Stop Jumping

[sheltiesrule]

How do you train a puppy not to jump up at you....Kasper jumps up at the everyone and I tell my kids to sit down at his level but then he licks their faces...what should I do?

[malleerr]

Hi Sheltiesrule - not sure if i can really help or not but we have been experiencing the same problem with Mallee and are now trying to turn our sides to her everytime she jumps and ignoring her. We have previously tried going mad at her or just pushing her off but that has not work! Turning to the side or away from her, and not looking at her in the eyes when she does it seems be working but we have not been able to completly stop it yet.....hopefully soon as she is a big pup and its getting quite annoying esp when people visit....not everyone enjoys a big sloppy head butt.....lol..... Maybe also try the training section.

If you find a solution let me know!!!!

Edited April 6, 2006 by malleerr

[poodlefan]

The best short answer I can give you is to take your pup to a decent dog training school - you'll learn to deal with this and a lot of other undesirable behaviours.

There are several ways to deal with them.

Extinguishing - you can 'correct' your dog for jumping via either verbal or physical means eg. arrgggh when she does it.

Replacement - when she does it, you can ask her to 'sit' (assuming she knows what this is) and reward the preferred behaviour.

Telling your kids to sit down at her level is basically inviting her to jump on and lick them. They'd be better turning away from her so she can't get near their faces.

Take her to dog school - the internet is no substitute for hands on training with someone who knows what they are doing.

And in case you are wondering, no, she won't grow out of it. You need to train her out of it.

[sheltiesrule]

He already goes to puppy school...we haven't covered this yet....he know how to sit drop and stay

[poodlefan]

Shelties Rule

we haven't covered this yet....

Ask the instructor after class. The sooner its nipped in the bud, the easier it will be to stop it.

If she knows how to sit, then when she starts to jump, tell her to sit and reward her with pats etc then. She'll soon learn that she gets attention after she's sat, not when she jumps.

Forget, any advice to "raise your knee" or similar - very easy to injure a pup doing that and you need a method your whole family can use.

[Miranda]

I have found that the very best solution is to ignore the dog completely when it jumps up, simply stand with your arms at your sides and stare into the distance, don't look or speak to the dog and then walk away. Once the dog gives up and is sitting quietly praise and make a fuss of him, but when he jumps up.....nothing. It takes a while, but absolutely any reaction from you is seen as attention by the dog, if you give no reaction, the dogs gets no attention and he soon realises that jumping up gets him nowhere fast.

[fido666]

I second what Miranda says, ignore the puppy when he jumps, reward only for "four on the floor" and calm behaviour. Shouting at, pushing away, or getting down to the level of the puppy is attention and a reward for bad behaviour. Keep the rewards close at hand, wear a treat pouch if needed, reward quickly when the correct behaviour is offered. Cute puppies are hard to ignore but you have to be firm about this.

Cheers,

Corine

[noisymina]

Our dog gets nothing unless she is sitting - no pats, no treats, not even kind words - Just a "no" and "sit" and reward the sit.

Funny to see her moving along, step and sit, step and sit - trying to get OH to pay attention to her.

Some (ours have) learn that jumping up hits knee in chest and flops them over on their side - not the pats etc they want. Seems to have worked with ours as pups. I suspect it may be harder with small dogs - they don't fall so far.

[sheltiesrule]

I tried ignoring Kasper last night and it seems to be working...he was jumping up and barking and I was telling him to sit, when he didn't respond I turned my back on him and my daughter said look Mum as soon as you turned your back he sat

[Mel774]

Best way I have found is to teach the pup that a person approaching = sit, without you even having to ask.

1: Have the pup on lead with someone holding them, the other person is the greeter.

2: Greeter walks up to pup and says hello excitedly as people do normally

3: When pup jumps - say nothing, walk away completely. You want to remove all contact and vision with the eyes, voice and hands. Completely ignore the pup.

I don't even bother with an "aarrrghh" or anything like that because some pups are just so over the top with their jumping up and it doesn't make a difference. You're not punishing the jump - you are teaching that sitting is rewarding and jumping is boring. The pup hasn't done anything wrong by wanting to be near you, it just doesn't know any better at this stage. It's a bit hard to get the 'aarrgh' in when the dog has bitten your lip too (I have seen many a border collie owner with split lips!)

4. With food in hand, walk back toward the pup and ask the dog to sit. If the dog sits, give food. If it jumps - walk away again.

You just keep doing this until the light bulb goes off. Some dogs will get it in three, some thirty - but I have never seen a dog not 'get it' fairly quickly.

Then there are 2 other variables you want to work on - generalisation and duration.

For example, many dogs will catch on very quickly to the sit, but then when you bend down to greet them - they jump. Continue the steps above and try to slowly draw out the time for reward (e.g. reward for a 2 second sit, then 4 seconds, then 6 etc - if the pup continually breaks, go back a few seconds). I did this with a pup a week or so ago and he stopped jumping on me altogether within 4 repetitions.

However, when the roles were reversed - the pup jumped all over his owner. Dogs don't generalise very easily. So what you want to do is practice this set up with as many people as you can so that the dog learns that a greeting is always met with a sit.

In every day life, never encourage the pup to jump up. Reward calm behaviour and pay attention to the good behaviour, not just reacting to bad behaviour. Get into the habit of having your dog sit before it receives anything - a doggy please if you will.

Hope that has made sense, things are always easier explained in person so I don't know if I've missed anything. This has been tested on every dog I've taught and I've never seen it fail.