JUMPING ON PEOPLE

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Barbara Baumgarten wants to know:

"I am just looking for a way to stop Dunkin from jumping out of excitement. He just jumps on people that come in the house and it takes time for him to jump out his excitement to take a walk and we can get the leash on him anyone that has an idea I would like to hear from thanx."

[Adina P]

the only thing missing from the plan above is training technique---if you are experienced go for it! Otherwise I'd work with a trainer to teach you the How To (how to teach, how to treat, how to correct).

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I am printing this out Adina! This is great advice! I see now where I have to start too -- Abby has no "stay" whatsoever. She sits on command but has a 2 second attention span for stay, always releasing it herself. I have a hard time teaching her how to stay put. I have recruited the help of a professional trainer for September (the only one in my area and she has another job so it took months to get in!) Hopefully she will teach me to teach Abby to stay and hold the stay.

[Anna and Achilles]

just read your Aug. 4th post on the sit stay command. I was wondering how old Roscoe was when you began to work on that? Achilles is just 5 months old. He can sit on command so far. Is he to young for this?

[Marianne *OZZY & ZOEY]

Ozzy jumps on people too. Can't be a therapy dog until that stops. It is the poodle in them...I have tried everything and Ozzy is a heavy weight too!

[Sandra]

Ours is an Ozzie too. I wondered about therapy dogs and how they are certified.

[Adina P]

Info on therapy dog registration is found in or Therapy Dog group...it's in one of the discussions.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Curing the jumping with Guinness (ALD who just turned one year) has been an incremental process. When he was a real young puppy we (and our guests) turned our backs to him if he jumped. That worked for us, but not for guests (who were way more fun). So, the next step for us was to always put a leash on him before opening the door to guests. I would put him in a sit/stay and step on the leash so he could not jump while the guests calmly greeted him. This worked, but only because he physically couldn't jump. At the same time we had Guinness in obedience classes working on sit/stay ALL THE TIME. We practiced it several times a day at home, and at Petco, and at the park...basically everywhere. He got to the point where I could leave the room for several minutes and he wouldn't break his stay. That lead us to the CGC training where things got way more challenging. He had to maintain the sit/stay through all kinds of distractions (dogs, kids, etc). He passed that and now we're in the final phase of his Therapy training. Now it's even more complicated. The distractions are way more tempting...including some really tasty food. He's doing well, but he's not totally reliable yet in this setting. We have five more weeks of training before the test, and I think he'll be fine with LOTS MORE PRACTICE in very, very distracted environments. Bottom line is you can get there, but it takes a while and many, many hours of training at this age. I totally agree with Adina....you have to prevent the behavior so it doesn't become a habit and then just train to avoid it from ever occurring (i.e. solid sit/stay).

[Shelly Gouvas]

You think its the poodle.I was thinking it was the lab hyperness.Could be both.

[Kyoko]

They taught us " Go Visit" at Charlie's obedience class.
You will need another person who can help you teach this to your dog, and your dog will have to have "Sit " and "Down" on command.
First, you will have the dog and release him/her by saying "Go Visit !" to the other person who may be 6 or 7 feet away. Once the dog gets to the other person, that person will immidiately give "Down" command to the dog with the reward. You can repeat that back and forth....
We are still working on it. But some of the dogs at the training got it pretty good.

[Bev and WILLY]

Here's what worked with Willy. My obedience trainer gave me a little bean bag, and when my son came in and Willy did his usual thing, (jumping all over him) I threw the bean bag at his feet, making a noise and startling him. (Willy and my son. LOL)
She also told us to have treats ready and throw them on the ground, saying "FEET" He was so busy looking for the treats, he forgot to jump. This in conjunction with the bean bag stopped the jumping. Hope this helps

[Kim C]

Dance, Dance, Dance!!! Sure fire way to stop even an untrained wild puppy from jumping up on you? YES!
Dance! When Fido jumps up firmly grasp his paws and start dancing. Do the two-step or waltz - doesn't matter. Make it fun for you but a little hard on him. soon he will want his paws back but keep dancing til he's really uncomfortable - all the while singing or talking to him in a happy voice. This is not discipline - this is dancing! Next time he starts to jump up he may think twice about it. Keep it up for a couple of days and it will be a non issue. Even young kids can help with this cuz it's fun! Even old dogs will quit jumping in a matter of a couple of days. Puppies that don't have a clue about sit, stay or down will figure this out in no time. If you are consistent your dog will learn in a matter of days that it is in their best interests to keep their paws off and you will never have to worry about them jumping on anyone ever again. All easy and happy. Good Luck!

[Julie B.]

I really like your technique Kim and I'm going to try it with my new puppy once she gets old enough to be a nuisance jumping. She already displays great balance and "hops" as a 7 week old pup so I know she will want to jump up. I have always used the positive reinforcement technique of training it out of them by creating the situation and then waiting until all 4 feet are on the ground to reward them. This works but it takes a lot of repetition and helpers. Your technique I can do all by myself and I love to dance! Thanks!