New fur-mom coming in :)

[mrsd2006]

At puppy camp we learned that or the jumping, you are supposed to turn around and not acknowledge her at all until she has "four on the floor"- all four paws. Don't look at her, don't talk to her, nothing.

Not sure about the barking. My puppy has just started it lately and it's drving me up the wall. She's usually barking because she wants my older dog's attention, so I just try and redirect her focus elsewhere.

[pinkballoons]

For barking, we have an "enough" command. We introduced it like any other command; once the dog quiets down after saying enough, give a treat/click/reward. We've backed off the treats now, and their reward is a "thank you," which is our equivalent of a "good dog."
Some barking is okay with me. I like that my dogs bark to alert me to something. I'm home alone often at night, so I let them bark for a few seconds at a noise outside, then I have them stop. Bently has actually barked to wake me up from a nap when Petey started chewing on an ink pen. He "tattles" from time to time, which I appreciate.

For jumping, we practice by tethering the dogs to a door or heavy piece of furniture by leash. We approach in a variety of ways: excited, carrying stuff, etc. If they jump, we turn, walk away, and ignore for at least 15 seconds. If they keep four on the floor, they get attention.

[straymo]

Ditto pp on the jumping issue. Our Lily is an excited jumper and used to jump on us or anyone else when she was excited such as when we came home.

You have to be 100% on this, but we completely ignored her, turned our back, walked away, did not speak or look at her until she settled down and put all 4 on the floor. When then would tell her sit (still while not engaging in her) and would only give her attention when she sat for us. If she jumped up, we retreated.

We do now allow her to jump and spin when we first get home, but she is to never touch us and we do not acknowledge her at all when she's doing it. She knows she won't get attention until she stops, but its her energy release when she is uncrated.

[setsail1999]

Happy Gotcha Day! My older dog would also bark like crazy (actually this high pitched whine that was like an ice pick to my brain) but was friendly with dogs when they got close.

When approaching another dog the second she starts fixating on another dog step in front with the leg closest to her and quickly pivot into her so she has to turn around with you. The second she settles or looks at you in confusion reward and praise and turn back around. This teaches her that for the walk to continue she needs to settle down. We also reward for passive looks. In a calm place where she can see other dogs every time she looks at a dog immediately praise and reward (look at her body language so you can tell that she is aware of the other dog). If she won't take food or immediately starts barking you are too close so back up a few until she is calm and start over. we call it the "look at that" game. You can sit outside with her and practice while she is on leash in the yard and dogs walk by. It helps desensitize them to the appearance of a strange dog.

In tight situations we use a "watch me" command. Start by holding a treat in front of your face and reward for looking at you. Then hold a treat out with your arm stretched out. The second your dog stops fixating on that treat and makes eye contact in confusion praise and reward with a treat from another hand. Our word is "eyes" and I tap my nose. I use this command when I see another dog approaching but I don't have the time or space to work on the body blocking. I also use it when I need to get him quickly through a crowd or I see a trigger up ahead like a person running or a bike.

A combination of all 3 exercises should help desensitize her and help her contain her excitement some at seeing other dogs. Hope that helps!

[mmp]

Check out the forums on germanshepherds.com

[ndolehan]

Our Dakota is also a people jumper.

We were kinda lax about this, since she's smaller - but once I became pregnant and her paws/head reach my belly we decided we needed to stop the jumping.

When I get home, I completely ignore her until she sits nicely. She can whine a little, but no barking either. The first few times I did need to say "sit" while ignoring her. It took about a month for her to do this every time I get home but she sits ASAP now. When she sits and is still she gets EXTRA love and attention!

We're still working on when visitors come over. Most don't know the "ignore" rule. Like my MIL . But she's getting MUCH better.