Well, Maggie has been settling in wonderfully. She is nearly 8 months. I'm also doing Ok I think!!...learning as we go, getting to grips with them all...the Griffon has turned out to be a sensational dog with a simply wonderful character, can't recommend her highly enough! the old dog is still in charge and they have all become great friends thank god!. On the whole I think Maggie is pretty good, we try and go to a training school where she is the character of the class, sometimes naughty, sometimes good, generally ok! we don;t go as often as we should! BUT she has a habit with children that I really need to stop. She is way way too boisterous around them and runs up to even very young children, jumps at them and knocks them over. It is clear to all that she means no harm but obviously it can be distressing for some and I really want to stop her. A few grandchildren who come to visit; we can usually control her around them but if we are out walking and come upon a family with children, if she is not on the lead she's off! I would add that we are out in the countryside so its usually families who we know...which may not help the situation as they all think she's so adorable!! Anybody got any tips for how best to train her out of this habit? She doesn't jump up on others really, only if invited to but she is a complete tart in wanting to be friends with everyone! Sorry if there is an existing thread about this I couldn't see anything on my initial hunt through.
I think there is a fairly recent thread on this very same thing but at any rate... She shouldn't be running up to and jumping on anyone, old people, children, scared people. Recall training and training to not jump are what you need. If there are group classes in family manners near you this would most likely be dealt with as it's a common problem with lots of friendly dogs.
Thank you Snowshoe. She's actually very good with everyone else. She seems to just have a thing with children...small things I guess! She just gets ridiculously excited when she sees them. With everyone else she's absolutely fine. My 90 year old mother lives with us and she couldn't be better around her so its definitely the exception to the rule. I will stick with the training and just hope she grows out of it asap!
I still often have to put Tatze on the lead when we pass people who don't have a dog with them (she greets the dog if there's a dog) as, although she's usually great, she can still jump up. I can tell when she's thinking about it and how bad she'll be! So, if it's only a little 'think' I lure her past with a treat. If it's an excited think I put her on the lead. If it's a child or old person/person who looks unsteady, I put her on anyway just in case. She's 3 years old. Good recall is essential for all this. Bruce doesn't need any of this and he's 11 months. He is a gentle giant with everyone. ...
Harley used to get very excited by children out and about at that age too. At home she was used to my nephew and niece so was ok with them. I would have to pop her on lead whenever I seen someone with a child. She would get even more excited if they ran around or were making lots of noise. I started letting children come and say hello once I had her on lead, in a sit. I heavily rewarded when she done this. If she went to stand I would stop them coming over. It took a while, but she did realise this quite quickly. She is now 3 and will occasionally jump up at an adult, but is so calm and gentle with children. She quite often comes to work with me with some of the children and young people that I work with and she is amazing with them.
I wonder if your visiting grandchildren could help you? Show them how to tell her to sit, give them pockets full of small treats and say they can only give one when Maggie is sitting down. When Molly was just under a year I visited my sister, who lives a long way from me, and used this approach to stop Molly jumping up at her grandchildren. (Though they were very dog-confident children as my sister has three dogs.) The kids loved helping to train and were brilliant at coming to a dead halt and saying'sit' if Molly charged at them. I was very cautious out and about for a long time, putting Molly on lead where there were children. However now she's an adult she's fine - firstly she's more interested in me than in children or other people generally, and she also seems perfectly happy to be stroked by children who ask ( though does give big face licks - but hey they asked!)
Boris when he was younger wanted to see and jump up at everybody and was always very keen to meet children. He will still jump up occasionally when off the lead so work still in progress he is 19months. To get him used to children and to ignore them. On the morning walk I would walk past the local infant school, as they were going into school lotts of treats then,now we walk past and he ignores all the running children, he is on the lead. I still have to keep my eye on him when walking past children because sometimes they have something edible in their hand which is a dog nose height.
I think it's easier to get dogs to ignore people outside then get them to not jump up. I don't entirely trust my 3.5 year old dog around kids - he finds them very exciting! If they are running, shouting or waving things around he is always very interested! I wouldn't have to put him on a lead but I often ask him to heel until we can move away. My new puppy would run over to people in a microsecond if I let her - i don't let her though. As soon as we see people I put her on a lead or walk the other way.
