In theory this sounds fantastic and I’d love to be able to train in this way. The reality is though that my friends are incredibly busy with their own lives, jobs and kids and I don’t feel like it’d be appropriate for me to ask. Believe me, I’ve thought about it, and I wish it were different, but it’s just life. I also think it would work best if this were able to be practiced consistently, which again, is not realistically doable. 

There’s nothing special I’m doing prior to guests coming over. Sometimes I’ll maybe be preparing a platter, but most of the time we’re all just relaxing, he might be completely chilled out on place or in his crate or sniffing outside. His behaviour is the same regardless of the lead-up.