Pup jumping up - advice please!

TeamChaser

TeamChaser

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Hi all

I have a lovely 18 wk whippet pup. He's a bit full on but a lovely confident, friendly chap. He really has been a joy so far, toilet trained very easily and recall has been superb ... so far! In fact out walking today, gentleman walking towards us with older pup on lead so called my 3 back and little Beau looked at me, looked at pup and then came belting back to me immediately! Upon gentleman's say so let him say hello and he was lovely and gentle and again came straight away as I walked away and called him. Very proud mummy!

Sorry, I digress. One thing I am finding bit of a problem is jumping up at people whilst out walking. If I'm not on the ball enough to get him back in time, he'll just tear over to anyone he sees and jump all over them. Most dog walkers of course think he's adorable but I don't want him getting muddy little paw prints over people. Sure there are probably things I could be doing at home to discourage this? He's a bright little thing and very food oriented so hopefully something we can fix without too much trouble

Any tips gratefully received - thank you
 
The correct thing to do when a dog runs up and prepares to jump up is for the "victim" to raise the knee! Unfortunately, not many know this. In fact, few do! The only person who did this correctly with my young dog without being told was the local police dog handler! I do it to all my dogs and they don't jump up on me! The problem is to educate others.

Raising the knee is a good correction because the dog gets a bang in the chest which is associated with the action, not the person. If you can train yourself to always do this, it should help stop your dog jumping on other people. A raised knee may be too high for small dogs but a raised foot works just as well. A (self inflicted) blow to the tummy area is unpleasant but not unduly painful. I am NOT suggesting kicking the dog, just raising a knee or foot so the action of jumping up punishes the dog. It would probably help to also give a verbal cue, e.g. Off!

My old bitch greets people by jumping vertically in front of them, without putting a foot on them. A bit alarming if you're not expecting it, but as I usually warn visitors, it's tolerable.

I expect someone will be alog to describe a beter method in a moment, or explain why I am being horribly cruel!
 
Thanks Dry Rot, will give that a try. He means no harm, just a little bouncy and over enthusiastic but I'm sure walkers would rather not have muddy whippet prints all over their trousers!
 
Another alternative that does not involve kneeing the dog is this:

You need two people, pop the dog on a lead and one person holds the lead stands still and does nothing. The other person approaches the dog, if the dog keeps all four feet on the ground he treats and walks away to repeat. If the dog jumps up he folds his arms, turns his back and walks away. Waits a few seconds and repeats. Most dogs get the idea very quickly but you then need to repeat in many different places and with many different people.

You will also need to keep your dog on a lead on walks because each time he jumps up ona stranger and is petted the behaviour is being reinforced.
 
Jumping up is v easy to cure but needs to be trained. If a dog jumps up at me I gently walk into the dog, no pushing, stepping on feet or kneeing the dog but mearly stepping into his space, say nothing to the dog. Continue walking forward until dog has all 4 feet on the ground then throw a titbit onto the floor gor the dog to eat. They very quickly learn good things come when all 4 feet on the floor. At this point I introduce a command such as "feet" and continue to throw treats to land on the floor. This can then transfer to greeting strangers.
 
Something that the training club I went to always said is that you can teach a dog that 'hello' is another word for 'sit' - obviously when training you'd need to say it in the most excited, OTT way possible. Must say I didn't entirely get it, partly because people don't always say 'hello', but it worked for a couple of people there that had bouncy dogs.

Also to agree with Booboo's point that until you've sorted it then you should probably keep on lead around people, it only takes for them to jump up at the wrong person or knock a child over and you can end up with complaints, or worse now the dog laws have changed :(.
 
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