Hello all, Maybe you've got some advice for me I have a 4yr old black lab called Ludo. He's fantastic, affectionate, playful, companion... all OK. We adopted him like 6 months ago, and everything (training, family) just goes fine and smooth. However (there's always a however) it's now three times he's got super excited during walks, and he has jumped at me, grabbing my forearm. Today it was the last time, and the previous ones were like more than a month ago, enough for me to have forgotten about it! Today I took him to the mountain and to the snow. He was super happy, swimming in the snow, happy with the long walk. Then we reached the top and the dog of the mountain retreat barked on him from the house, so my dog got a bit more excited. Then we started going down, in all that snow, I was just sinking in the snow at every step, also excited because we had just finished climbing the mountain, and having fun, so I might also yelled a couple of times out of excitement. And then my dog just goes off and jumps on me, grabs my arm, it wasn't painful at the beginning but the more he did it the more harder he went. I was just telling him off to sit. Well, it took me quite a bit to calm him down! Luckily after three times of stopping and restarting we could just descend the mountain... I think it was too much for him but what can I do to prevent these things to happen? I would like to bring him in the snow again without fearing him going over threshold. I am also scared of how these kind of behaviours can derivate... The other two times he had been digging and I took him out so that's why he was excited. Thanks, and sorry for the long story... Carolina
My dogs have all thought my going down in the snow was an invitation to play and for them to jump on me. I just protect my face and we have fun. They don't jump on me otherwise. I did say I might survive a skiing fall in the bush but it would be the dog who would injury me by jumping on me but really I didn't worry much. If it does worry you try to stay upright, not yell, and teach a word for not jumping, my word is FEET (on the floor) Having fun like that is not bad but you do need to be able to tone it down when you decide to. How far did you take a 4 month old puppy "in all that snow?" Our breeder specifically warned to not take puppy in deep snow too much as bounding through it is hard on the cruciate. It's hard on everything, if it wasn't we could run as fast in snow as we can on dry land. That goes for swimming too. No photo for us of you and puppy in the snow?
hello! thanks for your answer! he's not a puppy! he's 4yr old, so quite big to jump on me I am afraid because of the mouth playing, which if he's excited can be a bit painful. No bleeding and no clothes broken... but I have some small marks and I can still feel it in my arms. Anyway I will watch out in the snow next time. I only have a pic of him in the way up but don't know how to upload it ...
Oh, sorry for getting his age wrong. Yes, he'll be bigger. Even though mine all knew not to jump, when I went down in the snow it was a game to them. It probably didn't help that I was laughing and giggling and acting like it was a game. I wondered a couple of times if another person coming along might think I needed rescuing. Mine didn't bite me but I did get a lot of slobber. I think you could practice as another way of proofing your regular commands of sit, down and stay, with you first on the ground and then falling to the ground.
OK, I will try that. And be careful when I see he's getting too excited. Thanks for your positive advice
Who-whoooo! Playing in the snow is so much fun! Homer started jumping on me when we did agility. Just so excited jumping over the jumps then jumping up at me. This got quite scared at times. I had to stop, stand dead still holding his college or lead so that he was slightly behind me until he stayed calm, at first I had to repeat this a couple of times being really boring. He's learnt now to stop when I say 'enough' but then I too need to make things a bit more calm. He still jumps up on me if I start to jog or run or dance in the kitchen but then we stop and be calm. When we were doing agility (I stopped because I didn't like the trainer) Homer jumping was a huge big no, no she called him a bully and him trying to dominate me but the smaller dogs doing the same or worse were just exited, only difference is that they couldn't jump up as high.
Hi, and thank you for sharing your experience. Was he bitting and grabbing your arm too? That's why I am somehow scared of going alone so far again in the snow with him I don't think he tries to dominates me or anything, is really just too much excitement, I can see that, but I am scared that he gets more and more excited, then he bites harder, then I might not react well, trigger something, well, whatever chain of events could develop. Maybe I am overreacting but I can't help it...
Do you use treats for training? If you have something available that's even better than snow, the use it when he needs calming it may help a lot.
Hi, and thanks for your feedback! Yes I do use treats. And I gave him cheese when he finally calmed down and sat next to me. And then every time he came back to me in a calm manner. But I don't want to give him cheese while he's playing like this, because then I know he'll do it every time he wants some cheese. Same with throwing a stick, or any alternate playing before he's calmed down.
Homer never quite bit, more like jumping with his mouth open and his teeth catching on clothing or colliding on the top of my head, at his worst.
Labs don't think quite like that. I would use the cheese much, much earlier in the encounter. Reward the slightest improvement and you will get bigger improvements to then reward. Waiting for perfection will frustrate Ludo and he'll be less likely to offer good behaviour. Luckily, Labs will work for food however much food they've already had. ...
that is true, food is always welcome OK, I will try that too. Thanks a lot for your feedbacks Ludo was very excitable today too, but luckily, in the forest, are more sticks than in the snow!
I have a very excitable dog, and when he is excited, food doesn't work. That's not to say food won't work with Ludo - by all means try it, and if it works, that's fab and the best thing to do. Just because a Labrador eats food though, does not mean it is reinforcing. If food doesn't work, you need to train something else that he finds really fun and involves a reward. For my dog, this is a game called 'goalie'. He has to sit very, very still while he guesses which way I'm going to kick a football. I get a still, concentrated dog (although on a knife edge and quivering with excitement but still quiet and out of trouble) and he gets his football. It can keep him out of most mischief he can think up (although not all mischief ). I just shout 'goalie!' and it will interrupt him from just about anything.
Hi Julie, In fact I don't think he would take any food at that moment either, but he'd respond if I throw a stick. Maybe I should carry one with me in the snow, haha!! I thought that would reinforce the jumping so I rejected that as a solution, but I'll try next time. Thanks very much to all for your advices
It might reinforce the jumping if you throw the stick (try a kong safe stick though ) immediately after the jumping - the trick is to get him to do something else, then throw the stick. Sometimes this might sort of involve reinforcing the jumping but only for a little bit. So, for example, say he jumps and you get him to stop or sit (or anything) by waving the stick, then do that in a way that will become your cue for an alternative behaviour. So say something like 'Stick Game!' (throw stick) and then 'Stick Game!' (get his attention) then 'Sit!' and throw the stick....and don't always do this just when he jumps. Do it when he doesn't too. Then you can hopefully get to just 'Sit!' (before he jumps at you) and throw the stick, and then ask for a longer, quieter sit before he gets the stick.....and so on. Just be careful to work towards something that is calmer, change tack if it just hypes him up more and more.
So this is more or less what I did. I made him sat (this took me a bit), then he calmed, then cheese. However this time he was so so excited that for three times when I restarted walking he jumped on me again. After the third time I made him stay longer, just because I was thinking what to do, I caressed him, gave him some cheese, and then he was better. I didn't have nothing to throw because I couldn't find any stick and wasn't carrying any ball. Then he went his way down and I let him quite free, every time he came to check on me I walked slowly and made him sit instantly. Then cheese, soft talking... And we managed to get down the mountain with no further incident. Maybe I will carry a stick (I do for my regular walks) in the mountain too, just in case, if I see him excited, try to redirect that before he jumps on me.
To be honest, jumping on you three times (in the excitement of Snow!) isn't all that bad....my dog would have gone completely and utterly bonkers. If you can get him to sit and calm, then you are not doing so badly at all!
haha, yes he's pretty great it seems then! Just to clarify just in case, he jumped on me several times, and after having managed to calm him down he restarted three times, each time several jumps. But it is not really the jumping, the issue is that he was grabbing my forearm, and although at the beginning it was soft, as he got more more excited he went on harder with the mouthing, and even left some bruises. He didn't break the fabric, nothing, it was probably still soft, but that's basically why I got scared of this happening more often... Oh I feel delicate like a little flower now
Dogs get more sort of 'active' with their mouths the more aroused they get. I see this with my puppy all the time - I have done the usual 'take treats gently' training but the first sign she is excited is damage to my fingers giving her treats! My older dog is the same, although his training is much stronger, and he will rarely touch my fingers with his teeth. So (apart from the fact it hurts!) I wouldn't worry too much about this. It'll go away as you get his arousal levels under control with your sit and calm.
