbypups2010]

mmm mine do not suffer from anything . and i have had them for 2 yrs now, i guess i treat my dogs more like family, they are my kids and are treated as such. i have stated this before and will contiue this. they know when we get ready to leave, and know we will come back.

we do not follow any real schedule and they are fine. now that is what works for me, not all people on here will agree, however some will.

 

[rosemaryninja]

I usually come in and say "hi girls" and go about putting things down, sorting out mail, etc. They know to wait on the side till I am done. When I'm ready for greetings I squat down on the ground; that is their cue to come over for pets and cuddles.

 

[Puppy_love_122]

Pretty much same as Keechak...

I go in, dump my stuff on the table and we go straight outside. When they're done with their business, they come up to greet and get lovin'

 

[Dogstar]

I actually ignore my guys until everyone is uncrated and out the front door. Then I sit on the front steps while they zoom, pee and poop, and love on them one at a time. Much less chaotic.

 

[Cheetah]

I actually ignore my guys until everyone is uncrated and out the front door. Then I sit on the front steps while they zoom, pee and poop, and love on them one at a time. Much less chaotic.

Same, except the front door is the back door lol.

 

[pattymac]

Considering I get home about 3:30 am we have a very quick short routine. She meets me at the door and we go out in the yard for a quick pee. I come out too just in case there's some sort of critter hanging around. Then back in the house, back in her bed with a handful of cookies. That's it short, sweet and no complaints. I check email, see what's exciting on a few forums and then I'm in bed.

 

[DogsforMe]

Tilba gets all smiley & waggy when I get home. She puts her paws & nose through the hand opening in the gate. I wait until she gets down b4 I open the gate. She then sits & I give her a pat for sitting nicely & she & Sooty run off down the back yard.

 

[Elana55]

Atka is in her crate so I make her wait for a release word.. then we move to the outside door and she has to wait again.. then it is out to pee. I don't interact with her until after she has pee'd. I do this partly to get her to hurry.. and you would think she would hurry after being crated all day.. but does she? Nooooo.. got to sniff and fuss and look at things first.. this is why I don't stress over her being in the crate days. She is in no big hurry to pee.

 

[FourIsCompany]

Have to admit I don't subscribe to the exercise/discipline/affection philosophy in terms of there being an appropriate order for them.

You know, I don't think it's meant that we give them in any particular order through the day. In other words, they don't get exercised at 6 in the morning, then come back for a little discipline, and then finally get loving at 8 AM. It's not like a chronological order through the day kind of thing.

I think it's meant to be order of importance. I think exercise is the most important need. It's number one in the "order". (To a couple of my dogs, their exercise IS affection.) The next most important thing is discipline (rules, etc). Then, their next most important need is affection.

I think it's meant that many people make affection the highest in order of importance, and neglect exercise and discipline. And that causes problems.

So, it's exercise, discipline and affection in that order of importance. That's how I do it, anyway and it works great.

 

[BoxMeIn21]

I actually ignore my guys until everyone is uncrated and out the front door. Then I sit on the front steps while they zoom, pee and poop, and love on them one at a time. Much less chaotic.

Same here.

 

[ioreks_mom]

iorek is in his kennel when we come home so first thing i do is always say hello to all the animals, usually a "hi guys!". then, if i have my hands full i will put the stuff out in the kitchen before i go back to the bedroom to open the kennel. iorek waits patiently until i open the door. then he gets silly and slinky and gets cuddles and then he goes out the door for a pee. we don't make a huge deal, but i do give him cuddles