Help with jumping puppy

Burnsash

Hi there,

I was just wondering if anyone could help with this small problem. I have a six month old puppy Doberman who is (as like all puppies) bundles of energy. Any how I have a slight problem with her jumping on us.

She is very energetic and gets regular walks, which she loves. She is only ever on her own for about 2 hours and she gets loads of attention. I know Dobermans are very sociable dogs and love being around people so we make sure she is not on her own for too long. I brought to a beginner course in puppy training but she didn’t do this when we went and it only started a while ago. We are lucky with her because she never chews furniture or anything like that but the thing is when she gets excited she jumps on us.

We have tried to stop the jumping since she first started it. If she is in a hyper mood she doesn’t walk she bunny hops (really cute J ). My family have referred to her as a deer or kangaroo (just to give you an idea). Anyway we have tried ignoring her, turning our backs on her but she will still jump on your back, we have tried getting her to sit and stay before we come in the door but she can barely put her bum on the ground with excitement and the second you walk in she is pouncing. I have read many websites and books and they all give similar things to do but they don’t seem to be working. I must be doing something wrong.

If anyone has had the same problem and managed to get their dogs to stop jumping I would love to hear from you. The thing is she is getting big and strong and I really want to stop her doing this as she could potential knock someone over.

I would appreciate any suggestions J
Thank you in advance

keno-daytrader

I had this problem with my lab many years ago. When I would come home or anyone for that matter, I would shower her with attention and get her all excited. It wasnt until I started reading up on dogs and training techniques I discovered where I was going wrong. I was rewarding the bad behavior and actually making her more excited causing her spinning and jumping.

When ever I would come home I had to forced myself and anyone that would enter the house to ignore the dog at all costs, when she jumped or in her case started spinning around in circles with the excitement I would have to to correct the behavior. I would only stop ignoring when she became calm and give praise in a calm state. I was reenforcing the bad behavior every time I showered her with praise coming in the door. After a few weeks of ignoring she caught on and since then when we returned home we always gave her calm quiet praise and didnt reward excitement.

Its not an easy thing to do when you come home to do this but it must be done. And everytime she jumps you must correct the unwanted behavior without fail, just like you would correct any other unwanted behavior.

Remember you are in charge not her, just like raising kids, sometimes you have to be firm.

Burnsash

Thank you for replying. I have been trying to ignore her but I think I give in a little bit. I will try to be firmer and make sure that any one who comes in contact with her does the same (although really hard cause she is just so cute )

The other problem that we have and is kinda the same problem is that when she is out the back garden playing, she comes flying into the house she jumps on us and then runs out the back or just jumps around. When we see her coming we turn our backs to stop her jumping and it doesnt work she'll keep doing it. She is a very big pup for six months and so as you can imagine not fun when she does it. Did your lab do the same?

are you serious

Hi Burnsash, Ive got a rottie who now at 8 1/2 months who does this the whole time, as you can imagine he's probably the same height as your girl but a whole lot heavier

I can stop him doing it whenever I like but just choose not to, at my own peril I think some days Has she any basic commands yet like sit or stay? When she does come running at you, you need to firmly say stop, sit, stay, no.. or whichever she responds to best. If i'm carrying anything I will always stop my fella from jumping up onto me and he will sit and wait or stand and wait.

It will take time but just be firm with your words and if she does not listen you have to punish her in some way, put her out the back, thats what I do with my fella and that calms him right down.

keno-daytrader

Burnsash wrote: »

Thank you for replying. I have been trying to ignore her but I think I give in a little bit. I will try to be firmer and make sure that any one who comes in contact with her does the same (although really hard cause she is just so cute )

The other problem that we have and is kinda the same problem is that when she is out the back garden playing, she comes flying into the house she jumps on us and then runs out the back or just jumps around. When we see her coming we turn our backs to stop her jumping and it doesnt work she'll keep doing it. She is a very big pup for six months and so as you can imagine not fun when she does it. Did your lab do the same?

Yes

Labs are extremely active at this age and if let do it its perfectly normal. What would you do if you found her chewing on your good leather sofa??? Same with this behavior, put an end to it by correcting her every single time, do not reward excitement, totally ignore the excitement and correct bad behavior like jumping, dont ignore the jumping but correct it straight away.

Perhaps keep the back door closed and no entry until the pup is calm, labs are extremely smart she will get it in no time, but you must be firm and stick to your guns, if let run wild they will. I think they are the best breed in the world!!

Burnsash

Hi Garkane,

Thank you for the reply Yeah she has basic commands, she will sit, down and stay but my problem is when she gets hyper. Which for her breed is pretty much all the time unless she is getting cuddles or has a bone she is tucking into.

garkane wrote: »

It will take time but just be firm with your words and if she does not listen you have to punish her in some way, put her out the back, thats what I do with my fella and that calms him right down.

Like you when she is being bold we put her out the back which to be honest she seems to have great fun.

Ill try the ignoring and firm correction and see how that goes. The thing with the jumping is im afraid when she gets bigger that she will knock someone or a child. As you know with your rottie you have the people out there that have presumptions about the breed without even knowing anything about them. So I want her to be well trained and the jumping thing is one of the things that I cant get her to stop doing. Time and effort will hopefully pay off fingers crossed

are you serious

Oh yeah I do know only too well about our breeds and all of the misunderstandings with them :rolleyes:

Another thing you could try if she does this is go straight backout of the room, wait outside and then open the door when she calms down, stand there until she calms down, push here away and tell her to sit. I know how frustrating it can be but sure isnt that what we signed up for

And to think i'm just in the process of sorting out puppy #2 :eek:

Wolfe Tone

When the dog goes to jump up, lift your knee to catch him and and push him away, then correct him. Keep doing it and eventually he will get the message.

are you serious

catch her... as in what way exactly?

Its not exactly easy with a doberman who i'm guessing at her age is probably 30/35kg right now and very fast...

Wolfe Tone

garkane wrote: »

catch her... as in what way exactly?

Its not exactly easy with a doberman who i'm guessing at her age is probably 30/35kg right now and very fast...

Just kinda lift your knee up so she kinda jumps into it and push her away and correct her. If the OP is a woman it could be hard to do tbf. But its dangerous having a dog doing that, could knock someone down.

are you serious

Oh yeah I know that only too well about the jumping, I had something similar happen me during last week my fella last week while out walking took me right off my feet running past me with the lead still on lead was wrapped around my foot, I didnt move quick enough and boom flat on my back TWICE in 2 days :P He hadnt a clue what happened he just felt what would have been like a tug and kept running lol

gregers85

I have a german shepherd she's 2yrs now but I had the same trouble with her when she was younger! She would jump up on anyone to say hello! I was very conscious of how big she was going to get and of perceptions people have of certain dog breeds!! So i really wanted to nip it in the butt!! I used a combination of 3 of the techniques above, when i entered the room i would ignore her completely if she jumped up id use my knee to push her away from my body, grap her put her into a sit position and give a firm SIT command! Now when i enter the room she runs to me 100mph and sits down right infront of me head up waiting for me to say hello!! a quick rub under her jaw nd she runs around excited! And when were playing if i tap my chest she knows then she can jump up for affection!! I also bring her to obedience classes once a week I think this helped an awful lot, it might be worth looking into finding some local classes!

Graces7

A spray bottle is a great help; you know, the garden misters. Most dogs hate it in their face and it stops them easily. Collie here responded very well to that.