Need Training Tips

[Guest TeddysMom]

When Teddy gets really excited, he jumps up at me. This morning he almost knocked me off my feet. He is under 2 years, was never raced or trained to race. I don't have much history on him since he was turned in the the city pound in August. He does know sit and I have tried using sit with treats and he will obey but as soon as he gets the treat, he starts jumping at me again. I have turning sidways and tried the ignore method but he just jumps on my back. He is now 70 pounds and has almost knocked me down a coupld of times. The only time he does it is when we wake up in the morning, when I arrive home from somewhere or when I am getting ready to feed. I looked up jumping on the search and have also look up training methods from trainers on line. Teddy is a sweet, happy, goofy puppy. He walks well on a leash, is lovable and the only issues I have with him are the jumping and nipping. I would love to have some suggestions on training him not to jump on me. This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem for greys that have been trained to race but it is pretty obvious that Teddy was not trained as a puppy at all and is probably why he ended up being turned in to the pound. He is also not a very soft hearted sensitive type dog and doesn't seem to get his feelings hurt. He is just a big goof. Thanks for any advise you can give me.

[o_rooly]

How long do you wait before turning back around to face him once you've turned away? I've gathered from what I've read (but haven't had to try it in person luckily, sooo.. there's MY level of expert ) that the best thing is to wait until the dog has quieted before turning back around, that way they'll start to connect that self control = face time

[TheFullHouse]

I tried ignoring and turning my back on Arrow and it didn't work. He's huge and I'm only a little over 5 ft. so he was hurting me. I finally had to grab his collar when his feet hit the floor and hold on to it and when he tried to jump I would pull down slightly so his feet couldn't leave the floor, say "down" and treat. We did that for 2 weeks straight before I finally said "down" and he stayed down!

[Greys4Us]

When Teddy gets really excited, he jumps up at me. This morning he almost knocked me off my feet. He is under 2 years, was never raced or trained to race. I don't have much history on him since he was turned in the the city pound in August. He does know sit and I have tried using sit with treats and he will obey but as soon as he gets the treat, he starts jumping at me again. I have turning sidways and tried the ignore method but he just jumps on my back. He is now 70 pounds and has almost knocked me down a coupld of times. The only time he does it is when we wake up in the morning, when I arrive home from somewhere or when I am getting ready to feed. I looked up jumping on the search and have also look up training methods from trainers on line. Teddy is a sweet, happy, goofy puppy. He walks well on a leash, is lovable and the only issues I have with him are the jumping and nipping. I would love to have some suggestions on training him not to jump on me. This doesn't seem to be as much of a problem for greys that have been trained to race but it is pretty obvious that Teddy was not trained as a puppy at all and is probably why he ended up being turned in to the pound. He is also not a very soft hearted sensitive type dog and doesn't seem to get his feelings hurt. He is just a big goof. Thanks for any advise you can give me.

 

 

How well we know this one! We have had a lot of the jumpers/nippers come through here. Some are harder to teach than others. We usually use a word command (like BAH!) to suggest that this behavior is not good. We turn our backs and wait until the jumping stops. When it is quiet, we say "Good boy/girl" and reward with a treat. This is done in a different tone of voice, much higher and positive compared to the BAH word which is loud and direct). I can say with certainty that once you start the training, it will get worse before it gets better. Just keep doing the same thing each time and don't lose patience. We had one dog that was a kennel favorite and he was encouraged to jump up on his trainer/care taker. It took us a long time to change the behavior but it did work. He was placed in a home with a very experienced adopter and they still sometimes have to "remind" him that this behavior is not OK. I think the trick to this is not to lose patience, keep up with the repetative training, and eventually it should do some good.

[Guest TeddysMom]

Thanks. I will keep plugging away at it, as long as I am doing the right thing. I just thought I might be missing something because he just doesn't seem to get it. He is certainly food motivated enough, I should be able to teach him anything if it involves him getting a bite of food.

[Batmom]

The ignore method can take some time to work. BUT if he will work for food, you've got an edge. You can teach a command, as Judy suggests -- sit, wait, lie down, whatever.

 

I use a combination of things with Joseph. In the morning, he's apt to go bananas as we walk through the house from bedroom to breakfast. If he started jumping at me, I'd stop and turn my back. Since he wanted his breakfast, he got the picture pretty quickly that he'd better direct his energy toward a toy. Every now and then he'll still get kinda close -- air jumping right in front of me -- but all it takes is for me to stop and look away from him, and he remembers.

 

He also gets very excited about the possibility of a walk. For that, I taught him to sit. I don't pick up the leash until he does. If he hops up again before the leash goes on, I put it back on the leash hook and just stood there. The first several times we did this, it took awhile to get the leash on and get out the door but he did learn. That might be a good method for him jumping at you while you're trying to prepare breakfast.

 

One thing that can be of help while trying desperately to ignore a large dog jumping at you is to stick your elbow out. It makes a bit of an obstacle that will often prevent a dog from making full contact.

 

Hugs and best luck.

 

 

[Guest Cris_M]

Have you tried ignoring Teddy when you first come home from work? Making entrances and exits calm, no excitement whatsoever events can make a huge difference. If there is no excitement revolved around coming home, there is no need to jump when that occurs. Humans tend to have more problem with ignoring a dog when coming home than the dog does.

 

This won't specifically help every jumping episode, but it can establish a climate that can extend to other areas.

 

The other thing I noticed was that Teddy is a puppy. All that puppy energy has to go somewhere. Added age will take care of a lot of that. Just keep training correctly so the jumping and nipping don't become habits.

 

Sounds like you are doing really well. Congrats!

[Guest NeverSayNever]

I like to use my feet. If a dog is coming at me and jumping up on me, I goose him with my foot to keep him out of my space until he calms down. I find they don't really expect to get goosed with a foot and they do not associate your feet with affection like they do your hands..... so don't use your hands.

 

I would teach a really good down stay instead of a sit for these situations. I think it is much easier to teach a correction to the down and make him do it with collar pressure instead of bribing with a treat. Much more useful for excited situations than a sit. I very big on using lots of food for training and I want it to be very positive, but there is a point when I do want you to give me some basic behaviors like a down simply because I said so.

 

I've posted step by step on my blog. Here is the last post to it, but it includes links to the other posts you need.

 

http://neversaynevergreyhounds.blogspot.com/2009/08/greyhound-downs-104.html

 

All in all with my greyhounds (I have 6), they don't get leashed for an outing, they don't eat, and they aren't greeted until they are lying down. Instead of jumping for what they want, they have learned that quickly getting into a down is the best way to get what they want fast. It just takes being very very consistant and some good training.

 

 

Jennifer Bachelor

Never Say Never Greyhounds

www.NeverSayNeverGreyhounds.net

NeversayNeverGreyhounds.blogspot.com

[Guest mirthlesstroll]

I have a 2 year old foster puppy who is a jumper, too. I tried the Ignore to no avail, but got success (well, we're working on it, he has improved a lot) with a squirt bottle. I turn my back to him, and squirt him under my arm, or over my shoulder when he jumps up.