Now that the mornings are getting lighter, DH is meeting more people and dogs out on his early morning walk with both dogs. Yesterday he said Red had jumped up at someone. She has done it again this morning and DH said it was embarrassing as she put mud on the person’s coat. We know this person who is lovely and she is ok about it - she has a good sense of humour . However, we don’t want Red to do this. In the house, Red has been brill at greeting people except two friends who she still at times jumps up at. I have been working hard at stopping this - it’s mostly about training the two people - they tend to speak loudly and shout ‘no’ which excites Red. I have been very diplomatic at asking them to ignore her, turn their back on her, speak quietly, praise Red when she’s sitting etc etc. We are making good progress. I think the outdoors jumping is harder to stop and would welcome any advice. (This person outdoors is also loud).
Tatze has been a horror for this. She’s five next month. I lure her past people with tasty treats, it’s taken a long time but she comes to me now when we see a dogless person approaching. If they start talking to her all bets are off .
I have this problem, too. When you have a super-cute Labrador pup everyone tries to greet him enthusiastically and he tries to get right up to their face to love them back. I tell people not to pet him unless he has 4 paws on the floor, but it is not reliably successful. The worst this week was meeting a woman with 2 small dogs, a coffee cup and a garment of some sort. When she saw Caspar she picked up her dogs and stood still (with treats in pocket). He had not encountered this game before and didn't know the rules. First he jumped up to greet the dogs, knocking over the coffee, then he took the loose garment and thought he should maybe play with that. In my defence, this occurred just over a small hill so I didn't see her in time to put him back on the lead. Once he saw her his ears became 2 flappy ornaments... But she shouldn't have picked up her pooches, right?
One of my friends came last week and Red became a whirling dervish around her - even jumping into friend’s lap whilst she was sat on the sofa. I was mortified - our dogs don’t go on the sofas. I couldn’t work out why Red was so aroused until the friend produced a packet of cooked ham from her pocket (her dog’s treats). That explained it all .
You hit the nail right on the head with this! Nearly 2 years on I have a super beautiful (well I would say that I guess!) black Labrador, and guess what everyone still tries to greet her and she wants to get right up to their face and love them back. It's been the most frustrating thing ! The usual advice to sit before greeting was no good with Cassie, she would sit very well, poised to leap into peoples arms as she knew for sure that they wanted to get their hands on her Self doubt has never been her forte @Atemas , she has improved at lot lately, a while ago I started to use my clicker to reward keeping four feet on the ground, kind of a bit like LAt. which does seem to have helped. I think to there is an element of maturity creeping in, she used to do massive jumps skyward like a kangaroo but thinking about it this hasn't happened for a while.
Aah that’s really good. DH is not overly concerned and is ‘onto it’. I think a lot of it is her age. She gets very excited when given a kong and sometimes has to show it to all and sundry here - she will come to me body wagging away and sometimes jumps up. DH says ‘no jumping’ quite loudly - I think this is just white noise as far as she’s concerned. She will also come and jump (or try) on me if I sneeze. She’s still very much a puppy in so many respects.
I don't have any great advice @Atemas. Plum occasionally jumps and there is no rhyme or reason for it, although it's far, far less than it once was. And twice, like Red did with your friend, Plum has launched herself excitedly at people whilst they've been sat quietly on the sofa (my brother and my dad whilst at my folks' house). I still worry about her jumping at little kids so if I see them I either put her on the lead or, if we're far enough away, I'll distract her with a treat. The only person she will jump up at without fail is my neighbour up the road who encourages it because she loves Plum so much and wants to kiss her and cuddle her and Plum loves her back. She doesn't mind mud or anything else cos she's got two big old choccy boys herself. Interestingly, they never jump up at me as I'm calm around them and don't encourage it plus they are 4 and 6 years old. But I don't even attempt to stop the Plum-neighbour love-fest because I'd be on to a losing battle! I really agree with @selina27 regarding maturity, I'm sure as our respective pups age and we continue to work on it, the jumping will diminish further.
I’m trying to help someone train their four year old flat coat not to jump up at people (when out and about -he’s fine in the house). We’ve been working at an instant ‘down’ rather than sit, because he’s a tall dog and it’s harder for him to launch into a jump from a down. His owner is clicking and treating for the down and then continuing to treat as the distraction passes. So far we have worked in an isolated outside spot with me being the distraction and I can now run pass waving my arms and he stays down. I persuaded my adult son to stooge for us this week and we gradually worked up to him running past successfully. We’re just starting on me touching the dog, but so far I’ve been jumped on. The idea is he will sit, i’ll touch him briefly on the chest and then step back-if he goes to jump the owner will ask for a down. This dog is gorgeous, just very friendly and excitable, but I hope we will gradually proof a calm greeting. I’ve been trying to remember what I did with Molly as she used to jump up when young ( I think up to about a year). I know I used to put her on lead if she looked excited to see someone but can’t think what else - perhaps she just grew out of it. I do wonder if me playing with her a lot helped as she became much more focused on me than looking to greet other people, and maybe especially tug as this taught a high arousal and then a sudden calm or control. So 30 seconds tug, then a quick sit, then tug again etc.
Absolutely SimoneB. We teach them from the second we get them home it’s okay to jump and nestle right in. We get down on all fours, call them over and try for a snuggle fest. Then we call our friends who come over and do the same. This starts it off from ground zero. We teach them to jump and then reward it. And we get upset when they don’t do it. Now fast forward to 3 months and how many cm’s and kilos more.... we are now getting mad and upset and can’t seem to break this horrible habit. Then the dog gets crazy cause it’s confused. One day this is golden and the next it’s terrible and punishable behaviour. Like stated before. Best to not promote this from day one and not give attention or affection unless all four legs are on the ground. Not even the first time they walk through your door after being with their mommy for 8 weeks cause your basically saying... this is how to interact with humans. It’s okay.
Well interesting - we have had a house full of people this afternoon - one heavily pregnant and four noisy but well behaved children. Apart from once, Red has not jumped at anyone. She is such a good girl in the house. Thank you everyone for your comments - I think I will let DH do what he thinks appropriate but if she continues to jump when off lead outside, we will need to do some systematic training as @Joy has been doing. I definitely think the people being loud is a trigger for her to get over excited, yet somehow children making a lot of noise is okay .
