Jumping on people

[ksyankfan]

Hello,

I am fairly new to this forum and I do want to say I have really enjoyed what I have read. I am hoping some of you could help me with a problem we have of our rottie jumping up on strangers when he meets them.

"Parker" is a friendly, normally well trained boy. We adopted him @ 13 months in Dec. 2000 and we have attended back-to-back obedience training classes since. We've just graduated from Competition 1 and attended our first sanctioned match last week.

He did well, but I bet he jumped up to meet at least 6 different people. Yes, I did try to restrain him, but he was up in their face before I could even react and at AKC events, no prongs or Gentle Leaders are allowed. ( I normally use a GL when walking and I can control him.)

I corrected him by saying, "No jump!", put him in a sit/stay and then asked the new person to pet him WHILE he's maintaining a sit.

He's fine until the next stranger walks up and then, the same thing happens. We have three teens which means we have many visitors in and out of our home. Once he has met a newcomer, he's fine. Most of my kids' friends come and go without him even noticing, except to "shake hands" on occasion for a treat.

I had someone suggest I tell people to "knee" him, but I tried that myself and his reaction was total hyper-dog as he interpeted this as an invitation to play.....ROUGH. So, that was quickly abandoned after just one try.

He loves meeting people and dogs..........but how can I teach him not to jump???

[AngelBunny]

ksyankfan:

You're just going to have react much quicker than you've been doing, since you *know* what he's going to do; why not put him into a Sit Stay before he jumps up?

Be proactive.

[K-9Cop]

Welcome to the Forum ksyankfan.........

So as not to sound redundant.....I posted a reply/suggestion on another thread (agression) concerning jumping up on people.....perhaps you can take a look there and try it....I'm sure with the teenagers you have in your house you can find an endless supply of "volunteers" to assist you in a controlled setting:)

Best wishes.......

[Lora Lee]

Welcome!!

The trick is to restrain your dog before he jumps; prevention ;)

I suggest you take a tighter hold on your dog, or grab onto his collar and hold his neck in a natural position. Tell him it's okay, good boy while standing, and when you are ready, allow the person to approach. Enforce that he must stand, or sit, to receive this persons attention.

Other dog people can be very courteous, and don't mind waiting. Actually, they'd prefer it :)

If I were you, and this is what I do, I place my dogs in a sit position when people approach. Most can see I'm doing so and will wait the second it takes. It's rare I'll have to place my pup, but if I have to then--heck, oh well. Training is practice, and consistency is the key. After OB class is over, stand by the exit door and place your dog in a sit/stay and say good-bye to everyone. You can start off to the side a bit, and move closer each time. Of course this is cheating because your dog knows every single person/dog in class, but establish an understanding of what is expected. Just practice, but correct your dog, place again, and don't repeat your command. Enforce it, he needs to pay attention to you during these events.

I use the command "OFF!". Make sure you don't use down, and don't use his name before you give an off. It's a tug and the "OFF" command at the same time.

Good luck

:)

[RottiMomCT]

My 3 yr old male will jump like a gymnast on my brother in law...nobody else - just him (wonder why!!??). He either ignores him until he sits and looks at him like "Hey, I'm here...pet me!!!!!" and THEN he'll get paid attention to...or, my brother in law will see the jump coming, and immediately tell him, "NO JUMP". Again, Ben will sit and wait for Matt (bro in law) to pay attention to him).


I KNOW Ben can be a jumper when he meets new people (usually adults, he's amazingly calm with kids), so I put him in a sit/stay when he meets new people (which is ALL the time) and tell the people to stop petting him if he gets jumpy.

Good luck!:)

[spiritkdb]

Got helpers? Get some. It is hard to ask strangers to do this. In the practice environment have your helpers do this: When Parker jumps on them have them let out a loud "Ouch" (and I mean LOUD). then they turn away from him, ignore him, while you ask him to sit. As soon as he sits,the helper can turn back to him and praise him and pet him. He will start to associate jumping with being ignored and sitting with getting the new person's attention. So when you see a stranger approaching and you ask him to sit he will be happy and waiting for them to acknowledge him. So when they do approach and you have him in a sit command, ask them nicely to please pet your dog and reward his good behavior with verbal praise or a treat. If he jumps up say excuse me and haul him off in the opposite direction. Be consistent.

[alexav]

This might seem the lazy way out but I think the timing of the correction is brilliant.

When your helper aproaches, tell your dog to sit and stay. Then loop the leash under your foot with just enough slack to let him get about 1/3 of the way in orbit. This way, he will correct himself each time he jumps and there will be no accidental positive reinforcement. Tell your helpers or volunteers that unless Parker is sitting, they are NOT to talk, touch, pet, or otherwise give him anything positive. When he is sitting (like you just told him) they should pet and praise him in tones that are unlikely to cause him to launch again. Later on, your helpers can act like psychotics to help Parker to resist the distraction of even the most hyper sounding "HI DOGGIE!"

I've used this method on alot of different dogs and it has always worked.:)

[RottnKid1]

I know everyone is assuming your dog is already on a leash. I've learned the hard way that to "assume" makes an a** out of "u" and "me." Just wanted to point this out to be sure your dog is on a leash for this training.:)

[NJrottielover]

My trainer told me what I believe is a great way to stop jumping up. It totally worked for both of my rotties, but you have to have willing participants. When the dog jumps up, the person will grab his paws and hold them gently but firmly so the dog is on his hind legs. Continue to hold on, all the while saying, "thank you for your paws, I've always wanted rottie paws, blah blah", in a cute upbeat voice so the dog thinks you're truly enjoying the fact that he jumped up on you. The dog will quickly become uncomfortable being up on only his hind legs, and after just a little while you let him down. I only had to do it twice for my 8 month old and he got the picture! My 5 year old (who we adopted when she was 4 1/2) took a little more time. She would actually try mouthing the person's hands off, but they would let out a dramatic "Ow!" and she would stop. Neither one of them have jumped in a long time! Good luck! :)

[ksyankfan]

I hope you all don't kick me off here before I even get started. :D

I can't read the replies you all posted on this thread. They are simply not there.

Just wanted you to know I wasn't ignoring your replies.

Thanks!

ksyankfan

[ksyankfan]

WOW! I don't know exactly what happened, but as soon as I posted that last SOS, I was able to read all of the posts.

I'm going to print out these suggestions. ( Is that okay?)

THANKS to all of you. I knew I could count on you all to help out.

Yes, K-9 Cop, I read your other reply and posted on the other thread. THANKS

ksyankfan

" For all of our Best Friends"

[AngelBunny]

ksyankfan:

I have quite a library of postings I've printed out, so I can't see why you shouldn't also start your library.

[ksyankfan]

AngelBunny:

Thank you for your reply. I am going to really enjoy this place!

ksyankfan