Crazy Jumpers!

[Barb]

I'm wondering if there are any doodle owners out there who have "jumping doodle" problems. My two are a handful when company comes. It's bad whether the company is someone they know or not. They are just so excited to greet anyone that it's a three ring circus whenever someone comes to visit. A knock on the door sends them into excited euphoria every time, and the two of them get each other going. Even when my husband and I each hold one, it's a challenge until they calm down. One jumping doodle is hard enough on company, but two is just too much to expect them to deal with. I had one doodle for two years, and she was actually doing very well learning not to jump when she was excited. When we got our Avery, he turned out to be even more of a jumper, and Sally has just decided to join him. I find it more difficult to try and correct the behavior with two dogs. I have to admit that we have been lazy about training our second (kind of like we did with our kids), but I'm registering for obedience training for him now. Has anyone had good luck with any particular method to end the jumping? I'm open to trying anything it takes!

[Libby, Rufus & Jacoby]

I started having this problem when we got our second doodle. Rufus was great until Jacoby arrived. They only go crazy for about two minutes before calming down, but what a two minutes it is! We are going to try a white vinegar/water mix in a spray bottle. I too got lazy with training our second dog, he's basically great except for the jumping.

[Adina P]

Yep ya gotta separate them! Do you have a crate or a baby gate one to confine one of them to? Can one go on a walk with your hubby while the other gets trained and then you can swap? You'll need a LOT Of practice with a LOT of people as well as NO CHANCE (if possible) for them to practice the bad behavior when you are surprised by guests or out and about and people want to pet them.

[Tamara & Giada]

The knee does work wonders for those who do it! Also, a spray with a water bottle works well....then tell them to sit and give a treat. We also had a note on our front door warning guests of "puppy in training" put treats on front porch and asked them to have her sit and give her the reward:)

[Barb]

Thanks, Adina. I think the toughest part is separating them in order to work with them. They always come as a package around here. You're right though, they are impossible to work with together. I do have a couple of friends who can help, I think. I'll let you know how it goes!

[Adina P]

I think there are two necessities for ending jumping:

1) You have to enlist guests to help you for this or else they will only make it worse by rewarding the jumping with attention (good or bad attention doesn't matter to the dogs!). Most guests are NOT comfortable doing what I suggest below...so then the VERY LEAST they must do is the whole "Be a Tree" stand and IGNORE the dog PASSIONATELY until the dog settles down. No eye contact, no touching, NO anything. You might want to invite some friends over JUST for practice and keep dogs on leash for the first several practices...one dog at a time.

2) Some sort of consequence for jumping--not everyone agrees with corrections, but I think they are fine if they are done in a thought out, concerted, consistent way AND the dog is also taught HOW TO avoid the correction and earn praise/reward/attention. Clark prefers a quick raising of the knee so the dog hits his knee...but he can do this much more effectively than I can. The goal isn't to injure the dog but to make him uncomfortable and NOT want to do it again. There is no yelling or hard feelings...just a consequence. Dog jumps=dog hits knee...nothing personal involved.

3) Work on obedience (one at a time...two will rile each other up before they are ready to respond appropriately while they are riled up) so that you can give them something TO DO: sit stay, down stay, "go to your spot", or whatever. Even if they would normally jump...if you get them solid on obedience then you can at least tell them what to do that doesn't match with jumping.

Good luck! The HARDEST part is training guests.