Jumping Dogs! Its Not So Cute When There Grown.
Posted: Thursday, January 28, 2010
by DAREN WARD
dogshrink
Dear K9 Solutions,
I am sure this is a super common issue but how do I prevent my dog from jumping up on people? I have a 2 year old male black lab with a lot of energy. He seems to do fine around the immediate family but around children or guests that we may have he seems to get sort of close in their personal space and starts jumping up on them. Do you have any tips for us so that we can ensure our visitors are not bombarded by our dog when they come to see us? It can be quite embarrassing and distracting.
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Hi S, Firstly thank you for your question, yours is a common problem with young dogs. Sometimes very young puppies are encouraged to jump up at people to say hello, when they are that small its fine, but dogs do not change the way they think about that when they are much bigger or full of mud!
The reason behind the behaviour is in most cases excitement fuelling a natural canine greeting,licking faces is a doggie greeting, as we are higher up they attempt to get to our faces.
The easiest method is to train an incompatable behaviour, if the dogs bottom is on the ground it is harder for him to jump, so teach a sit.
If he already knows this, but is not a strong behaviour, go back and practice sitting for reward (nice tasty titbits). When you feel this is strongly followed, set up a few incidences where you have treats at the ready by the door, a person enters, doggie on lead and he has to sit immediately upon them entering, when he does it he gets a treat from the visitor (just pop it on the floor in front of him).
No interaction from the person until he has sat, if he gets up, he is removed away via the lead. It is important that you use a lead or houseline for this, and he must not be allowed to jump up, catch him before he gets the front paws on the person, for best results stay a short distance away so he can't physically get his paws upon them.
Practice makes perfect, if he begins to become excitable, then gently remove him away from the environment, no punishment or telling off is needed. He will learn he has to BEHAVE when meeting strangers, he wants to interact, that is why he is excited, if he misbehaves then he loses the interaction.
A concentrated effort upon your part will instill in your dog everytime someone new arrives, all four paws are to remain on the floor. This is not a miracle cure, effort is needed, there are no miracle cures just different ways of training, the super trained obedience champions get to their level via constant practice of well established methods, put some practice in and the rewards are there for you to reep!
Good luck,
K9 Solutions
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