# How to stop pup from jumping up at greeters



## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

Samson jumps up on people occasionally, but usually stops when we tell him too. 

I have read though, that the best way to teach them not to is a knee to the chest. In fact, I believe that's how they got Marley to stop in the book "Marley & Me."


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## kra (Oct 2, 2006)

RickGibbs said:


> Samson jumps up on people occasionally, but usually stops when we tell him too.
> 
> I have read though, that the best way to teach them not to is a knee to the chest. In fact, I believe that's how they got Marley to stop in the book "Marley & Me."


I will be quick to type in here and second this method. My grandfather
had positive results with the knee, but a greeting stranger and meeting on a walk may not be able to do this before the golden has done a Michael Jordon.
A trainer at Purina also used the knee method. I took her class with my golden "Sandy." She also suggested to teach and use the "off" command.
(Not "down" but "off") and then with the "off" command quickly give the 
leash a strong tug downward. (When Sandy & Nug's were a young puppy as they were in the house I kept a short end of leather tie on their collar, long enough for us get ahold of for correction, but to short for them to use as a "chew'ie thing'y.") Once all four paws are grounded tell him to "sit" when he does then praise him as a bounus I would give them a treat. 
She also taught us to along with the voice command to snap our fingers.
Sandy and Nugget picked this up real fast. The very important key here, 
"Once they have done what you have asked follow that with praise and a reward / treat them! GR are quick fast learner's and want to please you, for the most part. :


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## Maggies mom (Jan 6, 2006)

I have always used the off command for jumping..... When we had guest come over I would put the dogs on leashes until they learned the command......


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

Charlie06 said:


> Charie is 6 months old. He is getting much better with pulling on the leash when we go for walks. Whenever he starts to pull, I just stop for a few seconds, then start walking again. That is working great, but there are two problems we are having. One is that whenever someone approaches him and wants to pet him he flips out and jumps all over them. I get him to sit first but right after that he's all over them. When people come to my house I just tell them to ignore him and he eventually stops. But when we are walking, people just walk right up and want to pet him and doing the puppy talk, which really gets him going.


Have him sit when someone wants to pet him and _physically hold him there _with a hand around his collar or harness, and a hand on his rear end. Repeat the sit command to reinforce what you want him to do. It's hard for them to sit still when they're excited! But just be consistent and try to get people to help you out by not letting them pet your dog until he sits.





Charlie06 said:


> The 2nd is that he'll be walking really good and then all of a sudden start jumping up at us biting and pulling on the leash and thrashing like crazy. I don't know what to do at that point so I just stop and let him freak out, and then he walks good again. It's quite embarrassing.


Augie was doing that at one point--it was quite an embarrassing public spectacle  I tried everything I could think of to stop him from jumping up and biting and yanking on the leash and it just kept getting worse and worse until he was virtually unwalkable. He was actually yanking on it and trying to drag me backwards. I hit on the idea of getting a metal (chain) leash and bingo!... problem solved. I really wish I had had a camera the first time he tried to bite the metal leash.... he gave me a look like, "What the hey?!?" It was too funny. He never ever tried that again and walked like a perfect gentleman from then on. You might want to give it a try, as the chain leashes are pretty inexpensive.


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## Dog (Sep 26, 2006)

Is it wrong to just le her get on with it as she only does it at home with hubby (special greetings when he comes home)?

Hard to stop it as it's a special greeting...Not a constant behaviour problem.


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

Shirley said:


> Is it wrong to just le her get on with it as she only does it at home with hubby (special greetings when he comes home)?
> 
> .


It's not wrong if you like it!  We only try to change the _unwanted _behaviors.


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## Charlie06 (Feb 10, 2007)

Thank you........I will try the things you suggested. A chain leash sounds like it might do the trick.......I'll let you know how it goes. It's gotten worse since we got all this snow. He just goes nuts and it's really hard to control him on walks when people only shovel a very thin path.


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## LaurJen (Aug 10, 2006)

Charlie06 said:


> Thank you........I will try the things you suggested. A chain leash sounds like it might do the trick.......I'll let you know how it goes. It's gotten worse since we got all this snow. He just goes nuts and it's really hard to control him on walks when people only shovel a very thin path.



You could try draining his energy before you go for a walk by running him in the backyard first. Didn't work for us, though : And the whole time I was doing it I was thinking, "Wow, how stupid is this? I'm exercising my dog so I can take him for a walk..." LOL


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## Rocky (Dec 28, 2006)

What we do with Rocky is tell him to "sit" before the person comes into the door or the person walks up to him. And continue to make him sit. And to not let anyone pay attention to him unless he is sitting. Of course, this isn't going to happen overnight, but eventually he will get it. Rocky is only 17 weeks old and I have had quite a few people comment on how amazed they are that he doesn't jump up on them. But, this is something I worked hard on for weeks before he got it. I think the key is to get them to sit 'before' the person comes in or comes up to him. It is hard to get an excited dog to listen to you to sit, so get him to sit before the excitement begins. You will have to physically keep him in a sit at first, but eventually he will get it.

Good luck!


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## King (Feb 10, 2007)

Mines is 2.5 months old and this is what I have been doing. When i come home he is all excited and wants to jump on me, I ignore him within 1-2 minutes he then sits down. After he extends his paw out to me i shake it and then i greet him and say good boy and rub his head. Most of the time he gives me his paw 2-3 times and I do the same thing. After that hes good and goes on his way. The bad part to all this is my kids dont want to do this and lets him jump on them.

When i walk him I have taken him to see and get a feel for cars, kids playing, other dogs. MOST of the time he stays next to me and just watches. Hopefully he will get to the point to sit which he does sometimes with out me saying anyhting. So far so good compared to other dogs i have had in the past this one catches on quick sometime I feel its tooo easy. I took my dog to see an older GR thats tied up I was so happy mine just stood there and looked the other ones was the one excited and wanted to play. I didnt lket him play and we continued on with our walk. I dont want him thinking its okay to play with all dogs. 

The other thing is whens he sees me with the leash its time to go for a walk or toilet time. I fold it up put it in his mouth and I walk to the door as hes sitting there. Hes so excited to go outside that im having a hard time keeping him sitting there until I give the okay. He will walk to the door and sit there so i can put the leash on him. I HAVE NOT let him play outside yet with out a leash. Good or Bad I dont know I will one of these days

Hopefully over time this will come natural to him and do all this with out having to say anyhting to him. Hes been with me now 3 weeks. i only give commands when hes messing around and not focused. I try to give him time to think about what to do before I have to give a command.

He also sits there until its okay to eat. I have had dogs in the past knock down the bowl before i could set it down i dont want this one to do it since GR get big and stonger. At least the kids help me with this since its there chore to feed him and clean up after him when they are home. This is about the only training the kids help me with :doh:


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

> Charie is 6 months old. He is getting much better with pulling on the leash when we go for walks. Whenever he starts to pull, I just stop for a few seconds, then start walking again.


That is a GREAT way to do it and I'm glad it's working well.



> whenever someone approaches him and wants to pet him he flips out and jumps all over them. I get him to sit first but right after that he's all over them. When people come to my house I just tell them to ignore him and he eventually stops. But when we are walking, people just walk right up and want to pet him and doing the puppy talk, which really gets him going.


I know that people can suddenly appear out of nowhere in your dog's face, but for now, try to intercept them before they get there. It's really setting him up for failure to have him in an exciting environment and have a new person speaking at a pitch that is guaranteed to excite him. Eventually you'll have trained him to stay calm for petting, but until then try to keep people away from him. If one of them does get past you, tell them that he's in training and would they mind letting him do his job (most people know to stay away from a working guide dog, so that will probably make them leave you alone .

Then you would teach him to remain calm while someone was approaching, by starting with a person far away (you should have a general idea of where he starts to go crazy, start with the person several feet back from that) and rewarding him several times for sitting calmly, then having the person take a step forward and reward him several times for sitting calmly, then another step forward, and so on. After several sessions of this the person will be close enough to touch them, so have them put their hand out, then move their hand closer, then tap him somewhere he doesn't mind but that doesn't make him go crazy (Boo just goes crazy if you touch his head, so if I was doing this with him I wouldn't want the person to touch his head at first), then touch him for longer, then touch him in different places, then talk softly, then talk in a normal tone, then talk quietly but high-pitched, then loud and high-pitched, etc. You could start this with someone in your family, but you'll want to go back through it with someone the dog knows well.

If during this training he starts getting excited when the person moves closer, go back to an easier step with the person farther away, then spend more time rewarding each step before they move closer again. Then you can start letting strangers pet him, but ask that they try to keep their voice quiet and be calm. If he starts getting excited with them then ask them to ignore him and walk away.



> The 2nd is that he'll be walking really good and then all of a sudden start jumping up at us biting and pulling on the leash and thrashing like crazy. I don't know what to do at that point so I just stop and let him freak out, and then he walks good again. It's quite embarrassing. He listens really good most of the time but then out of nowhere he turns into pyscho puppy. I hear a lot of people are using the prong collar but I'm scared I will hurt him with it and would that prevent him from jumping on people?


It's not all of a sudden. Maybe there is some specific behavior from you or something happens in the environment to trigger it. Or maybe he's just getting bored. Try rewarding him more frequently for walking on a loose leash, throwing in some sits and whatever other tricks he knows (my dogs will spin away from me while they're walking, weave between my legs, come and sit in front of me, heel, go in circles to either side, etc).


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## goldenhvn (Jan 2, 2007)

When Josie jumps at people at the door we just tell her "down" "no jump" she got the message and many times and she listens. On a leash, this seems to work well...When someone walks up step on the leash so when she jumps she'll correct herself.


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## Charlie06 (Feb 10, 2007)

katieanddusty said:


> That is a GREAT way to do it and I'm glad it's working well.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thank you so much. I will definately be working on this with him. It seems the snow we got just makes him crazy and gets him even more excited. Everything you suggested makes total sense, so I have to stop being a pushover and get to work...LOL....I realize that we started this behavior because we would get him all excited and let him jump all over us, so it's not his fault. I got a lot of work to do so thanks again.


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## Carsonsdaddy (Nov 1, 2006)

This is what happens everyday when I get home. Carson comes barreling down the hallway towards me. Usually he sits his butt down, because he knows I won't aknowledge/pet him until he does... Sometimes though he forgets, but hey, he's only 5.5months. When that happens i just ignore him until he sits, then he can have his lovin's. Once he gets his loves, he settles down....a little.


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## RickGibbs (Dec 16, 2005)

Samson doesn't jump much...but from the moment we walk in the door, he's sitting at our feet whining...waiting for attention. Cosmo seems to understand he's second, but he's very vocal in waiting. He'll circle behind Samson, barking, until it's his turn....


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## kra (Oct 2, 2006)

When I walk in the door, Nugget is back a few feet, sitting and tail slam'n into the baseboard. And Rudy (our guest Lab) is right behind Nug's. I never have a reaction with them until my coat, and brief case are in the closet.
And they are in a laid-back mode. Then it's ear, tummy rubs and hugs all-around.


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## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

Tucker doesn't jump up, he just pees all over the place.....lol.


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## GoldenBelle (Feb 17, 2007)

Hi, I'm new to this forum.I just wanted to say everything mentioned sounds helpful. We just started training with our puppy Belle who is 13 weeks old. The trainer said when they jump to ignore them, pay no attention, until they stop and then praise them. She said you have to ask everyone to ignore them when they jump up. She said also to get family and friends to come over and help you with it. I have a problem with Belle biting, tugging the leash when I am walking her. She is a wild girl on the leash. The trainer told me to step on the leash until she stops then praise. I have been doing that and Belle is confused by it,and will stop for a bit, sometimes even a few minutes before she starts the attack on the leash again. It probably looks strange when I am standing on her leash but if she quits this behavior, I don't care.


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## foreveramber (Feb 25, 2007)

RickGibbs said:


> Samson jumps up on people occasionally, but usually stops when we tell him too.
> 
> I have read though, that the best way to teach them not to is a knee to the chest. In fact, I believe that's how they got Marley to stop in the book "Marley & Me."


it does work. be careful you dont get him in the jaw though...


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## Kirby'sMom (Feb 26, 2007)

I think I need a chain leash!! Kirby is a year old now and practically unwalkable as he'll walk about a 1/2 a block and then play tug of war with the leash. It's not enjoyable to walk him at all! He has ruined, bitten in half, a leather leach and, as of two nights ago, a web leash. Ugh!!


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## Kirby'sMom (Feb 26, 2007)

I think I need a chain leash!! Kirby is a year old now and practically unwalkable as he'll walk about a 1/2 a block and then play tug of war with the leash. It's not enjoyable to walk him at all! He has ruined, bitten in half, a leather leash and, as of two nights ago, a web leash. Ugh!!


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## Kirby'sMom (Feb 26, 2007)

Ooops, don't know why that happened!! Two postings of the same thing. :doh:


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## Bailey & Bentley (Feb 25, 2007)

I have the same problem with Bailey. When he sees someone on a walk he is like a fish out of water. He jumps and twists and really high too. I have always wondered what the heck I can do to. It is reaaaally embarrassing!! So thanks for posting this thread.


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## katieanddusty (Feb 9, 2006)

You can try to keep him interested by rewarding more frequently for walking nicely on the leash and including other tricks he knows (stopping and sitting, spinning, etc). If you have to, I've heard of giving a time-out by taking his collar and giving him the slack of the leash so he can't pull, but it's better to be proactive and keep him from getting bored enough to tug on the leash in the first place.


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## audreyannlow (Mar 5, 2007)

I had that problem too - it's the people, not the dog. You can have friends help you desensitize the pup to petting by having the dog excited about obedience exercises (eg: stay and RUN away from him) while the friends pet, first without saying anything, than working it up to a full-fledged "ooooh, cutie-wootie-woooooo". In the meantime, avoid meeting people in public. If you do, put a vest on the dog that says "IN TRAINING - DO NOT PET". People will ignore the sign and still try to pet. Ignore them and get _away_ as quickly as possible. If someone is polite enough to ask, explain that not all owners want their pets petted for one reason or another (eg: dog in pain, elderly dog, police dog, SAR dog, or disabled person with service dog - in your case, pet in training). Oh, and a lot of people will mistake your pup for a service dog in training, btw. If you have time to explain otherwise, then do; otherwise just focus on heeling your dog away - he'll be much easier to control that way than if you try and get him to sit still.


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## DaisyMay's mom (Feb 27, 2007)

*my advice*

I'm trying the slight knee to the chest move when Daisy jumps up on me. I have heard a lot of people do this and it helps. I do it VERY LIGHTLY so not to hurt her but let her know that jumping is not acceptable. of course she does it anyway. Its cute at 15 lbs but at 70 it won't be so cute.:crossfing


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## WoodysMum (Mar 13, 2007)

Hi We always make woody who is 5 months sit when someone comes to the door. We dont open the door untill he is and is calm and then we give him a treat. He's very good at this he tends to only jump up on us and is polite to our guests. Give him the treat as soon as he sits. We had a weirmarner who was a nightmare with jumping on guests, we solved this by leaving a lead on him and as soon as he tried to jump we would stand on the lead. This worked really well as he was very stubborn. Good luck!!


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

Kirby'sMom said:


> I think I need a chain leash!! Kirby is a year old now and practically unwalkable as he'll walk about a 1/2 a block and then play tug of war with the leash. It's not enjoyable to walk him at all! He has ruined, bitten in half, a leather leach and, as of two nights ago, a web leash. Ugh!!


KirbysMom, I wouldn't use a chain leash for this because they can get a tooth caught in it. When out on walks and your golden begins to do this, give a correction by way of pop on lead and a "NO" command. Keep going, give as many corrections as need be and keep going. He's gained control now by this, and he knows it, if he holds the lead he is walking you then and he knows it. He has full control of the walk. I would use a standard short lead preferably a good soft leather for training. What you are seeing now is him being dominent over you on walks. Will your golden "Heel"? If he is not trained for this, go all the way back to the the beginning and train for it to gain control of your position within the pack. 

As for the prong collar hurting a six month old puppy, no.....it will not hurt him if used correctly. The key is to give the corrections when needed, or else no matter what collar it will not work. This is the purpose behind the tools, they do not train the puppy...but they do reinforce a command given and have to be used in that manner or else they will not work as intended and you will not get the results your after. Right now those that are out there wanting to pet him and reach down and get him all excited are reinforcing the jumping, I would work on set ups for him and only with people that you can work with before hand and explain what your working on, and explain to them what they are NOT to do....such as baby talk, and petting, etc. But please, no matter what collar you choose for working with your puppy, learn how to use it first, ok.


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