Jumping

[Nanette de la Torre]

I hope that I can get some help from this forum. Higgins will be two in April and Winston is about 4. When I come home, Higgins is an absolute maniac. It starts when I pull into the driveway - I can hear him "screech" barking as I lock up my car! Then Winston will bark at him to try and calm him down. To make matters worse, Higgins - the dood - can now open the door (we have a lever handle) and by the time I walk into the kitchen, Higgins is a jumping bean. Higgins is a medium poodle and can jump up to my head (I am 5' 5 1/2" tall). So as I walk down the hallway to greet my husband, Higgins is jumping, Winston is trying to correct him. I have to close the door to my husband's room (he is disabled) just so I can hear him. I was told to ignore both dogs as I was told to do. This isn't working. Help! Please provide advice

[Adina P]

How much obedience training has your dog had? It often just comes down to a lot of practice sessions teaching him how he is to greet you and consequences for jumping. Will Higgins sit on command if you tell him to do so when you enter the house? if not you might want to spend some time coming and going and practicing this. I saw suggestion on another forum for this air horn thing that literally blows air ( not sound) at the dog. It does not injure the dog or hurt the dog-- but the person who mentioned this found it to essentially cure her jumping problem.

My two doodles don't typically jump on me or Clark (there's always the exception) but we made it clear that jumping is not as comfortable as keeping all four on the floor. I have no problem with leaning forward and raising my knee up so they hit my knee and decide it's better not to jump. but not everybody is comfortable doing that. You might try that can of air, but I can't remember what it's called.

[Louise and Toby]

I'm anxious to see some answers to this myself. We have a jumping bean that does figure eights whenever we have a visitor come to the house. It is crazy but at least he doesn't sprinkle anymore! We'll put him on a leash if we know someone is about to arrive and try to control him that way. It seems like once he gets going he just can't control himself. He can jump very high too - amazing isn't it?!

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Our doodles don't jump on us (except for Kirby's occasional hugs), but Dexter is a nut when visitors come over. I put him on a leash for 5 minutes and then he's a lot better.

That probably won't work for you. I read on another forum to grab the dog's front paws (when he/she jumps up) and push up a bit so the dog is much more upright. Apparently it's an uncomfortable position for them (not painful, just uncomfortable).

You could also try having a treat with you when you come in...show it to your dog and tell him to "sit". Once he sits, he gets the treat.

Good luck.

[Nanette de la Torre]

Thanks for the advice and tips. All are valuable. I don't the dogs by looking or talking to them. After a bit of time Higgins gets the message that he needs to calm down. When he finally settles down a bit, I do go to pet him and I get the puppy flop which will probably continue throughout his life. I've have done the knee thing but that hasn't helped. Higgins is pretty well trained but once he gets into this manic mode it's chaos, especially when Winston is trying to correct him. I think I will try the treat thing when I enter to see if that helps. I like the "air horn" idea as well. Meanwhile, I have asked my husband to try and crate the dogs before I come in. On the days he can move that will probably be helpful. Since I am on vacation, this week, I will be sure to practice daily. Thanks again and if you come up with any more ideas please do share!

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I have a jumper too. He is aptly named Roo. He is 15 months and getting better. That is not to say good. What is helping him is to have him "down" as in lay down. For some reason this seems to work better than sit. Everything else, air horn, spray bottle, whatever, just seemed to hype him up more. Ignoring him was impossible. I and several friends spent many hours over many months "being trees" He just did not get it. Now he greets me and my husband with controlled enthusiasm (unually) but still is over the top in about one out of three greetings of visitors at the door. This probably is not that helpful, but at least you know that you are not alone.

[Kay and Tanner.]

Tanner is also a jumper and he is almost two years old...He doesn't jump on us when we come inside, he greets us very happily and well behaved, but when we have visitors come in he gets so excited to see them..Its only for them few minutes but its also very frustrating especially when someone is not comfortable with a dog jumping up and licking them.....We have tried a nice few things,hopefully he will learn not to do this.But other than that he is a really good dog!