# Jumping and biting



## bsacchetti (Mar 2, 2019)

My Golden is 9 months old . He constantly jumps on myself and anyone that comes into the house . He won’t stop no matter what I say or do . He also bites my hands and the back of my feet when I walk . I’m at my wits end. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Welcome to the forum. 9 months is a challenging age for a Golden Retriever puppy. If you search the Forum for adolescent dog problems you'll find lots of company. 

Can you provide a little more info on your situation? How much exercise does your dog get each day? Have you taken any obedience classes, or worked on obedience exercises at home? Is he crate-trained or does he have free-range in the home? Is he alone for long periods while you work? Is this a new problem or has he been jumping and biting for months? Are you in contact with his breeder for support? Sorry to sound so nosy, but there are many factors that contribute to behavior problems in adolescent puppies. I think you'll receive excellent advice on getting this under control if you share a little information on what you've done with him since bringing him home.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

I'm going to guess you have not attended any obedience classes. This behavior should have been corrected back when he was a puppy. Remember this pups only skills are to be a puppy. Like anyone else in life, they need someone to teach them how to do something new. I'm sure crazy cuteness was adored when he was a 15 lb bundle of fuzz.... you taught him this is an acceptable behavior. 

There are several recent threads with pups about this age with lots of good advice, I'll let you search them out.

Bottom line is if you have never trained a puppy before you need to join a good obedience class and learn how. See if you can find a good training class where the instructors compete with their dogs. If you apply what YOU learn in class you will be amazed at how well behaved your pup will quickly become.

Until this happens, put your pup in a crate before guest arrive, no self rewarding behaviors. Golden pups are very smart and respond to positive training. You can't correct a behavior when he doesn't know the behavior you want. Right now he has no idea what you are expecting him to do and been allowed to do the behavior he knows.

When my pup arrived at 4 months she was leaping at my shoulders, pulling at my hands and clothes. When I sat in the chair and gave a belly rub I was teaching a calm behavior that made me happy. I ignored the crazy. She loved the attention and at 7 months still likes to lay at my feet or lay in the chair to get belly rubs. The next time she leaped with excitement I gently positioned he into a sit position and told her how good she was. That's all it took, next person she met she ran up to them and set down to get some attention. Encourage the good stuff, no one likes to be wrong all the time.

It's really simple, capture a behavior you like and reward. When all 4 feet are on the ground give some love. They must be given the chance to learn the new behavior before expecting them to do it when they are through the roof with excitement. When they come running turn your back and as soon as they are quiet, reward. This is only the beginning but the dog is not the problem, he needs a teacher so go for it! He can't read a book to learn what acceptable behavior is, work with him.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

As mentioned above, there are multiple things going on here, so fixing this problem (and yes, it is a problem) will require you to commit to a plan that tackles the issue from a few different angles. If you really want to stop it, you need to be consistent and work on it every single day.

1) Formal obedience classes for the next year or two. Your dog needs help to learn what you expect from him. Going to class and having an experienced teacher show you how to do this the right way is the most effective way to do this. The classes are a commitment on your part to learning and they will keep you honest about daily practice, on leash with your puppy. It's the only way to make progress.

2) Practice on leash, with treats, write down what you work on in a notebook so you can track progress. Every day. It's only 10 minutes and if you practice before each meal you will be sure to make it part of the routine. I practice with my adult dogs before most meals even though they are ages 6 & 8. It's a lifelong habit to build.

3) Your young dog has to be alone while you work. However, while you're working he is sleeping. He is building up excess stores of mental and physical energy. He is literally overflowing with energy and joy and he needs help controlling it. Obedience is teaching him to control it but you have to set him up for success by giving him appropriate physical outlet. He needs daily aerobic exercise to burn off energy when he's been sleeping in his crate for 8 hours overnight and then 8 hours during the day while you're out working or running errands. Expecting good behavior from a puppy who doesn't get aerobic exercise every day is not fair. Leash walks around the block do not count.

Formal retrieving and field work, swimming, play dates with other nice young dogs where he can zoom around and wrestle are the best ways to help a young dog burn off energy in appropriate ways. It's up to you to figure out how to work with him and get this done. If you need to put him on a 30' long line and take him to a baseball field, school play ground or church field to exercise, make it happen. Do whatever you have to do to get him out and about.

There are plenty of mental games you can play in the house to work his brain. Kikopup on youtube is a fabulous resource to get started on tricks and skills you can work on at home. Get started today


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## Calibear (Dec 23, 2018)

My female spayed 9 month old rescue Golden is still jumping excessively on guests and now is back to getting a "witching" hour where she bites all over us and gets crazy. We rescued her at 4 months. 
*Training:*
I have already completed two weeks of puppy intensive training, 5 weeks of Family Dog 1, a Recall class, a Loose Leash class, and now am in Family Dog 2. 
*Daily Exercise:*
My husband plays 30 minutes of off leash ball with her first thing in the morning. She is crated and gets a 35 minute mid day walk. Crated again and then gets a late afternoon 30 minute walk plus 15-30 minutes of mental training, toy play. Get's backyard zoomies time.
In addition to mental training she eats her two meals out of a large plastic Kong or from a snarfle mat.
*Chew Time*
She has assorted antlers and knee bones and a weekly large rawhide also a frozen kong

We are using only positive rewards and work exactly as the trainer tells us for door greetings. When she misbehaves (jumps on people or bites) we give her a Time Out in a different crate not her bed. 

Regardless of all the above she just started crazily biting each night and not settling down and we still can't get her to stop jumping crazy at the door. Not all dogs are the same or bred with the same temperament etc. 

I'm sorry you are going through this. I know when it passes we will have great dogs. We just have to be patient and keep working through these next few difficult months.
 




bsacchetti said:


> My Golden is 9 months old . He constantly jumps on myself and anyone that comes into the house . He won’t stop no matter what I say or do . He also bites my hands and the back of my feet when I walk . I’m at my wits end. Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Calibear I'm sorry you are struggling but sounds like you are doing your part with classes. Just wanted to say that rawhide is a really poor choice. Dogs love them and used to give them years ago myself. Google it... they can't digest the rawhide and can't always pass what they eat. Sometimes they get lodged in their throats. Basically, not safe. Try a marrow bone instead.


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Calibear


Does not sound like you are doing anything wrong. You have an active puppy. Just be consistent.


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

OP: It's a training thing. Have you done formal training with your dog?


Calibear: Sounds like you're doing the right things. You don't say what you're doing to address the problem of greeting people at the door, but the thing that worked for us was to teach an alternative behaviour. We've taught both our dogs to go and sit on the staircase (which is near the front door) when the doorbell rings. We did this as an actual training exercise at home, when we didn't have visitors. One of us would ring the doorbell, and the other would direct the dog to the stairs, have him sit and then reward. Over time it became an automatic response - the doorbell rings, the dog barks then goes and sits on the stairs. You have to be very consistent and practise a lot. More importantly, you shouldn't ask the dog for the behaviour in the presence of visitors until you're 100% sure he will comply. Otherwise, you're just reinforcing his non-compliance. It's been my experience that, for this kind of thing, you need a behaviour that can be trained when visitors aren't there; it's counter-productive to do your training when a visitor arrives, because the excitement and bustle of the arrival makes it much harder for the dog to concentrate.


As a general observation from someone who's taken hundreds of classes over the years: training classes work best if you practise the exercises at home as well. Dogs will often perform well in class and yet still be hellions at home. For every hour of class training, I would say we put in at least two hours of practice at home (or elsewhere).


Best of luck!


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## David Pearson (Aug 30, 2018)

Stuart (5 months old) is good at home during training, but is the class clown in the school. I think he gets excited away from the house meeting people. Our current plan is to take him everywhere with us, and not let people pet him unless he sits. This way it is not a big deal when we are away from the house. 

The jumping in the biting (not biting but grabbing my arm or ankle) that happens in the evening after work. I walk him during lunch and walk him again in the evening. When he jumps and grab my arm, I stand perfectly still with my arms wrap close to the body with my back toward him. He will then settle down when I do not respond to him.


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## Calibear (Dec 23, 2018)

Hi thanks for your response. We are training at home constantly, but I really like your idea of practicing with the real door bell. We go outside etc but haven't rang the bell. Thanks for the idea. 
We had been having her sit and "touch" she can touch a hand and sit for a treat. It was recommended by the trainer. It wasn't working so we have her go to her mat now. That is working better. Sometimes she appears all calm and gets treated and then like 10 minutes later starts jumping on the guest again. 



ceegee said:


> OP: It's a training thing. Have you done formal training with your dog?
> 
> 
> Calibear: Sounds like you're doing the right things. You don't say what you're doing to address the problem of greeting people at the door, but the thing that worked for us was to teach an alternative behaviour. We've taught both our dogs to go and sit on the staircase (which is near the front door) when the doorbell rings. We did this as an actual training exercise at home, when we didn't have visitors. One of us would ring the doorbell, and the other would direct the dog to the stairs, have him sit and then reward. Over time it became an automatic response - the doorbell rings, the dog barks then goes and sits on the stairs. You have to be very consistent and practise a lot. More importantly, you shouldn't ask the dog for the behaviour in the presence of visitors until you're 100% sure he will comply. Otherwise, you're just reinforcing his non-compliance. It's been my experience that, for this kind of thing, you need a behaviour that can be trained when visitors aren't there; it's counter-productive to do your training when a visitor arrives, because the excitement and bustle of the arrival makes it much harder for the dog to concentrate.
> ...


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