Staffy Pup Problem

[pickles_chester]

So we have trained our Milly quite well (in my opinion anyway) and she knows the basics down pat. Sit, stay, down, shake with both hands and stay before eating. We were pretty stoked with ourselves and then she had a good little growth spurt and decided that jumping was the new "in thing". Unfortunately the jumping up to greet is actually causing us a lot of grief as the kids in our family now don't like Milly as much as they are constantly being licked on the face from her jumping up.

My fiance and I are a bit more stern with her when we greet her and ask her to sit as soon as we get outside. She does this willingly however the excitement is overwhelming with the kids.

Any ideas I can try out?

[minimax]

Half the battle is training the kids along with the dog, because kids squeal and make loud noises when puppies jump up, which encourages the puppy.

The way I trained my puppy to not jump up on kids was to find some kids to help by doing what we did - asking pup to sit before getting attention, not reacting when pup jumped up, etc, but maybe someone can offer a more practical way if you don't have access to willing kids :laugh:

You have to teach pup that kids aren't exciting, which is hard because kids ARE exciting purely through their natural reactions.

In the meantime - leash puppy around the people she's jumping up on.

Edited May 1, 2013 by minimax

[BigDaz]

So we have trained our Milly quite well (in my opinion anyway) and she knows the basics down pat. Sit, stay, down, shake with both hands and stay before eating. We were pretty stoked with ourselves and then she had a good little growth spurt and decided that jumping was the new "in thing". Unfortunately the jumping up to greet is actually causing us a lot of grief as the kids in our family now don't like Milly as much as they are constantly being licked on the face from her jumping up.

My fiance and I are a bit more stern with her when we greet her and ask her to sit as soon as we get outside. She does this willingly however the excitement is overwhelming with the kids.

Any ideas I can try out?

Is she an outside only dog?

[pickles_chester]

Yes.

[Snoopy21]

Teach the kids first. If puppy jumps, turn around and cross arms over chest. That way pup is being ignored and hands are out the way. Our pup hates being ignored, and will then try all his other tricks to get attention. As soon as he sits the kids make a fuss of him.

We also taught paws up and paws down. Pup was putting paws up on furniture, benches etc as well as people. So we put a cue on it and turned it into a game.

If your pup already knows how to sit, then reinforce that heavily, and get him to sit when there are kids.

[pickles_chester]

That is good advice.

The kids are a bossy little bunch so that will be a good strategy to use. Crossing the arms and ignoring them. I think I will try this myself.

Cheers :D

[Salukifan]

That is good advice.

The kids are a bossy little bunch so that will be a good strategy to use. Crossing the arms and ignoring them. I think I will try this myself.

Cheers :D

Just don't be surprised if it doesn't work. SBTs are tenacious and not easily deterred.

A leash is a better bet until you've absolutely proofed a sit and a recall.

Are the kids permanent residents or visitors? Its not clear from your posts.

Edited May 3, 2013 by Haredown Whippets