help with jumping dog

RobAMerc

hi all.

we got a new pup some time ago and she is a fantastic, happy, playful, loving mutt. But we are having an issue I am worried is going to cause us big issues if its not sorted.

Our dog gets super excited when she meets people and will jump up on them. It would just be an annoyance except she is a giant breed and at 6 months is already striking fear into some and delight in others ( no need to say which one I am worried about )

We've been training her to come when called, heel when walking etc. But no matter what we do when she sees a new person, or someone new calls to the house ( only started again recently ) she goes mental, jumping up on them and still peeing on lots of people.

Our training involves proactively getting her attention in these situations but when she is off the lead we have 0 control and her first reaction is to jump up on everyone in sight.

Any time we feel we are getting somewhere, she jumps up on one person who respond positively and we are off all over again.

Any thoughts on what our plan could be ?

incidentally she doesnt really jump up on any of us, and never me.

coathanger

“Our training involves proactively getting her attention in these situations but when she is off the lead we have 0 control and her first reaction is to jump up on everyone in sight.”

If you have 0 control of her of lead , you need to keep her on lead when in public places , otherwise this will lead to people complaining to you about her behaviour, also other dogs might not like your dog jumping on their owners, which could escalate quite quickly into a dog fight , which you or your dog won’t be equipped for.

My friend has a very lively labradoodle, who does exact the same thing & as nearly knocked me on occasions when I wasn’t prepared for her !
I now turn my back on her & ask her for a sit , when she sits , I turn around & pet her then, it works for me , because I don’t want her jumping on me , but she jumps all over everybody else Cos my friend let’s her 🙄

RobAMerc

coathanger wrote: »

“Our training involves proactively getting her attention in these situations but when she is off the lead we have 0 control and her first reaction is to jump up on everyone in sight.”

If you have 0 control of her of lead , you need to keep her on lead when in public places , otherwise this will lead to people complaining to you about her behaviour, also other dogs might not like your dog jumping on their owners, which could escalate quite quickly into a dog fight , which you or your dog won’t be equipped for.

My friend has a very lively labradoodle, who does exact the same thing & as nearly knocked me on occasions when I wasn’t prepared for her !
I now turn my back on her & ask her for a sit , when she sits , I turn around & pet her then, it works for me , because I don’t want her jumping on me , but she jumps all over everybody else Cos my friend let’s her ��

Is there advice on how we can train her to stop doing this in here somewhere ?

I know some people dont like it, and as a result we only let her off the lead when the puppy park is very quiet as the people there generally are more understanding.

fits

There’s a really good book called easy peasy puppy squeezy that will cover all aspects of behaviour. I can’t tell you what it says on this though as I loaned my copy.

florawest

Our golden Labrador was the same and a neighbour said that when they jump on someone as she did to him to say nothing to her ( our lab) but gently take her front paw and give it a little squeeze and hold for a little while , certainly worked for him but I know it wont stop issue of jumping initially.

Our poor girl is 14 now and not great on the back legs but still a great barker.

Maybe a bottle of water with few little holes on the lid and give her a dash of water when you see it about to happen, that was another tip for dogs who like to chase cyclists, strange fascination with the wheels.

heldel00

Spray bottle of water. Just give a little squig of water in the face when she jumps up on someone.

muddypaws

It's very difficult to teach dog to NOT do something, so the easiest thing to do is teach an alternative behaviour. Usually for greeting people, that would be to sit for attention. If a dog's bum is on the floor, they can't jump up.

You need to enlist the help of your friends and/or family, but you start the training. Lots of treats when she sits, and she gets no attention if she jumps up.

I don't tell the dog to sit, they work it out for themselves.

VonVix

heldel00 wrote: »

Spray bottle of water. Just give a little squig of water in the face when she jumps up on someone.

I just want to highlight that this isn't a good idea, especially for a large breed. You can inadvertently teach a dog that people are bad, leading to reactivity towards strangers. This doesn't teach a dog not to jump up. OP, please don't do this.

What you need to train is an incompatible behaviour, sitting/all four feet on the ground. Often we need to not looking at training as "how do I stop X behaviour?" what we need to look at is "how do I teach my dog to do X instead?" then you will have more success.

DBB

No point in teaching them with squirty bottles, paw squeezing, or any of that stuff... you've already identified that she doesn't jump up on ye, so to get squirty bottles or paw squeezes to work, you'll have to get strangers to use them. That's hardly practical. There's also the major issue that aversive training will cause some sort of fall-out down the line... you don't want your dog to develop any reason to dislike or distrust strangers. That's a much bigger issue to sort out.
So, I'd not only reiterate what muddypaws and Von Vix have already advised, I'd also encourage you to start some "real life training" with your pup. Teach her to sit in response to you doing increasingly sillier, louder stuff.... do a little dance, ask her to sit. Repeat until she preemptively sits when you start to dance. Do the same whilst swinging your arms and legs. Do the same whilst screeching and mimicking what people do when they DON'T want a big dog to come near them or jump up on them. Do the same whilst mimicking what people do when they DO want a big dog to come near them or jump up on them.
In short, teach your pup to sit no matter what you're doing, then as muddypaws suggests, draft in others to pretend to be strangers doing any/all of the above, so that pup generalises her skills from you to anyone else.
Also, yes, it is important not to allow her to rehearse unwanted behaviour whilst you're teaching her new stuff, so do keep her on-lead, and stop allowing her access to people who are undoing your work... if you can't avoid them, keep pup on-lead around them, and only allow them to approach her if she's sitting. If she stands up, they need to be asked to back off... pup will not get their attention unless she's sitting. That's the rule!

tk123

fits wrote: »

There’s a really good book called easy peasy puppy squeezy that will cover all aspects of behaviour. I can’t tell you what it says on this though as I loaned my copy.

I love this book. His advice is what has been suggested - don’t let the pup practice the behaviour ie don’t have her off lead when she might jump, and teach a desired/mutuality exclusive behaviour ie sit - they can’t jump up if they’re sitting.

OP I’m afraid a larger breed dog will lose their “puppy license” earlier than smaller dogs so while a smaller dog will get away with it for longer a larger breed won’t. For every person who’s happy for the dog to jump on them you’ll have at least another 50 who aren’t.

fits

tk123 wrote: »

I love this book. His advice is what has been suggested - don’t let the pup practice the behaviour ie don’t have her off lead when she might jump, and teach a desired/mutuality exclusive behaviour ie sit - they can’t jump up if they’re sitting.

OP I’m afraid a larger breed dog will lose their “puppy license” earlier than smaller dogs so while a smaller dog will get away with it for longer a larger breed won’t. For every person who’s happy for the dog to jump on them you’ll have at least another 50 who aren’t.

I bought it a year ago but loaned it out. Pup coming Friday so I’ve just bought another copy!

tk123

fits wrote: »

I bought it a year ago but loaned it out. Pup coming Friday so I’ve just bought another copy!

There’s a doggy one too lol. If you set up a price watch on Amazon they often drop to £4