CONSTANTLY JUMPS UP ON PEOPLE


WE HAVE A BEAUTIFUL CHOCOLATE LAB WHO IS VERY LOVEABLE BUT HAS A BAD HABIT OF JUMPING UP ON PEOPLE WHEN HE FIRST SEES THEM. DOES ANYBODY HAVE ANY IDEAS TO POSSIBLY BREAK OUR LUKE OF THIS BAD HABIT?

MOOSE

Sorry I can't help we have the same problem with Zeus (8 mos old now). After a few minutes he is fine but when we first come home or when people come over it's jump jump jump. We've tried the leash thing, stepping on it so he corrects himself etc. But as soon as he is calm and we take the leash off, he jumps again. Georgia doesn't jump so he sees that she gets attention by NOT jumping. We try to hold him by the collar (underneath) to keep him down but he's a pretty strong dog.
Any suggestions.....

Moose ... WHY ARE YOU SHOUTING? All Caps in a post usually means that you are angry or shouting! :p:

You didn't say how old your dawg is. It would help to know since an adult dawg that's been allowed to exhibit that behavior (rescue, etc) for some long time already would be handled differntly than a pup.

In jackyscott's case, with an 8 month old dawg, this is how I deal with it. It's VERY important for the pup to learn that it's behavior is unacceptable. Being excited to greet me is good, jumping is bad. Keep in mind that a dawg does not have the deductive reasoning skills of a human. The jumping is a normal excited greeting expression. You wouldn't want to be treated harshly by someone who you just enthusiastically greeted, would you? Neither does your dawg. So your challenge is how to redirect my dawgs enthusiasm in its greeting process to an acceptable form of expression

When the dawg comes up to you and begins to jump up, raise your knee into its chest firmly but not excessively while at the same time saying "NO JUMPING". Then immediately command SIT and begin lavishing praise the moment it responds properly. If the dawg refuses to sit ... you have a basic obedience issue that needs attention. It's almost impossible to break bad habits if your dawg does not understand and comply with basic obedience commands.

There is another method I sometimes use other than knee-in-chest and that is to lightly step on the toes of the back feet when the dawg is jumping up. Then follow the same NO JUMPING - SIT-PRAISE procedure as described above. Keep in mind that dawgs are extremely sensitive (and can be injured) in their feet areas so you need to use caution if and when you employ this method. That means barefooted or slipper only at first, no hard or heavy shoes or boots until you learn how much force to apply.

I've found that when a dog has been taught obedience thoroughly, he becomes incapable of jumping on you. This is because it is a dominance issue. My "Drake" would jump on me every time I would come home until I began training him. Once I established the fact that I am the alpha male, he quit jumping on me. This only took 3 fifteen minute lessons to establish. I'm not saying he doesn't get excited to see me. Instead of jumping on me, now he just jumps straight up in the air. This was achieved with no correction. Honestly I had planned on training it out of him. Fortunately, I didn't have to though. I don't mind him jumping in the air..... It's nice to be missed!

To Drake Duster,

Thanks for the reply; but please tell me what exactly you did
in these 15 minutes sessions to get him not to jump on you?

We had obedience training in his first year, but unfortunately
when our trainer left, we were not consistent with Luke.
Trust me, he will sit when told, but it doesnt take long for him
to get back up. He knows commands, but he is a stinker, about keeping to them, but that is our fault.

If we could get the jumping up on us conquered, we would be just happy the way he is. Moose

There is a book by Robert Milner called "Retriever Training for the Duck Hunter." I would suggest that you read this book and then when you finished, start over and read it again. All of the training methods are very humane and non-brutal. Basically in my training sessions with Drake, I was teaching him basic obedience. By teaching basic obedience myself, I have established my dominance. Professional trainers are great, but when you get your dog back from them you must use the same authority that they have used or the dog will fail to respect you as the alpha. I am by no means a professional, but I have great success when I follow Milner's methods. Obedience is not something that you teach your dog once and then it becomes ingrained in his instincts. You must constantly reassert your dominance. A dog by nature will try your dominance over and over to see what he can get away with. You MUST be consistant with corrections every time the pup exhibits an unacceptable behavior. As the dog learns that you are in charge, it becomes much easier to correct bad behaviors. Remember to keep play time seperate from training and by all means make training fun for pup. Reward good behaviors but don't over do it. Too much praise (excessive "good boy's", belly rubbing, etc.) will tend to over excite the dog and make him want to play instead of listen and pay attention. As for jumping up on you....Milner stated in his book that when he would begin training a dog with the owner present, after one session with a jumper, the dog would become physically incapable of jumping on him. After the first training session, he would try to excite the dog into jumping on him. He said more times than not, the dog would become so excited that he would run to his owner and jump on them! You see, it's all about establishing dominance. I hope this helps. By the way, Drake is nowhere near finished but his basic obedience gets better with every session.

Hi

I wasn't shouting. if that is the confusin.

Just had our Luke in for a Wellness Exam yesteday. He weights in at 10b lbs. All muscle. Luke has not been nuetered. He is 3 yrs old. The vet is not concerned about it as long as he does not have a behavorial problem which he does not. Also we have an electonric fence around the perimeter of the yard. So he cannot stray or run./ What are your thoughts about neutering?

If he isn't registered and you aren't planning on studding him out, then i think that it is fine to have him neutered. It usually calms a dog down too. BTW, did you mean "100 lbs?"

I'm thinking we will not get him neutered. But we will see. Yes, I met 106 lbs. Big Boy. He has come a long way. I don't know if I mentioned in his first year, he was diagnosed with Lyme plus having a joint problem in his left hind leg. Through medication and a daily dose of Cosequin, he is doing great.

We just got in from playing with his sticks and tennis ball. Luke is napping. Talk to you later.

Some how we will try to post a pix of him. Haven't figured it out yet. Moose

Thanks for the info on the training. Obedience training is only as good as you as a owner make it. No sense in using a trainer if its not followed at home on a continuous basis. our pup (3 yrs old) and I stil call him that, is doing well but this jumping habit is still a problem we deal with on a day to day basis. Moose

Our dog Misty jumps up when she gets excited. I recently read an article which mentioned that when the dog jumps up on you, grasp the front paws in your hands and squeeze (not excessively ). As mentioned above, the paws are very sensitive. Continue doing this until he/she stops jumping, then motion or command the dog to jump up on you, and again squeeze the paws. Jumping will quickly become a very unenjoyable experience for your dog and he/she will stop. We tried everything with Misty and this is the only thing that actually worked. You will know that progress has been made when you ask him/her to jump up and he/she won't or he/she does with a lot of hesitation.

Here's the link:
Dog Training (http://www.thunderheadkennels.com/tips/trainingtip_stopjumping.html)

Another good source of info:
Training Tip Library (http://www.arhrc.com/Library.html)

Re: Misty

I am not sure I would like to train Luke using pain, even though it is not excessive. It is good you found a tool that works, but I think I will stick to other methods and keep reinforcing them myself. Thanks anyway. Moose

Duchess is 6 months old now.
Here's what worked for us because I didn't want to use physical means.
When you greet him and he jumps turn your back and tell him no very sternly. Do it again, and again, until he doesn't jump, then reward. Many of my problems i had was when i first came home. So we had to practice a lot with me coming in the door. In about 10 minutes she realized that jumping wasn't going to get he attention, but sitting was. I'm not saying that she never jumped after that, but with consistant training she understud.
The second big problem with this i had was other people coming over. She understud with me it wasn't ok to jump, but it didn't sink in right away that it wasn't ok with other people. I HAD to have other people come in with treats in hand and reward her for only good behavior. If she jumped, the person would do the same as i did, turned around, said no, and ignored her until she was behaving. This took a little longer then with me, and i used about 3 different people.
Best of luck. :D

To Duke and Duchess,

Thank you for your reply and suggestion. You know, I have tried that method and it does work. But I don't do it consistently, I combine it with my knee up which seems also to work. Believe it or not, lately it has been working for me. But you are right. Its company that come over that is the problem. Other than telling company what to do, do you have any suggestions. Its easy to tell family to turn around or knee up, but what about strangers to the dog? Their first reaction is to not come in, right? Till we get him settled. Its tricky. Thanks again, Hope to talk to you soon. Moose