Puppy jumping on strangers!

Discussion in 'Labrador Puppies' started by John424242, Mar 7, 2019.

  1. John424242

    John424242 Registered Users

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    Hi guys i was wondering how you guys stopped your puppies from jumping. Avalon is 9 months old now and she will still jump up on people. She no longer jumps on us, but on walks she jump on people who say hi to her. Now the main problem with this is that it has been renforced. When she does so, some people will laugh so now she has the idea that everybody likes it! She still is not huge,(25kg) but shes really strong. Im just wondering how you guys would stop this problem as we are worried shes gonna hurt someone.
    :pull::run:
     
  2. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    I would not let her get close enough to people that she can jump up on them. If she is on leash, don't walk near other people. If she is off leash, recall her before she reaches other people. (If you can't do that, she shouldn't be off leash and you need to work on recall.)

    Then enroll in a good force-free dog training class so you can practise all the no-jumping up exercises which are taught. You need to be practising this with many strangers approaching the dog, over and over, until you condition a different response to people approaching. You are never going to achieve that realistically outside of a training class....
     
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  3. John424242

    John424242 Registered Users

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    Our puppy just came out of a training class which really helped(sadly, there are only six classes per section). We dont take our her off leash in our neiborhood, however, her recall is quite good and she almost always listens. We tell her to sit while people are walking by, but the few people that do pet her generally laugh when she jumps on them. We will try to get more training classes soon and i agree it sounds pretty hard to stop this behavoir outside of a training class.
     
  4. Saffy/isla

    Saffy/isla Registered Users

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    Hi you have my sympathy,my pup is 12 months old and we are struggling with this problem. Our training class covers this and Isla is able to sit nicely in class (6 other dogs and trainers) but take her outside on a walk and it all goes our the window!

    Strangers don't help as they ooh and ahh over how cute she is,which just excites her more.
     
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  5. Chewies_mum

    Chewies_mum Registered Users

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    Yes, I dread when people give Chewie any attention on walks because he gets so excited and jumpy, and usually barks at them. Then either they suddenly become scared of him or they encourage the bad behaviour. It's a challenge and I definitely sympathise.
     
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  6. Michael A Brooks

    Michael A Brooks Registered Users

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    Jo Laurens' ploy modified would be to say, I guess, that the dog has a disease.
     
  7. WillowA

    WillowA Registered Users

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    I get Willow to sit with good treats when people approach us and if they come to say hello get her to sit before they can stroke her.
    Tell them your training her not to jump up people.
    Not everyone wants a dog jumping up them especially if they have rolled in something nasty.
     
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  8. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    Gosh, I think you're all being far too socially polite. I do what is best for my puppy and her learning and training. If I know she is likely to jump on people and I see people approaching, I will turn around and walk or run in the opposite direction. I will pretend I haven't noticed them approaching and just run off.

    What is being achieved by letting her repeatedly meet and jump on people? At 9 months old she is outside the socialisation period, so there is no benefit to her in terms of socialisation and all she is learning is that people are fun to jump on. She's not going to do it less often, with that in place.

    As with all behaviour problems, you first need to avoid the situation where the problem behaviour is happening before you can install a different response. That means not putting her in the position where it's possible to jump on someone.
     
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  9. John424242

    John424242 Registered Users

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    We do not let her meet the people. We pull her off the the side then have her sit. The problem is the people who come to her. we hate when people greet her and we do all we can to avoid it. our goal for having her sit is to teach her not to lunge, not to let people pet her.
     
  10. WillowA

    WillowA Registered Users

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    Willow met a dog and the person with it was fussing her she was jumping up a little then sat nicely.
    Someone came over at the end of the dog class wanting a cuddle I politely said I am training her not to jump up I told her to sit and the reward was the fuss.
    It's getting better but we are not there yet.
    People just love Labradors and want to fuss them.
     
  11. Johnny Walker

    Johnny Walker Registered Users

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    It’s usually our fault this happens. From the time they come home that first day we get down on our knees and wave them in so they can jump on our chest and lick our faces. Then our friends come over and do it. Then for the next 20kg we do it everyday until..... wait. This thing is huge now and gonna knock Grammy over. We better stop it. How do we stop something we rewarded for 6 months and encouraged and taught as normal behaviour and now we get mad when it happens? Don’t do it to begin with or teach four on the flooor. No greeting or treat until all four paws are on the floor. Another method is to stand on the lead so they can’t jump up. It frustrates them but they get it pretty quick. Also you need to tell everyone and I mean everyone to please not look at or talk to but to completely ignore until the problem is fixed and then they can great your dog once it knows how to politely.
     
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  12. Jo Laurens

    Jo Laurens Registered Users

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    But no one can approach your dog on leash without you noticing their approach? As soon as you see someone approaching, you can walk off...

    The only times this would be difficult, were if you were, say, at a café or similar and seated. At these times, I'd get down on the floor by my dog and hook my thumb on the underneath of her collar (under her chin) or the front of her harness. It's not possible for a dog to jump up against that - you have gravity on your side and can easily hold even a strong and large dog with just your thumb hooked there. This won't teach the dog not to jump up (you will still need to do separate work on the Sit in that context), but it will avoid the situation of the dog jumping and being reinforced through attention from the human.

    In order to teach a dog to Sit in the presence of a distraction like a person, you need to be completely in control of the person - they need to know when to stop approaching, when to withdraw, when to turn their back - they need to be working with you, to train the dog. This simply isn't possible with members of the public so the first step in fixing this behaviour is to avoid and prevent the public from greeting the dog...
     

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