how to stop him from jumping on people when they come home?

Charlie is 6 months old and is doing good otherwise but one issue is that we are feeling helpless and crying.
Whenever we come back home or some one else comes to our home he becomes wild and keeps on jumping on people scratching and biting them......he becomes restless and uncontrollable.....we have tried everything from scolding to lovingly explaining him but nothing works. We stay at home 24*7 and occasionally leaves him and because of his behaviour people have stopped coming at our place.
What can we do to make him remain calm and easy when people come or we come back home?

 

Unfortunately scolding or explaining to him won't stop his behaviour. He doesn't understand what you want him to do, so you need to show him. I'm not the best person in the world to tell you how to do it, but am happy to share what I done.
Some of my friends are happy to be greeted by an excited girl, others aren't. My mum doesn't 'do' dogs, so when she came I put Harley on her harness and lead. This meant I could distract and get her attention. I told my mum to ignore her until she calmed down - we had whining, pulling etc but we ignored it and the second she sat quietly I rewarded her with a high value treat. She soon realised that if she calmed down and sat nicely that she would be rewarded. It took doing this over a period of weeks until I could eventually trial her with me not holding the lead. Only once did I have to grab the lead when she went to jump at my mum. As soon as I grabbed the lead she sat, so was rewarded. It has taken a long time, and stage by stage - no lead, then no harness but on collar and eventually nothing. It took months as my mum doesn't come often, but when my mum comes now, Harley will grab her ball, drop it at my mums feet to be thrown. She knows my mum will only smooth her if she is sat calmly.
I do this with any friends who aren't sure about dogs and also when my friends/family brought their children around as she wasn't used to small children (mine is 20 years old). It only takes one or two visits with someone new for us to use this technique and for it to work.
Hope this makes sense and helps you a bit.

 

I agree with Ternaya, telling him off won't help at all. You could try clicker training for ALL four paws on the floor/ground. There are lots of articles on clicker training on the forum. Clicker training is an excellent way to train your puppy/dog as you won't confuse him and your emotions are not involved just click and treat for the behaviour you want. It's worth a look. There's also lots of Youtube videos to show you how to train it. I taught my naughty rescue Labrador x Pointer also called Charlie lots of things with a clicker and it's fun Be consistent with your training and you will reep the rewards but it does take a lot of work xx

 

The OH and I did something similar with Ella. Let me know when he was nearly home and I got organised with the lead etc. We didn't actually use treats as her reward was getting to say hello!

We sat in the hallway/entrance when he got home and he slowly opened the door. Every time Ella sat quietly the OH took a step forward but every time she got up and became bouncy, he stopped and looked away from her. It took a while to perfect but now, when either of us get home she's sitting waiting, bum wagging but not jumping at us.

Still working on perfecting it with visitors though as they don't tend to listen to our instructions very well

 

With Juno the policy from day one was that if she jumps she gets no attention so from the very first she has had to sit to be greeted, first thing in the morning, when returning from shopping, when visitors arrive, when we meet my OH at the station or ferry when he's been away working. Consistency is key. I've never treated for the sit, the reward is being fussed. We just stand still and wait for her to sit.

 

I think the first thing is...relax a bit about it. Although some people are so disapproving about a friendly dog jumping up, is it such a big deal, really? Really, really? I don't think it is. Annoying if you are wearing good clothes, but hardly the worst thing a dog could do.

And they do get a bit calmer as they get older. They do tend to lose that edge of madness and inability to listen because something exciting is happening. 6 months is a trying time with a puppy.

Just try to ignore him when he is jumping up, bend down and put treats on the floor when he isn't, stick him in a crate with a kong if someone is coming that you really can't bear him to jump up on...and relax a bit about it.

I don't like the turning the back thing that people do - I think the quick whip round motion is like an invitation for a dog to follow you round for a game. The best thing, I find, is to put out your hands, palms flat and together, and block the dog's view to your face (that's why they jump up, to get to your face, a normal thing for a puppy to do when greeting).

The trick with my dog to stop him jumping up is to bend down to his level and let him lick your ears. Works every time....just have a stack of wet wipes handy for guests. They quickly get used to it.

 

Ahhh i dont know....he always scares people away as people near us are not very fond of pets ezp dogs and are very scared of them....so it kinda feel awkward to us....i think i need to start with us only that jumping is not allowed at all.....
Also he seems to understand no earlier but now he doesn't listen to no well....

 

For us, us coming home and other people coming to visit were completely different scenarios. For us the 10 minute ignore worked perfectly. Ignore the dog for 10 minutes before you LEAVE the house. Yes, because if you make leaving a big goodbye scene then it follows your return will likely be celebrated. Sorry, probably you know that, but we didn't. Then of course you ignore for 10 minutes when you come home too. With a young dog it's quite hard to do this because they may need out to pee. I did master the out to pee without looking at my dog.

Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" helped me with visitors. I played the Look at That game, first times on a willing,dog friendly visitor, one Oban particularly likes. In this situation I call it Who'zat? It works but I have to do it still with some well liked visitors. Then a few minutes later I have to make sure the visitor is ok sitting down with a dog's head on his feet. It does help if you can train the visitors to not make eye contact and honestly, some of them are worse than the dog.

For a few visitors, like the home care nurses we needed this spring, I gate Oban in the kitchen. Then he barks but if I ask them to just look over the gate and acknowledge him he quiets right down. Some times you do have put the dog away. The nurses all had dogs of their own but were busy people and had to get on to the next client, better to contain the dog.

 

'Leslie McDevitt's book, "Control Unleashed" helped me with visitors. I played the Look at That game, first times on a willing,dog friendly visitor, one Oban particularly likes. In this situation I call it Who'zat? It works but I have to do it still with some well liked visitors. Then a few minutes later I have to make sure the visitor is ok sitting down with a dog's head on his feet. It does help if you can train the visitors to not make eye contact and honestly, some of them are worse than the dog."

LOVE the who's that game!!\
we also do the ignoring on leaving and returning xx

 

This is something we have been working on recently with our 4 month old. We give her no attention when she jumps up and if possible take a step back so she lands back on the floor. Once she has taken a step or two on the floor we will then greet her. She has improved and now like to snake her way round you whilst she is being thoroughly wagged by her tail

Obviously she still jumps up a bit, but it's early days and quite frankly- if she were bigger than me I'd be jumping up to greet her of is not seen her all day.

I'd love to say I could do the 10 minute ignore rule but I just can't. On the one day a week I work away (with a 3 hour commute each way) I Literally can't wait any longer to say hello. I never say goodbye though as I think that sets her up to freak out a bit.

I'd say pick a method and stick with it (although preferably not the telling off and they don't really understand that and you don't want her to be afraid to approach people) and it will improve. I've not read the who's that game but it sounds good. I also agree that guests are the cryptonite of training- they can, in one visit undo days of hard work. But you can't brief every guest you have for the rest of your life so I figure- these dogs are pretty clever and they'll get the gist eventually.

Good luck

 

We have taught both of ours to 'get a toy'. It's hard to jump up with a toy in your mouth - we also make sure we get down to them asap, so that they don't feel the need to jump up.

 

We haven't taught it but Juno always brings a toy when she greets anyone

 

Thats really nice!!
Thansk everyone for the tricks and ideas
I myself m following the ignore method when i come back home...I completely ignore him for 1-2 mins and as soon as he settles down a bit i give him all the love but sometimes as soon as I give him attention he again starts jumping up :-/ so I guess i need to be more patient here as this trick seems to be working;-)
BUT the sad part is my hubby and brother doesn't follow this technique properly as they can't resist themselves from greeting him and this is kind of wasting my training too :-/
But if we all do this then will he stop jumping on new people too eventually???
M not really sure of this as currently he getss too much hyper when someone comes home and even if on leash he behaves the same so m still worried about this

 

If you're asking about training husbands and brothers now the only thing I can say is that husbands are particularly difficult to train. No experience with brothers. Grandmothers have their problems too though.

 

It's time someone wrote the definitive book 'clicker training for husbands'!

 

I tried that with mine, he took the treat but didn't learn the new behaviour

 

ana_charlie With consistency he will sop jumping up to greet and husbands, brothers, sisters, children are all a pain as they struggle to follow through with your training requests. Is it possible for you to be at the door when your husband/brother arrive so you can ask for a sit and also to train the humans at the same time. Once you have consistency with the family it will, hopefully, help with strangers. If they are arriving at your home ask them not to greet the dog until you have a nice sit. Good luck and let us know how you're getting along

 

I have found that labradors do get a bit more sensible and restrained as they get older! Milo is certainly calmer and less likely to try to get to people on a walk now at 20 months. It is only if someone comes suddenly out of a gate or round the corner that he might try to leap on them. I'm afraid I wasn't firm enough when he was a puppy and allowed people to pet him which inevitably led to him jumping at them. Learned from my mistakes! He never really jumped at us except when kids came back from uni and he hadn't seen them for a while. He took a while to calm down again. He has his mad moments of running round and round the table with some forbidden object but usually only when I haven't trained and kept his brain busy enough!

Most of my friends are not dog lovers so I usually keep him in another room or most often his pen if they visit. It is the easier option! It sounds sad but we don't have that many visitors as I tend to go to other peoples' houses or meet for lunch and we don't have family living nearby. Last xmas we had my mum with us who is 85, frail and a non dog lover. We had to be really careful to keep them apart. At one stage he made a break for freedom and jumped over the sofa to get to her!! Luckily no harm done.

I think keeping a harness and lead on when people come is the best advice really. I like the idea of walking back/ standing still when entering the house until your dog sits. Milo usually just dashes around to get something to give us - a toy or piece of card! Gradually I guess they get the idea of what is expected. Consistency is the key like with children I think. Don't expect miracles over night.

Labs are such friendly, outgoing dogs they just want to greet every tom, dick and harry. They don't seem to have a nasty bone in their body. Seeing a fairly large heavy dog racing towards you or jumping at you can be off putting though. It is their size that creates the problem! My cocker spaniel was no better behaved (bad dog trainer my 19 year old son says!!) but because he was smaller and lighter noone really worried about him jumping up. Poor labs! They can't help being so exuberant.

Julie, I love the idea of bending down so Charlie can lick your ears. Milo sometimes nibbles OH's ears when sitting near him on the sofa.

Good luck.

 

I find ceaser's methods much more affective on husbands- you need to let them know who is boss and the minute they step out of line- a rolled up newspaper to the nose usually does the trick I have mine walking to heal and waiting to be released for play- no problem
The puppy on the other hand... :-/