How do I get my doodle bear to stop jumping up on people?

[Amy Johnson]

My puppy is seven months now and has been jumping up on people, however, has learned to not jump up on my husband and I. He is about 50 pounds now, so this is a issue that will hopefully go away soon! I took him to a neighbor's house Sunday, and he was great with the other dogs and with the other people there. However, yesterday he was trying to jump up on some people in my neighborhood and nipped at them when they tried to pet him, and then he tried to jump up on my MIL and my daughter. He acts like a spazz around other people sometimes. I keep telling him to sit and then he just does it again. I correct him everytime he does this. When will he catch on not to jump up on people other than my husband or I? Also, I know that you are not supposed to pet a puppy until it is sitting and calm, but my puppy will lunge up when he is sitting also. I am nervous to take him to the dog park if he can't be somewhat under control in a public place. Any ideas?

[Adina P]

The most direct way is through obedience training so that when you tell him 'sit' he obeys.  But that comes with a lot of practice in all sorts of circumstances and a step-by-step plan to follow.  Have you enrolled in any obedience classes with him so you can learn how?

[Amy Johnson]

I didn't enroll him in any classes because I didn't have any money and I still don't have the funds for it, but he is fully trained. He will sit, sit down in front of you for attention when you enter the house, lay down, come, will get in his crate on command, will drop something right away and will leave something alone if I say "leave it". Anyway, he will sit in public, but then decide to lunge, and then I have to ask him to sit again... he continues the sit and lunge. He is very calm at home, but becomes a spazz sometimes in public.

[Adina P]

Who fully trained him?

I don't consider a dog 'fully trained' until he will obey around things that are tempting/distractions/other people/other dogs, everywhere!

Do you have a library membership?  You could always check out a book on obedience training and use that to guide you.  Sometimes local 4H clubs have classes for really cheap.  Um...let's see...you might be able to find a training channel on YouTube and follow a program that seems doable for you.

You said you always correct him.  Can you describe how you do that? Do you correct with words or with a leash?  Does he wear a corrective collar?  Do you use treats?

One thing I would suggest is that you don't ask him to sit...you TELL him to sit.  That doesn't mean yelling or shouting, but use a commanding voice.  And then don't ask him again.  Does he know the command 'stay'?  That might be something worth training. If you told your dog to SIT once and then told him to STAY, once...you don't repeat the command...you enforce it.  Repeating a command teaches your dog that it doesn't have to obey until you've said it half a dozen times.  You want him to obey the first time.  So you give the command, give him a second to respond and then enforce if if he does not.

You can join our training group here on this site and perhaps we can help you come up with a plan for training stay (we have had older discussions on this too you can search for and read in the training group).

Also if he's not quite ready to obey because he needs more practice IN PUBLIC, then you have to go out in public and just work him on obedience.  You'll have to be focused on just that until he gets good at it or leave him at home if you don't think he can handle it.  Otherwise he just gets opportunity to practice the wrong behavior.

[Amy Johnson]

Oscar knows the "stay" command, but he doesn't always listen. I correct him by telling him down and pulling back on the leash and telling him sit. I do repeat the command sit when he lunges up. What do I do if he lunges up again and I can't tell him sit again? I do firmly tell him sit and stay, and then he just lunges up again. He just has a regular leash... what kind of corrective leashes should I use? I have not tried treats, that's a good idea! I read all of the books at the library and two Cesar books, that's how I trained my puppy.

[Adina P]

Can you go over how you taught him 'stay'?  Just outline the steps from start to finish so we know how you did it and can troubleshoot the training or help you complete it.  Even with an obedience class it is US the owners who do the training but sometimes we leave holes in our training.  I've made lots of mistakes with my dogs and have thus learned from them and we're always happy to help people fill in the gaps where something didn't go right or isn't practiced right.

At the same time, remember that every training method is different (either slightly different or majorly different). I for one do not believe in using treats in training, other people swear by them.  I also use either a metal slip chain as the training collar (a.k.a. choke chain) or a prong collar for training.  Others don't believe in using such training collars. 

[Adina P]

By the way, I'm impressed you trained him despite not being able to enroll in classes. Awesome! Most people don't even try.

[Adina P]

Down is a separate command not a correction. Join the training group and ask for help teaching stay :)

[Carol Bordwell]

Our pups jump up on people to get attention. Try turning your back & ignore him. Have all people do this. It worked for us like a charm!

[Amy Johnson]

Thanks for your reply! If your puppy started jumping up, you would tell people to turn their backs? How exactly would you do it? How old was your puppy when he stopped jumping up on strangers?

[Carol Bordwell]

We were told it is a people problem.train then lol. Get a few friends to help you in advance. Ask them to come for a visit. When they come into your home they already know to turn their backs. Refuse to acknowledge your dear pups unwanted behavior. Keep turning away, as he might keep moving to you/their front. It really won't take long for him to get it.

I so wish we had known about this technique sooner. She was 4 years old.
We still have people who refuse to comply with our request. Grrrrr
Love our pups.

[Adina P]

It is easier to train your dog than other people.  For one there is only ONE dog to train and a myriad of people out there.

[Carol Bordwell]

You are right. I find it very frustrating when people refuse to honor my requests. E.g. Please don't do the baby high pitched talk with my pup. She would always pee when she was young. My own sister refused! Guess who got to clean it up...me.