nick&erica

it that just a perfect example of how hard it is to convey yourself through the net! lol You're forgiven

Firstly I never said sam is an inside dog...:)he lives outside as I have 2 small children and don't want to risk them "living" together just incase of that "one" time I looked away IFYKWIM. He lives in a secure 6 ft fenced yard and only has access to the back yard, introduction to the front yard a little later on. All my friends live hours away so we don't have much of a social life usually just me and my kids/furkid I didn't know my friend was coming it was a suprise and I was already down stairs 0at which 0point I went up told my friend and then restrained sam it was after my friend had came down and sam was calm I let them introduce but that is when he went nuts so I restrained him again untill he had fully calmed down. Funny thing is he 99% of the time sits to be greated, i've done this with him since day dot as soon as he learned the "sit" command he was not to be patted or fed or played with by anyone untill he sat so he does this automatically. The 1% where he doesn't is at the gate at the bottom of the stairs as soon as i've gone through the gate and made him sit/stay he starts calming down. He doesn't jump etc anyother time so i'm thinking him hearing me open the door upstairs is his excitement trigger as he knows i'm coming down. It is pretty hard going out and then back inside all the time if he jumps onto the gate as i've got a 2.5 yr old that doesn't understand why were going back inside again and starts getting very confused and cranky with me lol. I think maybe where I am going wrong is by looking at him and responding to him when he jumps i.e. saying "sam...down...down" I am giving him that attention he wants. I think i'm going to try putting my knee up so he's unable to touch my body, not looking at him and walking away and no attention at all untill he sits like he usually does any other time. Thank you oh yeah and then praise and treat

extending from my "jumping" thread my throat is getting sore from growling so much lol...I know it's only been one day but gosh I hope he clicks on quick lol... One of my friends came around this morning before she came down stairs I warned her what sam has been doing so I went down first and calmed him down. I let my friend come down stairs and sit down but as soon as I let him go he pegged it up to her and jumped up really excited!...so I "uh-uh" him called him back got him to sit/stay till he calmed again then he was fine! Gosh he's only 16 weeks so lets hope I can nip this in the bud. I was suggested that I knee him in the chest if he does this but would like other options and opinions also as i'm not too fond of inflicting punishment rather correction IFYKWIM. Anyone else got a sore throat?? lol

Hi before I start I just want to say that I did do a search, but with 2 babies and a pup don't really have the time to read 131! posts OMG! Plus I click on one that I think might help me, next thing I know 20 mins has gone i've got caught up and interested in the post and it didn't help me one bit lol... Anyhow...i've got a rottweiler sam he was born 24/10/06 so that would make him....about 16 weeks! Wow...i'll give you a little info on him incase you need it. His daily routine is as follows (I hope it's ok!) 6.30am 20 min walk (I am slowly introducing him to the neighbourhood has only been going for walks for a week) 7.am Nutro Choice then play till> 10am basic obedience training between 10.30 and 12 I stay upstairs and have some quality time with my boys 12ish He has a juicy bone or chicken wings between 12.30 and 5 he has another couple of basic obedience training, play etc it varies a bit between 12.30and 5 depending how cranky the kids are but I still do everything with him just might vary in time IFYKWIM. He also has things to keep him amused by himself. 6.00pm another 20 min walk 6.30-7pm nutro choice with raw meat. then lights out at 9pm and he's quiet/sleeps till 6am! Right now that's over! I can explain the situation! I'm not sure why dogs jump up but I have been trying to manage it as best I can to no avail. We have a child gate at the bottom of our stairs and when he hears the door open he stands up on it (puts his front paws on gate and stands on back legs) I always make him sit and stay before I open the gate (is starting to do this automatically now but I still tell him to) if he moves when I start opening it I close it again and he goes back into a sit position (is that ok?) now it usually only takes a couple of times for him to sit still long enough. The problem is the last 2 weeks he's started jumping up on me. He's a biiiiig dog not fat as he's on a VERY strict and limited diet, but you can tell he is going to be a tall, solid boy so needless to say even at 16 weeks he can nearly push me over when he leaps up, he doesn't mind but he would certainly be able to if he knew it! Please don't get the wrong impression he does not jump frantically, does not jump all over me it's more of a stand up so he can put his paws on me and say hi, but it's not me i'm worried about. I've got a 2.5 yr old son and would hate to see either get hurt by this. Luckily he has not done it to my son yet as I never leave them unsupervised, and in all honesty he has not tried. Sorry i'm a babbler! What I have been doing is as soon as he decides to jump up I put my hand flat against his face and say "down" he knows this command and goes down immedietly but as soon as I start walking again he jumps up again. I repeat myself I stop put my hand to his face and say "down" he goes down immedietly and it continues as that several times. After about the sixth time he's trots off to where he thinks i'm going and sits and waits. Now he has also started jumping when I have his food bowl in my hand...the situation does not appear to be getting "worse" but then no better either. Is there anything I am doing wrong with him is there a better way to nip it in the bud? This is also the same for mouthing. I don't believe in trying to STOP him from "mouthing" as I feel they need to learn how hard and/or soft to do it but I don't condone hard mouthing and I turn my back and or walk away from him if he does. He does not mouth hard more "fleas" but will he always do this? am I doing the right thing or should I be ignoring every time he puts his mouth on my hand whether he hurts or not? Sorry for the long post I don't ask for advice often so I thought it was my turn! Hope you have all the info you need!

Yep our sam is another one that's likes the rocks! We only have a small area that has chip-rock it really concerns me also but it doesn't seem to be bothering him, he has plenty of toys and has a pigs ears or juicy bone to chew on but still goes for the rocks after he's finished....dogs can be weird! He swollews some of them but they either go straight through or he chucks them up. It doesn't seem to bother him and he's been doing it for 2 months now so i'd just keep and vigilant eye on him...that's all you can do! :rolleyes:

lol wow looks like I went the long way about it! I should have posted on here when I had the problem instead of figuring it out for myself and giving myself heaps of work hahaha...

My pup does this also, he is 14 weeks and I have been putting the lead on him in the garden for the last couple as we're going to start venturing the streets soon (after it stops pouring down). So i'm getting him used to it. As soon as I put the lead on him it used to go straight into his mouth, we do not use a lead as any form of punishment as I don't believe that's the purpose of it JMO. It takes a little time and patience but all I done is this. Make him sit and stay so I could put the lead on saying "lead" as I bent down if he tried to grab it while putting it on i'd stand straight back up again as soon as he calmed I then repeated "stay" command bent down saying "lead" as soon as he let me put it on without mouthing it he get treat and praise! if he mouthed it was straight back to square one! Now as for walking as soon as we moved the lead would be right back in his mouth again! so for this as soon as he mouthed it i'd stop tell him to "drop it" this originally took a while as he was not trained in the "drop it" command but as soon as the lead left his mouth he was treated and praised again...it used to take a good 5-10 mins for him to drop the lead it is very frustrating and time consuming, but now when I put the lead on he doesn't touch it, he still has a little snap at the lead when we walk but as soon as I tell him to drop it he does immediately. Hope this helps...this is why I suggest you give a week or two practising in your yard before heading the streets just makes it a little easier and more enjoyable for the walk...though he will have distractions so that is another thing he will have to overcome

Well we've only had sam for 3 weeks so he's got a lot to learn my main concern is my 2.5 yr old son. When we walk down the stairs sam greats us at the bottom steps but before you can even think about getting off the steps he's running circles in and out of our legs lol I know this would be common place for a pup as he's all excited and wants to play. I'm just concerned that he may trip my son up as he tries to get down. Gosh I even find it hard sometimes to keep my balance. sam knows the commands sit and stay but because he's so hyped those commands don't even touch his ears lol, we're putting him in doggy training up here when he hits 16 weeks but that's another 4 weeks away i'm sure that will help the matter but what to do in the mean time? Is there anything other people have tried that has worked to keep him from bashing our legs as soon as we get to the bottom step?