It's mostly when I have food in my hand. I have a gate to the kitchen so no dogs allowed but if I even walk through with a piece of food in my hand he's all over me jumping like crazy.
Buddy jumps up a bit but that’s because he gets fuss from our kids when he does, which obviously reinforces that action. He also gets very excited to get out of the car. I have taken to standing and waiting until he sits down, he now knows that the action of waiting patiently gets him the reward of getting out of the car. Also now he sits down to wait for things from me rather than jumping, and the children are starting to do this also. It’s easier said than done but hopefully once he learns that it’s sitting, or waiting patiently or whatever that gets a reward/cuddle etc, then it should calm down. As I keep saying, I’m no expert, very new to all this myself but just like to try and help, as others help me.
I have a similar problem with my 6 month old although he doesn’t jump for food he does it when greeting people. You need to train this as a specific exercise so grab some treats in an area where you can move about and when he jumps up, take a step back. He’s jumping to get closer to you/food and you just got further away. Keep doing that until he stops or sits then praise and treat. He’ll soon get the message. You could also incorporate a clicker if you have one. If this isn’t working then practising a sit command in the same scenario might be more effective.
Hi Jade - I'd suggest that you 'notice' and reinforce sitting whenever it happens. Not only when you ask for it, but all the time. When a butt is on the floor, the dog can't also be jumping on you - so sitting is incompatible with jumping up. The more you 'pay' the sit with reinforcement, the more sitting will happen instead of jumping up. You can start this in a formal training session, by standing there holding some treats and, when he 'guesses' a sit, you quickly reinforce that. Move your hand down fast to his mouth, so he doesn't jump up to meet the treat. Try not to say 'Sit' or give a hand signal - we want him to think about what we want. Once he is easily doing sit after sit like this, in a training session, you can then have a few treats in your pocket throughout the day and just keep 'noticing' and reinforcing sits whenever they happen, even by accident, in daily life. (Dogs are very good at knowing when we are in a 'training session' and when we are not - so ideally we want the whole of life to seem like it could be a training session at any moment.) Here are some videos you might find useful: Emily Larlham: Sophia Yin: Chirag Patel:
