Jumping Dog

[humpforfree]

I have a 3.5 year old lab/pit mix. She is... easily excitable and loves people. She is well trained with my husband and I- she doesn't jump, she listens to commands and chills out.

BUT whenever we have a guest or we go somewhere it's like she loses her ever loving mind. The worst part is the jumping on anyone who comes to our door. She isn't dangerous- just wants rubs & to give kisses, but that could end badly with someone afraid/not prepared/elderly and it's just plain embarrassing. Most people encourage the behavior by petting and acknowledging her and saying that it's okay when I try to get her to stop, so that clearly does not help the situation. I'm afraid putting her away in a room won't help either because then she will really never get used to people...

Any ideas?

[katietornado]

We have a dog who's a huge overreactor when people knock at the door. He's very sweet and is a wonderful boy, but yeah. Very similar.

We prepare people. If we know people are coming over, we prepare them that he will be barking and excited and they should turn their backs on him when he misbehaves. Of course, if there are more fragile people coming over, we put him in his crate where he can see the front door, but can't knock anyone over.

[Deleted]

My dog also loves greeting people. Sometimes I crate her if necessary, but for most guests I give them a heads up in advance to turn around when she comes at them and not to reward her behavior. My in-laws unfortunately don't listen and say they "don't mind" when she jumps and tries to get pets, but I don't care if *they* don't mind, I mind! It's hard to teach when other people only reinforce the jumping. When my parents come over, I crate her and let her out only when she calms down, which takes a few minutes. Then when she comes out, she's excited but doesn't jump, just furiously wags her tail.

[cmeon]

If people are standing in our house, a dog or puppy needs to sit if they want attention. We have young kids and HUGE puppies (in addition to our senior dachshunds), so, it was imperative that they learned to sit- even when they're excited- when they greet people. They're still young and I'm sure we'll struggle with it at times as they go through the more challenging ages, but, their booties hit the floor the second someone walks through the door now. They have to sit to go through doors, get their leash put on, before their food dishes go down, if they're on leash and their handler stops- it's lots and lots of consistency that's gotten us here.

If particular people are derailing your training, I would crate him until he settled down enough to greet them more politely. You can also leash him and step on the leash, giving him just enough slack to sit, if he just needs a reminder.

[moosh]

I agree with PPs that using a leash or crating the dog until they are more calm and then letting them out to greet the guest is the best idea. My chesapeake is a jumper and we usually keep her in another room until the guest is in and seated and then we let her out and keep ahold of her and repeatedly say "down, down" and she usually takes the hint.

[dearprudence]

Something else we did which helped with jumping was training the dog to do something else. For us it was "get a toy." So when guests came, her energy was redirected to getting a toy, then bringing it over. In most cases, people are much happier to be greeted by a dog who wants them to throw a toy, than jumped on.

[humpforfree]

Thanks everyone! We will have to try all of these out. Before we were under construction, we would often put her outside when someone came over & then she had run a lot of the sillies out before she came inside. Now, i am always struggling to hold her down and juggle the baby and she acts like she's never heard "off" or "sit". Ugh.

[cmeon]

So much easier said than done with a baby in the home, I know- but, you should probably do some obedience refreshers with her. Try feeding her dinner a few times a week by hand, just have her sit, stand, down, stay, shake, rollover, whatever you want her to firm up. It can really, really help. Obedience is one of those things that needs practice throughout life, it's easy to let it slip a little when you've got a "pretty good dog".

[humpforfree]

Jul 29, 2014 18:14:50 GMT -5 cmeon said:

So much easier said than done with a baby in the home, I know- but, you should probably do some obedience refreshers with her. Try feeding her dinner a few times a week by hand, just have her sit, stand, down, stay, shake, rollover, whatever you want her to firm up. It can really, really help. Obedience is one of those things that needs practice throughout life, it's easy to let it slip a little when you've got a "pretty good dog".

The thing is, she would do all of this perfectly for us (still does- she has to sit & wait until we give her permission to eat her food), it's when other people come that she flips out.

[cmeon]

Jul 29, 2014 18:38:09 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Jul 29, 2014 18:14:50 GMT -5 cmeon said:

So much easier said than done with a baby in the home, I know- but, you should probably do some obedience refreshers with her. Try feeding her dinner a few times a week by hand, just have her sit, stand, down, stay, shake, rollover, whatever you want her to firm up. It can really, really help. Obedience is one of those things that needs practice throughout life, it's easy to let it slip a little when you've got a "pretty good dog".

The thing is, she would do all of this perfectly for us (still does- she has to sit & wait until we give her permission to eat her food), it's when other people come that she flips out.

That's great- it's just a lot easier to make a dog obey when they're getting daily practice, and it does tend to get pushed aside when things get busier in the family. I know our older dogs got away with a lot more when the kids were babies, but, they are dachshunds, and it's simply easier to deal with poor behavior when you can pick the dogs up and cart them away easily. Not that that was the right way to handle it, just a reality of the way things go sometimes.

If you have someone that will practice with you (someone who would normally be jumped upon), recruit them for an afternoon.

[humpforfree]

Jul 29, 2014 20:12:49 GMT -5 cmeon said:

Jul 29, 2014 18:38:09 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

The thing is, she would do all of this perfectly for us (still does- she has to sit & wait until we give her permission to eat her food), it's when other people come that she flips out.

That's great- it's just a lot easier to make a dog obey when they're getting daily practice, and it does tend to get pushed aside when things get busier in the family. I know our older dogs got away with a lot more when the kids were babies, but, they are dachshunds, and it's simply easier to deal with poor behavior when you can pick the dogs up and cart them away easily. Not that that was the right way to handle it, just a reality of the way things go sometimes.

If you have someone that will practice with you (someone who would normally be jumped upon), recruit them for an afternoon.

I like the idea of recruiting someone to help us. H's parents are some of the worst offenders... Maybe it would be good practice for both them and the dog

[redheadbaker]

Jul 29, 2014 18:38:09 GMT -5 humpforfree said:

Jul 29, 2014 18:14:50 GMT -5 cmeon said:

So much easier said than done with a baby in the home, I know- but, you should probably do some obedience refreshers with her. Try feeding her dinner a few times a week by hand, just have her sit, stand, down, stay, shake, rollover, whatever you want her to firm up. It can really, really help. Obedience is one of those things that needs practice throughout life, it's easy to let it slip a little when you've got a "pretty good dog".

The thing is, she would do all of this perfectly for us (still does- she has to sit & wait until we give her permission to eat her food), it's when other people come that she flips out.

Dogs don't generalize. That's why you have to practice commands in a variety of places and situations, with and without other people present.

[caz1221]

Everyone else has given great advice, but I wanted to add that in addition to training and practicing, enforcing the rule (no jumping or any other rule) every single time is key. Dogs can't understand the idea of being "allowed" to jump on one person but not another. My pug is a certified therapy dog (we visit a local nursing home), so it is essential that he not jump (even at his small size, he could hurt an elderly person). When training him, I encountered many people who thought it was "fine" for him to jump and would try to encourage it by giving him attention. I was very firm in telling everyone he met that it is not fine with us and that he cannot get any attention until he is sitting nicely. If necessary, I walked him away from the person until he calmed down. If he jumped when we approached again, we walked away again. Rinse and repeat. Absolute consistency and lots of practice worked wonders - my dog now automatically sits down next to people he meets and waits for petting. Good luck!

ETA: If your dog rushes the door when visitors come over, you may find it helps to teach the "place" command - I taught my dog that "place" means he needs to go to his dog bed in the living room (which is away from the front door), and he cannot get off the bed until I release him.  Even if I don't tell him to go to his "place," I do not let him charge the door - I make him sit some distance from the door, and I don't open it until he's sitting.  If he gets up, I close the door (and ask the visitors to wait outside).

[humpforfree]

Jul 31, 2014 12:31:52 GMT -5 caz1221 said:

Everyone else has given great advice, but I wanted to add that in addition to training and practicing, enforcing the rule (no jumping or any other rule) every single time is key. Dogs can't understand the idea of being "allowed" to jump on one person but not another. My pug is a certified therapy dog (we visit a local nursing home), so it is essential that he not jump (even at his small size, he could hurt an elderly person). When training him, I encountered many people who thought it was "fine" for him to jump and would try to encourage it by giving him attention. I was very firm in telling everyone he met that it is not fine with us and that he cannot get any attention until he is sitting nicely. If necessary, I walked him away from the person until he calmed down. If he jumped when we approached again, we walked away again. Rinse and repeat. Absolute consistency and lots of practice worked wonders - my dog now automatically sits down next to people he meets and waits for petting. Good luck!

ETA: If your dog rushes the door when visitors come over, you may find it helps to teach the "place" command - I taught my dog that "place" means he needs to go to his dog bed in the living room (which is away from the front door), and he cannot get off the bed until I release him.  Even if I don't tell him to go to his "place," I do not let him charge the door - I make him sit some distance from the door, and I don't open it until he's sitting.  If he gets up, I close the door (and ask the visitors to wait outside).

This is all really great- thank you!