# Jumping woes



## MaureenM (Sep 20, 2011)

Awww, what a pretty girl! It sounds like you're doing and have tried all the right things. Wondering if you had her sit or down stay before the guests are let in the house if that might help. Treat her frequently as long as she is staying while the guests come in and say hello to her. With Finley, if I put her in a sit or down stay she was more apt to pay attention to me. It did require that someone else open the door so that she had my undivided attention...That being said, we still have to remind her not to jump esp. if it's someone new or someone she hasn't seen in a long time coming over. Now she jumps and cries or whoo's around the people rather then on them, but given an opportunity I'm sure she will jump. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in here. Be patient, she'll get there


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## Leslie B (Mar 17, 2011)

At a year, she is still very much a puppy (teenager) and while she might know that it is wrong, it is too tempting to get up on people. When puppies are very small we almost always bring them up to our faces but when they are only a few months older we expect them to stay away from our faces unless we go to them. Many dogs struggle with this. So, first you have to make sure that you do not give any positive reinforcement for her jumping - ever. Every time she jumps she gets a firm NO and then you take her (by her collar) to her crate for 15 minutes. For a problem jumper, I would also use the next few weeks to set up situations every few days where she the temptation to jump is high and you can correct her. Setting up a situation where you know the dog will fail is not mean as it is the best way to show them what behaviors are not wanted. 

I would also find a specific time/place/behavior where the dog does get petted and have her face next to yours. From puppyhood, I have had my dogs sit quietly in front of me before I would pet/love on them. This encourages even the youngest pup to come to the front position and sit. It keeps all 4 feet on the floor and jumping is easily extinguished.


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## Claudia M (Aug 8, 2012)

At 9 months they are full of energy. Do you have any place to run her and let her get some steam out before you have visitors? 
Also maybe starting small, with one or two visitors after she had a little run/exercise.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

When people express their concerns and frustrations to me about their dog jumping up on them and strangers, my first question is 'What exactly do you want your dog TO do when greeting you or your guests?' followed by 'Have you taken the time to teach them that?' The response is most often silence and head shakes, indicating they have never quite thought about it like that. Invariably they answer with more of a question 'Sit?' - okay we can work with that.

Teaching a dog to greet politely is fundamentally about 'self control', dogs are not born with it, they need us to teach them how, when and where a bit of (or a lot of) self control is in order, it comes with practice, patience and maturity. 

Focus on teaching your pup what you want her to do. Start with someone she knows, in a quiet environment (set her up to succeed) have her on leash, step on it about half way, so that she can sit but preventing her from jumping up. Cue her to sit, (praise/reward the sit) and ask the person to calmly and slowly approach. If she breaks the sit, the person stops moving and resumes only when she is sitting again. In the early stages if she breaks the sit, ask for the sit again, and reward for it. After a few trials, she may begin to anticipate the 'sit' cue, and sit automatically when she sees the person has stopped moving, if/when she does, this is a 'light bulb' moment for her, give her a jackpot (several treats in a row, fed rapidly, but one at a time). She will soon catch on that sitting makes the person come closer, and breaking the sit makes them stop. It is key that the person not reward her with attention in any way until or unless your pup has held the sit as the person approaches, and remember to praise/reward when she is getting it right. Once the person is close enough, then have them calmly greet your pup. If she gets too excited and breaks the sit, the person should back off, or turn away, if you are firmly standing on the leash she will be unable to follow or jump up, and wait for her to sit again to resume the greeting. 
Practice in a quiet environment until she consistently sitting and staying calm while the person approaches and rewards her with attention. Then work on helping her generalize her behavior by setting up new situations (someone coming in through the door, or entering the room), moving to new locations (another room, outside in the backyard, on the street) and enlisting the help of new people, remembering that she needs a chance to relearn what is expected of her each time something in the environment changes.
Be patient, be consistent, she is learning a new behavior and 'self control' which is tough. Reward her (quiet praise, a treat, some pets) for getting it right, don't punish/correct if she makes a mistake, just 'reset', (get the 'sit') and try again, she is 'learning' she doesn't already 'know'.
'Leave it' and 'Wait' or 'Stay' are skills that we can teach to help build and practice self control.


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

For some dogs, like mine, jumping is self-rewarding. He does pretty well with the jump-ignore-sit-pet thing, but a little control with the leash helps a lot. I did figure out though, that he needed to learn to control himself, and my keeping him on a short leash didn't teach him anything. But - importantly - it kept him off people. So it's a balance. We are still working on this, but I had a lot of success with taking him to a lot of places and meeting lots of people. I did have to brace myself for the occasional fail, and I was clear with people that he was In Training. The more people he meets, the less special each one becomes. My son came home for Christmas from college this year and remarked how much calmer he was. Casper also settles down fairly quickly now after guests arrive. 

The interesting thing I discovered when I let him meet lots of people is that he reacts to different people in different ways. Some people, he'll just sit next to them so quietly. Others, he wiggles himself into a puddle. And then this one guy, Casper decided he was strange (he was), and didn't want to greet him. I also discovered that even though he gets really excited to meet people, he's also happy greet them for only a short time. There is usually a tiny break when he will look over to me, and if I call him back at that precise second, he'll come back happily and we can move on.

The gentle leader and halti works better for learning greetings, at least for us. Better than the wonder walker harness or collar.


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## Abby girl (May 26, 2013)

Thanks so much for everyone's responses - I appreciate it. We'll keep working on this! :crossfing


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