So....Maggie is now 6 months old and I guess a normal puppy. At home she is generally very calm and training is going well. However when out and about on her lead, (or when people visit) she just wants to jump up and 'mouth' people. I have tried the "4 paws on the ground" approach, I have tried to get people to turn their back and ignore her, which I have to say is very hit and miss because not everyone does what I ask. Treats don't always distract her. She doesn't bite, but typical for a lab, she wants to put everything in her mouth, including their hands! Being young and boisterous, she can get a bit 'nippy', but it's all about excitement. I have done the usual internet search and there is so much conflicting info' that I'm at a loss what to believe. I am in a very quiet rural area, so regular visitors at home and meetings with people when on walks are limited and there is no consistency to reinforce desirable behaviours. Sometimes I just think that she is so pleased to meet others because of our relative isolation. I know this isn't a new problem for the forum, but any help would be very much appreciated.
Hi @Maggie's Dad , I understand exactly where you are coming from, my Cassie, now 18 months has been just the same. It's worrying when they want to grab peoples hands, even though you know it's not aggression it could so easily be seen as such. Like you I live in a very rural area so meeting people etc on walks is execption not the rule. When people visit I give her a Kong, that way she has something in her mouth to show off, so doesn't jump up, and by the time she's finished it the visitors are less exciting, when she was younger I attached training line so by standing on it I could prevent her jumping. With the mouthing, I was advised to ask people to simply withdraw their arms, and this did work. I also taught Look at That, which is a brilliant way to get them to deal with distractions, you can start at home and work up to more challenging environments, even if you have to go out and find them! Hope this helps a bit.
Just finished reading an interesting book that touched on this "problem". It was: Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know Alexandra Horowitz Horowitz is to be taken very seriously, she has a doctorate in cognitive science. Also happens to love dogs. According to her the jumping up is to get closer to people's faces. Dogs will lick each others face as a form of greeting/getting to know each other. Keep in mind as you deal with this that Maggie does not see it as bad behavior. Most puppies will do this and it takes a bit to get them out of the habit. In our case we were not as remote as you have indicated, it is a mere ten minute drive to get to where there are enough people to work on the issue. One thing we did was make sure that Murphy knew how to sit first. Then it took a bit of skill on our parts to figure some things out, the main one being "When is a person going to want to stop and say hello to him?" As soon as we spotted someone like that, we stopped, got Murphy to sit before they got to close. Murphy always responded to "aaaahhh, aaaahhh" (not sure that will be interpreted right). So when he would start to get all excited we would say that. It slowed him down. We also have a neighbor who just loves Murphy, we explained to them the problem and what we would like them to do (pretty much not respond to him) until he had calmed down a bit. It worked for us. You might have to get creative. I don't see it as serious problem in that most dogs we meet do not jump up on people so it is obviously not a horrendous problem.
Jumping up is normal behaviour, not bad behaviour, it's just something most if us humans don't like . The key to changing the behaviour is consistency in approach not yeying oaws on the floor or turning backs. Devide what you would like yoyr dig to do instead of jumping and traIn it. The eadust training is to train an incompatible behaviour - sit being the easiest. You could also have fetch a toy (jumping us impossible with a toy ) or go to mat. Not having many visitors isn't a problem, you can practice every single day when you get up in the morning ask for the behaviour first, returning from shopping, ask for the behaviour. When visitors arrive ask for the behaviour. Consistency wins through if you ask each and every time and reward.
My lab puppy, Vino, is also 6 months old and I have the same problem. I know it's normal for a pup, but it's very frustrating. We have 16 people coming for Thanksgiving, so I'm having some anxiety!
She’s absolutely normal There are many ways to train and manage this but, be assured, there is nothing unusual at all about her behaviour. I raise Guide Dog pups and my worst was Mollie. She will be absolutely fine by the time she’s 2 years old and working. I managed it by using her lead when visitors came round and letting her go free once she was calm. .
I am not so sure crating or penning them helps with the issue. It is highly doubtful that a dog understands that he was put in a pen to learn how to control his behavior around people. The way I see things it could cause the exact opposite. Think about this, when the dog sees people it wants to interact with them. If you never take the dog out it will never jump on people. But obviously never meeting people does not teach them not to jump. Sitting in a crate the dog is just waiting to get out there and be sociable. All of this stuff requires patience, there are no magic solutions, secret commands, etc. What is for certain is that if they are never given a chance to learn the right behavior, they won't. An aside. I noticed this last evening when I took Murphy for a walk. We have LOTS of dogs in the neighborhood, many of them are in their backyards at that time of day (people just home from work letting the dogs out). When we first started walking, the dogs would all bark as we passed by and Murphy would pull on the leash to go see them. Last night, the dogs were still barking, but Murphy acted like he could not care less. Just walked and sniffed along. The moral is that over time and with patience he got used to those barking dogs and does not react to them anymore. Sort of the same thing with people when you think about it. I know a lot of people here are not enthralled with Cesar Milan, I am not either. But that does not mean he is wrong about everything. Dogs watch eyes, that is a proven fact. It helps if you can tell guests ahead of time to not make eye contact and do not interact with your dog until it settles down. So maybe a little No touch, no talk, no eye contact can help out?
I'm not talking about it as a learning experience. It's Thanksgiving with 16 guests - who has the time to train their dog and entertain that many people at the same time? It's simply management in a situation where the dog is otherwise going to be completely over threshold and no-one will be able to enjoy themselves. Of course dogs need to learn to be around people, but this is likely not the appropriate situation to do that. Set him up for success and start with a nice quiet dinner with a couple of friends.
I understand what you are saying Snow. An interesting thing I noticed is that Murphy seemed to handle bigger groups of people better than one or two individuals. That of course is purely anecdotal. One thing about a bigger group of people may be that they cannot all focus on the dog at once. And then, those 16 people are probably not all going to arrive at once unless they have rented a bus. So there would be several learning opportunities. I guess I am just an old softie kinda guy. My thing has always been that we made a commitment to Murphy and that did not include locking him up for our convenience. Excepting of course when he was being house trained. The nice thing is that these issues do get sorted out for the most part. Not always, I know several dogs that go absolutely ballistic every time someone rings the doorbell or enters the home.
Oh I completely understand your sentiment, I really do . I have crate trained all our dogs, and all our fosters. They learn that the crate is their safe place where wonderful things happen. It also keeps them safe, when it is difficult to keep eyes on them . Crate training is not about convenience, although when Benson was a pup if I even left him unattended even for a few minutes he could get into so much trouble, so for his own sake, having him calm and relaxed in a crate for a short period was important. It got to the point that if he was tired, he would take himself to his crate, his choice not ours. A scenario where suddenly lots of strange people appear can actually be quite frightening for a young pup, so a nice cosy crate with a blanket, chew toys (such as a tasty frozen kong) is actually a better option all round.
Snow, I think we are pretty much on the same page with the crate thing. Unfortunately some people use it for their own convenience rather than as you outlined. Murphy was the same as you describe about his crate. It was HIS place. The crate is long gone now, but we put a nice comfy bed where it used to be and it is his still his place. Of course, with him pretty much any place he goes is his place, LOL.
And what happens when he’s in his crate in the laundry room, hears people arriving and starts barking incessantly? That’s my other fear!
It is part of the "puppy experience", you signed up for it. Remember, the puppy isn't doing it to spoil your holiday. I talked to my lovely better half about this, she made an interesting comment: "What would they do with a two year old child?" Lot of wisdom in that one. Myself? I would relax, most people love puppies, they also understand they are not perfect. I would make sure that folks understood the puppy might jump on them, probably will, so dress accordingly. I would make sure the puppy got a nice manicure just before the holiday, check every nail to make sure it does not have any sharp edges. You might look back on this and decide that your puppy made it a really special holiday.
Thanks to everyone for your helpful comments and opinions. I will take on board ideas and carry on with the training opportunities as they arise. I'm not anxious about Maggie jumping and mouthing, because I think that transfers onto her. She is, after all, only 6 months old and I can't expect miracles! She is so good in so many other ways
