Meet & Greet on a leash

[Debi Carreon]

Jesse is great at heel, sit, come, stay.  She is perfect except one annoying issue that I even ended up having to hire a trainer to help me with.  

Issue:  When people approach us to pet her, she gets too excited and lunges forward, jumps on person and so strong.  I use now a gentle lead but she still goes tries to lunge.

I was really hoping with all my training that she could be a therapy dog.  She is great with my 90 yr. old mom and cuddles with her etc.  

If we could just get past this anxiousness when approached or when we approach others, she would qualify.  We go on longs walks daily and pack walks with our trainer.  When she is off leash she doesn't jump on dogs and is not the least bit anxious.  She is two now and really hope she outgrows this behavior.

Is this common with doodles?  She is 64% poodle, the rest Golden retriever.

Thank you,

Debi

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I know Jane will have some good advice for you, but she's out of town right now. :)

In the meantime, I'm far from an expert, but for what it's worth...

If Jesse is truly great at sit and stay, then you should be able to put her in sit-stay when anyone approaches you and that would be that. If she breaks the sit-stay to lunge and jump, you still have more work to do on those commands.

I would also work on jumping in general. For me, jumping on people is something that I just don't tolerate or allow, ever. I would think that would be the case with therapy work, for sure. 

Hopefully, some of the others here will have some ideas for you. I think it's great that you're working with a trainer.

[Debi Carreon]

Hi Karen, I don't tolerate it either....Jesse only does this on leash.  I've had a trainer come over and we practice with neighbors.  I go on pack walks with trainer.  It seems the gentle lead is helping. I tell people not to look at her but if she has seen them before, she gets excited!  A lot of good replies here.  Seems an issue with others.

We'll get past it.  She sits well all the time, except when she knows someone wants to pet her.  Trainer said it was an anxious protect kinda thing.

[Missy]

what a cutie pie! 

I am not an expert, but I know how these pups love to greet people!  It is something we continue to work on and we are at 3 years of age! lol 

Some things I do that helped us make progress.  When others approach, put the dog in a sit/stay.  then lower the leash so you are stepping on it, holding the leash still in your hand.  Now when Jesse decides to jump up, your foot is holding the leash down, so it makes her stay down.   After years of being consistant, our pup is learning that when he sees other people on walks, he puts himself in a sit. lol 

I know it is hot, but if Jesse is done with all her shots, you can practice walking around other people in Lowes!  Everyone will stop you, so be prepared on what you want to allow or not allow. 

I think these pups make for great therapy dogs.  You can do this!! 

[Debi Carreon]

Hi Missy, Gosh Jesse just turned 2 so we will keep working and need to bring treats again on my walks.

I have tried the foot on leash but Jesse weighs 54 lbs so she can bolt with some strength and it doesn't work.  She does do the sit command when she sees people on walks, thankfully but if they want to say 'hi' to her and have to turn most people away because she is soooooo strong and it takes all my strength to hold her back.  I am not the strongest person either so that doesn't help.

She does go on pack walks with a trainer I hired, interesting enough this trainer has one dog that is a therapy dog and the other has Jesse's issues (smaller dog).  Surprised me to see a trainer whose dog has this issue, grin.

Thank you for your reply, you have encouraged me to keep it up and take treats and I will have her wear the gentle lead more often.  She hates it but getting used to it.  She does so well with everything else when I walk her that I like for her to enjoy her walks with me without the gentle lead but oh well.  Gotta get through this.

I will keep you all posted.  Thank you so much!!!!  Good to know it is not just Jesse.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I really think this is all about practice.  My little Doodle has always had a hard time with this.  It was something we had to work on a lot to get him his Therapy certification.  I took him everywhere where dogs were allowed.  When people would walk up to him I would put him in a sit/stay as they were approaching.  I would reward the sit/stay with small pieces of high value treats...just keep giving them as the person approaches.  If he broke his stay I would immediately turn and walk away (you have to let the person approaching know right away that you are training).  He lost out on his treat and he didn't get to meet the person.  You can have friends help with this....just do it over and over.  I tried to always end one of these training sessions on a positive note.  That meant on some days we would do this exercise as long as it took for him to meet one person and remain in his sit/stay.  It's important at first that the "greeter" doesn't show any excitement because when they're learning that seems to be a "deal breaker"...they just can't manage it.  For that reason I tried to avoid children as "greeters" until he was pretty reliable.  Good luck and just keep at it. 

[Debi Carreon]

Thank you Jane, great advice, will keep trying....I will conquer, haha.  She's so worth it and has so much to offer once she gets past this.