teaching a golden Cocker spaniel manners!!

tred

We have a Golden Cocker Spaniel at home.
Anyway that i can stop her jumping up on everyone that comes to the house. she gets so excited. same with me, when i get home, jumping up on me all the time.!!! must be some nice way of getting her out of that habit..

Nala

Hate to say it but the easiest way to stop bad habits is to prevent them in the first place.

EDIT: You're also gonna have to give more info e.g. the dog's age etc

peasant

A few tips:

First of all, you yourself ...stop making coming home an "event". You're the boss and you can come and go as you please, none of the dogs business.
No more greeting of dog until you're well into the house and got a few things done (take off coat/shoes, put away shopping, etc). Only then ...about 10 mins later or so, can YOU call the dog and say hello, if you must. Hard to pull through ..but helps.

For the immediate "attack" (and until the behavior changes) just turn your back and do NOT acknowledge the dog in any way (no looking at, no talking to, no touching, no shouting) ...just ignore it. Repeat until it works. (might take a while depending on how ingrained jumping has become already)

As for visitors ...send the dog to its place and only let it come and meet the visitors once the first melee has settled ...if it starts jumping up, tell it NO and send it to its place. Try and find someone to practice this with, as it will take some time and repetition.

Oh yeah ...and tell the visitors to ignore the dog (see above) for the first few minutes.

luckat

Pups jump up. They love it, and they get big hurt feelings if you do what most dog books advise.

Now, my advice comes in a context of having taught my dog to keep all four paws on the floor at all times - and then having Polish students move in for a couple of months who adored her jumping up....

I now have a dog that other people *tolerate* - where I had one that people liked and admired. She's bossy, jumpy, etc.

So I should be taking my own advice. Which is this: you want to start clicker-training your dog, first. Get Karen Pryor's book Don't Shoot the Dog:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0553380397/103-0291634-8455873?v=glance&n=283155

Karen's own site:

http://www.clickertraining.com/

Now, when you've started clicker training, what you need to train is that *on signal*, your pup will have "all four paws on the floor". So when someone comes in, you give that signal, and the pup gets a treat.

After a while someone coming in will *become* the signal for "all four paws on the floor".

I really must get back to training that, and training non-begging-at-table.

My dog was a well-mannered dog until a neighbour came in to paint the house. Despite my pleading, he constantly fed her at table - and though she knows better than to beg from *me*, she now harasses any visitor with nudges and hanging-around and pleading looks. Really unpleasant.

"Ah, she's such an oul' pet I can't resist her," my neighbour said. Thanks a lot, mate. You've trained my dog so now nobody likes her.

peasant

luckat wrote:

Pups jump up. They love it, and they get big hurt feelings if you do what most dog books advise.

Naaaaw ...they don't. They just know how to make YOU feel guilty for attempting to change their routine.
But once jumping has been removed from their routine and been replaced with, say, sitting and waiting patiently for a nice "hello-cuddle", they'll live just as happily with the new *improved* routine.

Soupi

i totally agree with Peasant. i got a golden cocker spaniel more than 8 years ago for my birthday and he's my best friend. he's very head strong but knows when i mean business and is very obedient otherwise. he sleeps in my room but knows that if my boyfriend is staying over than he has to sleep in the hall or parents room instead coz he's noisy when he sleeps and drives boyfriend mad.

he has so many tricks and is so clever that he still suprises me even now. he sits in front of his dinner and only eats when his sister, an alsation, starts eating and when i tell him he's allowed. it stops him from being too bossy with her.

when i come home he watches me to see what mood i'm in and only comes over to me if i want him to. sometimes i'm wearing clothes that i don't want to get dirty with dog hairs and it means that he doesn't go near visitors unless they call him over to them.

cocker spaniels are really clever dogs and Seyder has learnt all his tricks over the years, he knows stay, sit, play dead, wait, eat, go upstairs, lead, walk, give me a hug, bed time, bath time (not a favourite of his), find dad, mam, etc. plus many many more.

i don't have huge experience with training and haven't read any training books, i've just grown up with dogs and spent a huge amount of time with my dogs.

tred

Nala wrote:

Hate to say it but the easiest way to stop bad habits is to prevent them in the first place.

EDIT: You're also gonna have to give more info e.g. the dog's age etc

Dog age is 1 year. I am very interested by some of these posts. Many thanks....