Dog jumping up - Page 1

Hi everyone,

I was wondering what is the best way to stop a dog from jumping up on visitors.  Ryder gets super excited at times and its hard to keep him from jumping up.  Sometimes he is good with it but sometimes he just cant help himself and nothing I do seems to work.  I do put his harness and leash on at times and then he really can't jump up and eventually calms down but I would like it if I could just keep him calm while visitors enter the house instead of him yelping and crying to be let loose.  I know he is still young but he is already 70 pounds and getting bigger.  Thanks for any suggestions.

What do people do when they come over? Are they talking to him, or petting him?  Do you exercise him before people come over? Do you let him jump up on you?

Teach him to Sit (or down) when people come over he is to "sit" until they are in the house.  They can then be introduced to him (he is still in the sit position ).  It is very hard to jump on people when you are sitting down. You will have to have him on leash in the beginning but it doesnt take long for a dog to understand "if i sit, I get attention"  If i jump up I get corrected.  Edited to say get rid of the harness and put him on a collar.  harnesses teach dogs to pull.  the only thing a harness is good for is pulling or protection work or for dogs with neck injuries.  

attend obedience classes and train him

Training, That can't be tolerated. Be right there when visitor comes in, start correcting before they get in. It definetly takes time, but it does work, slowly but surely. I have 2 11 month olds that go nuts if someone just drives in my court. They are getting better. My older 2 are trained not to jump. The 2 pups I think are almost there. But the pups are very high drive WL GSD's. Good Luck    Pete

put your dog(s) into a crate for the time being
then OBEDIENCE training
then proofing by having a competent person come to visit
if required, more OBEDIENCE training
then more proofing...........
repeat if required.......

I like the idea of exercising him before people arrive.  I guess I could have them call me when they are about half an hour away and then walk him before they arrive.  He should be more tired.  I do notice that when he is tired and someone comes he barks and greets at the door and then just walks away and collapses somewhere.  My sons friends are very good because they do the no talk, no touch, no eye contact with him and he doesn't jump.  Then they pet him and give him a treat or a ball or something.  It's when relatives come and pay no attention to what I have told them and then he gets crazy.  We don't let him jump on us, sometimes he just can't resist but we do correct him.  He is getting better.  I just wanted to see if you guys had anything that worked that I haven't already tried.  Thank you all for answering me with your suggestions.

Mark the unwanted behavior with the word no and  give the dog a fair but effective correction for jumping up on people, if done correctly he'll put two and two together in short order.Marking and timing the correction are critical for success.

I make all of my guys sit before anyone pets them even me.  It stops the jumping pretty quick, they are jumping to say hi, if they get no reaction unless they sit they figure it out.  Of course there is a correction for jumping on me, but when they are younger when they jump I immediately say off and sit.  As soon as they sit I will tell them what a good sit and pet and scratch.  I start that when they are very little and learning sit.  My dogs are working dogs and never get anything for free, you want your food you sit, you want out the door you sit, you want in the door you sit, you want your toy you sit, I mix it up with other commands as they learn them, but petting or any attention always requires they sit infront of me.  Even if they aren't jumping if they just walk up to me and stand I ignore them and walk off, when they sit I acknowledge them.  I am very consistent about it, and I make sure I tell everyone even visitors when the dogs walk up to them, make them sit before you acknowledge them.  They figure it out and every once in awhile one will try to jump on me but then you see the light go off and they sit before I say a word.  But by all means take him to training just to save your sanity you really don't want to have to man handle a full grown boy he will drive you crazy!!

Something we have always done that is effective is to put a leash on the dog just before your guest get there.  Have the dog sit.  When he/she starts to jump on someone, correct them by tugging down on the leash and telling them "NO jump".  Have the dog sit again.  Correct it each time and it always seems to work after a few corrections.  Good luck with it.