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Originally Posted by TrinaJ  I am still having trouble with her jumping though. Is there a way that this can be applied to jumping? If so, how do i go about it. At the moment i am redirecting her to a toy but sometimes i dont have the toy 'at hand' and its a bit hard to get her to focus on me rather than jumping on my. I try and turn my back on her and that works, but i look stupd spinning around in circles until i can find the blased toy!!! |
There are a few different ways you could deal with it.....all of them would teach her a behavior that is incompatible with jumping up.
The easiest, in the "heat" of the moment, would be to teach
her to go and "Get A Toy!" (the one that you don't have in your hand at the time, LOL). I'd run with her to start, if she doesn't know this yet, while saying "Jett! Go Get A Toy!" My Luna always did this when she felt tempted to jump up and give a big slobber to arriving guests - at first I'd send her for a toy, then she started doing it on her own and just a knock on the door would send her off to pounce on the closest toy.
You could teach her "Four on the Floor", where she earns a treat by not bringing her front feet off the ground (and you would use your turn your back and fold your arms if she does). Start with a sit in front. You can use a clicker to teach this, or just a crisp marker word (yes works well). Give her a click (if you use a clicker) or a "yes!" and a treat if she keeps her feet on the floor. You are rewarding her for the absence of jumping up. If she jumps up, turn your back and fold your arms. No treat. Back to a sit at front. Again, give a "yes!" and treat for not jumping up. Hold the treat low to help her out when you give it to her. Toss a treat a couple feet off to the side to reset, then call her back to front to repeat. Ten repetitions is plenty, then revisit it later. When she catches on that it's feet on the floor that get the treat, then add your command word "four on the floor" or whatever word(s) you want to use for it.
You could also teach her "Touch" or "Target", where you teach her to touch a target. If you hold your hand down at her face level when teaching this, she won't be able to jump and touch at the same time (that's what I mean by an incompatible behavior). To start teaching this, hold a treat in your fist and extend your index finger - when she reaches her nose to sniff your hand, give her a click or a "yes!" and the treat (no command word until she's really reliable with it). As she catches on, start asking more of her by withholding the treat until she gives you a good firm nose bump to your finger. Begin to move your hand in different positions (left, right, near the ground). When she's got it, then add the command "touch" or "target" or whatever word you want to use. For the jumping problem, you can transfer the touch to the top of your shoe. To do that you would point at your shoe, give your command, and when she moves her nose towards the shoe, give a "yes!" and put a treat ON YOUR SHOE to reward her. The reward should always come from the place you want her to touch. You would also begin to make her work harder for the treat by withholding it unless she gives you a good nose bump to the shoe. This could work really well to eliminate jumping.
"Get a Toy" could be taught in direct connection to the jumping, meaning if she goes to jump, you immediately turn and run and use the "Get a Toy!". For "Four on the Floor" and "Touch", you should teach these as separate exercises (and ON leash) and then, once learned, use them when she goes to jump up. It would be too confusing for her to try and teach them at the time she's jumping up, but once learned they can most certainly be used to offer her an alternative that's incompatible with jumping up.
It's easy to forget, but important to remember, to reward for what you want her to do and any efforts on her part that bring her closer to it, so when she's not jumping you need to reinforce that in a big way to make it a more rewarding choice in her mind than jumping up.