New Puppy Jumping

[littlelabrador]

Hi, we have an 8 wk old labrador, Molly. We only picked her up yesterday. She does a LOT of jumping up, and im not sure how to discipline this. I have just been saying 'no jumping' in a lower tone voice, i know it will take her quite some time to learn it. Is it normal for them to jump up frequently ? We have a 5 yr old child for whom we bought Molly. She is a little unsure of the puppy, and tends to run, puppy chases, jumps, you get the picture. Thanks for any advice.

[Cazz]

'no jumping' is really too long-winded a reply, you want one syllable commands really. 'DOWN' was growled at my boy by me and the jumpee a few times, then he learned that his jumping displeased me.

Try to put Molly on leash when she's near the child, for every time she jumps, put Molly in solitary confinement for a few minutes. The short leash is used to stop the chasing, put Molly in solitary instantly, if you wait, she won't understand.

That worked for me!

[The Spotted Devil]

With a young child around I'd be nipping this in the bud quick smart as puppies just don't know their own strength. I would start by practising without your child present - when puppy jumps up, stand up straight, cross your arms and IGNORE the unwanted behaviour - with a persistent puppy, even saying "No" or "Down" is better than no attention at all and you unintentionally reinforce the behaviour. The very second that puppy has 4 paws on the ground, calmly reward her with praise, pat or a tiny treat (whatever motivates her best). When she has mastered this, you can progress to giving no attention until puppy volunteers a "sit". Then have puppy on lead and introduce your child into the situation.....you must also educate your child - no running, no screaming, no waving hands around - you cannot expect puppy not to respond to these stimuli initially. It may be a case of 2 steps forward, one step back - you must be consistent and persistent - set the rules from day one and be firm but fair.

Needless to say, please never ever leave puppy and child together unsupervised and ensure puppy has a quiet place (such as a crate) to retreat to when she is tired. And let her eat in peace!!!

[JeffnCel]

We also bought our puppy as a "family dog" especially with our 6 year old, she really wanted a dog, and of course we chose a large breed. After we saw how big Buffy was when she jumped up on our 6 year old, we made the decision to never have Buffy without a leash on when she's around our daughter. Kids are just too fragile, and a big boofy puppy that's only playing could cause a little too much damage for my liking. We used the "NO" and crossed our arms in front of us, and this has kind of stopped Buffy. She used to jump on our screen doors and windows, and just by saying "NO" really firmly and walking away instantly really helped us.

Good luck

[Cazz]

OOhhh, the turn around and ignore would've been done by me, but this wheelchair has a 1 second delay for EVERYTHING, so by the time I could've reacted (1 second to turn it on, one second for it to respond...) the dog would've lost interest.

Kids will be kids...I never even left Miranda with my chooks!

As for the 'let her eat in peace', I don't do that, even with my pup. I rub his nose and cheeks, to let him know we're not going to take his food, or if we do we'll return it. Sooner or later he'll eat the wrong thing, or Miranda might knock something off the table near him, the last thing we need is an aggressive dog.

[sas]

With a puppy a would just turn my back to them and ignore them, no verbal repremand, no physical push down or anything, and then walk away.

[littlelabrador]

thanks. She does seem to be responding to 'no', for now, it is only her first day at home, so i cant expect much more yet, can I. I think we will be needing to teach our child how to handle her moreso, as well. thanks.

[blacklabrador]

Have the pup on leash and teach your child not to run away. A running, squealing child is just too much of a temptation and the situation gets out of hand very quickly.

Book into puppy school and then obedience training from 12 weeks onwards (after the 12 week vaccinations). Labradors get big very quickly and need a lot of training.

[littlelabrador]

thanks. I grew up with Labs, but this is the first dog i've had as an adult. My daughter isnt 'squealing', its more moving away quickly when the dog approaches her. She has mild autism, which is a big part of why we have bought the dog, to help her learn to relate to another living thing, and i've only read good things about dogs for autistic kids. Labs/retrievers in particular. We have two cats so she is used to animals, and her grandfather has a black lab, but she has never been around a boisterous puppy. She (my child) has been better this afternoon, with constant reminders to stay still when the pup approaches, and there has been a lot less jumping.

We will definitely be going to puppy school, i will be asking the vet about that tomorrow. I havent been able to put her on a leash/harness yet, as everything we bought is too big, lol. I will get smaller ones at the vet tomorrow too.

So obedience training is different to puppy school ?? How long does that go for ?

[JeffnCel]

We just missed out on puppy school because Buffy was already 5 months old when we got her. Wagtails run an 8 week puppy course, which then leads into an 8 week obedience course. Although their training didn't fit in well with us (we're doing IPO), if we just wanted a well behaved pet we would definately use them again. Great programs.

[percyk]

was shown this technique by a trainer about 7 years ago ( b4 that some recommended the ole knee to the chest trick ...we dont do that one anymore lol)

so anyway

the pup jumps

u turn away immediately...ignor

turn back quickly once the dog isnt jumping and quickly hold treat over its head to encourage into sit position

do not go outside if pup is jumping...make the pup sit b4 u let him in or b4 u go out

so work on sit command...its one of ur best commands in the beginning ( as well as 'come)

never greet an excited dog..just ignore it when u come home or into the yard...til it settles...then reward with pat/ treat

labs are great ...learn quickly and have that bonus of being food driven ( regular tub trucks lol)

[blacklabrador]

So obedience training is different to puppy school ?? How long does that go for ?

Excellent - sounds like things are improving.

Puppy school is just about socialising your pup and learning about puppy care. Often you will be taught how to teach your puppy basic commands such as "sit" and "come". Usually puppy school goes for 4 weeks and is generally aimed at pups from 8 - 15 weeks. It's is usually held in a vet surgery and run by a vet nurse rather than someone who has trained dogs in obedience.

Puppy obedience usually runs for 8 weeks after that. Its held outside and you can take your pup after the 12 week vaccinations. You will be taught ongoing puppy manners and learning to walk on lead and a a few more commands. Your pup really does require this ongoing weekly training and socialisation. You don't have to stop after 8 weeks of course - the longer you keep going the better behaved your puppy will be. You will be taught by someone who has experience in dog behaviour and obedience training.

Without training you will have all the boisterousness and cheekiness you have now but in a 25kg dog by the time he is 6 months old. With training you will still have a cheeky pup but you will have some control. Put in the work now and it will pay off.

You should be able to find a great obedience club which is affiliated with your state's canine control council. These are not-for-profit organisations which have obedience courses that are very reasonably priced. Usually between $3 - $5 per weekly lesson - the financial cost is small but the benefits are immeasureable.

If you give us an indication of which state you live in and possibly which area the members here will no doubt come up with obedience clubs in your area

JeffnCel - if you mean Wagtails in Qld - yes they are great but being a private school they are a bit more expensive. My parents used them both for obedience and as a private behaviouralist service - altogether a fantastic service.

Edited October 7, 2007 by blacklabrador

[PAX]

Blacklabrador,

Great Post.

[Gwinganna]

Good advice here. I even have Jude whos 3 and a half turn his back and cross his arms when Gypsy jumps, but I have to enforce the "ignore the jumpy puppy" rule because the kids forget and pat her when she is up on them, and visitors do too.

I heard someone had a nice sign at their front door that said something like "Please totally ignore the dog unless it is sitting, then treat it calmly." They reckon it works a treat. I am getting one made.

[littlelabrador]

thanks for all the advice. We had another very rough night last night, she cried, whined, barked, growled until about 3am. We are/were having her sleep in our laundry (a small one) in a box with blankets, we thought that was the best way to confine her, but she is making so much noise. Am going to try tonight to just let her stay out in the kitchen, which is gated off from the rest of the house by baby gates and see if that makes any difference. I need more than 2 hours sleep, lol.

Otherwise she's been pretty good. Shes had a bit of diarrhoea last night/overnight, so we're doing the chicken/rice combo for a few days, and its a bit firmer this afternoon. Did take her to the vet this am though, and she's fine.

Booked puppy school, yes, as 'blacklabrador' said, its 4 weeks, so we will do that, then i will look into the obedience training. We are on the NSW central coast. I've actually seen a dog training group, well thats what it looks like, just round the corner on a weekend morning, so i will get hubby to walk down there on the weekend and ask them what they are.

Well, she's crashed out, daughter is watching a dvd and im stuffed, so time to have a little rest ! thanks for all the advice.

[blacklabrador]

She's crying because she wants company - I doubt the kitchen will make any difference. I'd advise you to keep on as you have been and she will improve quickly. It's only a short time and soon you will have her sleeping all night. She WILL need to be toileted half way through the night at this age though. Don't expect her to hang on because she won't. She will just learn to pee inside and it will take a long time for you to train her out of it.

You need to set your alarm for 2 or 3 am until she is 12 weeks By then she will be old enough to hang on for 8 hours overnight.

[Dogsfevr]

I would say pup was crying as it wanted to go to the loo & thats why it had the runs.

You cant ignore a crying pup all the time.Pups cant hang on & part of toilet training is rewarding them for barking to go out.

Some dogs that try so hard to hang on can end up with the runs from the stress of toileting in there area .

I would be more inclined to buy a crate & crate train pup as it will be a great benefit any time latter life especially with a child with special needs

[Poodle wrangler]

I agree that a crate will be really useful for you and pup, especially with kids.

It's not a cage (though they look like them). As the dog is trained to use it, it becomes their safe place, like a den. You will save the cost of it many times over for all the things pup doesn't chew because he's in the crate. It's somewhere safe and pleasant for pup to go when you can't supervise him e.g. busy dinnertime etc. All 5 year olds need supervision with pups/ dogs to avoid problems.

A crate helps with toilet training because theory is a pup won't wee and poo where it eats and sleeps. Crate must be made small enough so that pup doesn't just wee in the furthest corner, though (partition/ cardboard box in there).

[Meley]

Hey.

I have also just become "parent" to a little lab puppy. And I also have a 5 year old daughter - and a two year old son.

My puppy - Rani - is almost 10 weeks and we have had her for about a week.

When the kids are playing and Rani jumps I've trained the kids to stand still with their arms crossed. Works really well. Labs seem to get the message really quickly!

As for the crying at night, we don't have that problem with this puppy - sorry - but with the old dog we were advised to put a ticking clock under a blanket for her to lay on (didn't do a damn thing but apparently it will work with some dogs. They are supposed to think the ticking is their mothers heartbeat). What I found did work was if I wore an old shirt for a few hours before bed, then tucked him up in that. He'd settle quicker as my smell was around him.

Good luck with your puppy. Hope she brings you many years of joy.

[littlelabrador]

bit of an update: Molly is doing well, we decided to let her just sleep in the kitchen because that is where she will sleep as an adult dog anyway, and she is fine ! She makes no noise at night, she does do one wee in one end of the kitchen, so i will try and get up middle of the night as someone suggested and take her outside for it.

She is still jumping up on my daughter, but not on me. She is also nipping at her feet and clothes anytime she gets excited. Other than saying no or down, and making my daughter stand still, what else can we do ? Puppy preschool starts in another week.