Jumping Dog

keaves

So as the title says...I have a dog who jumps!

Technically he is not my dog, he is a foster dog and lovely by all means except for the fact that he jumps constantly at everybody! In the house, outside the house, on walks, in the garden, on the counter tops (shimmies himself along them with no problem ) just non stop! He has superb control of his jumping too and can just stand alone on his back legs and look at you prepare food :eek:

He is a border collie cross I was told, but just looks like a very fluffy large border collie and he is nine months old!

He has a few issues but its the jumping that is just getting to the house a bit as he is just so large he is constantly in your face and tonight has caused a slight gash on my elbow as he jumps with his mouth open.

So any tips on how to stop this? Ive tried turning my back on him, saying no/stop/ahh/squealing like a pup! We've tried sit and he sits and then jumps back up! All hasn't worked! so now .... Im trying a lead on him and standing on it when I think hes about to jump its sort of working... but its day one....


p.s his last owners didn't speak English to him ....so he knows the command sit ... as far as we've worked out that's it

kelly0

I really feel your pain! I adopted a fully grown GSD last year with the same problem, I think he must of been a circus dog before we had him . We had no history for him as he was found one morning in a garden and then brought to the shelter. He clearly had no training, not even knowing sit etc. We tried all the things you did but he's so giddy and playful it just didn't work. Putting the lead on him around the house is definately a good step.

With my guy, we did the following and it worked a dream.
I put a longish rope on my fella. When I saw him about to jump/jumping I'd give the rope a short, sharp tug. The key to this is he must never see you do it. The jerk he feels when he jumps and the fright he gets is a consequence of his jumping, not a punishment coming from you (otherwise he'll continue jumping on the counter tops when you're not around). Think of a dog who burns his nose on a hot stove, he'll never sniff him again but the stove didn't punish him. The pain was a consequence of his actions.

To prevent him jumping on people, you need to 'set him up' for failure. To do this enlist the help of a few willing friends. Give the friend a small bottle of water with a sports cap and ensure that the bottle is hidden from the dog. Have this person meet you out on a walk, if the dog jumps you friend gives him a quick squirt of water into the face. He must never see the bottle if possible, this way the squirt of water is a consequence of jumping not a punishment your friend. The dog will back off not having a clue what's happened, when all four paws are firmly glued to the ground allow you friend to give him a treat. This positively reinforces the good behaviour. This way he won't fear meeting people, this may happen if you just correct with water.

Some people may not agree with this, thinking its 'cruel' but other methods of just ignoring the bad behaviour (jumping) is very hard to do with a full grown dog! Hope it helps, it worked for my guy after about a week.