Cleveland's Source for Dog Training News and Information
Holiday Training: Jumping on Visitors
Imagine
how you'd like your dog to behave. A visitor comes to your door and
your loveable canine friend calmly trots to the entry way to see who's there.
You open the door and your dog casually sits for the visitor. Your
guest comments on how nicely trained your dog is, pets her on the head and
proceeds into your living room.
Unfortunately that's not exactly how things usually go is it? The dog is often jumping out of her skin with excitement. Worse yet, she's jumping all over you and your guest. If you live with a litter terrier it's annoying. If you live with a big lab it can be downright dangerous.
Sit for greeting
There are tons of tricks and gimmicks out there to keep your dog from jumping on people. There's nothing tricky about our method. And, yes, it does take time and patience. But Juno and I (pictured right) are living proof that it works!
Starting right now, teach your dog that the only way she will gain anyone's attention is by sitting for them. Sound easy right? But, what this means is we need to let her experiment with failure. In other words, she needs to find out that jumping on people never works. If your dog chronically jumps on you this is easy. Withhold your attention and turn away from her until she sits. Don't look at her or talk to her -- remember, we're withholding all attention. When she sits, praise, pet or even treat her for a job well done. In short order your dog will begin sitting for you more and jumping less.
This process works very well with visitors too. The trouble is, you need to coach your visitors to allow for the jumping (experimenting with failure) while at the same time playing by the rules (withholding all attention from the dog). My experience tells me it's best to select one or two friends who are very clear about the process and who are willing to help.
The classic sit stay
Here's another tried and true remedy. If you are struggling with teaching your dog to sit for visitors, how 'bout getting her really good at sitting for you. You can practice this often and regularly in a variety of settings. The goal here is that your dog sits and looks at you no matter what is happening -- even if someone is coming in the front door. Proof this exercise by practicing with a volunteer visitor at your front door.
Managing with a Gentle Leader
A Gentle Leader Head Collar can be a good management tool while training your dog to greet people nicely. Gentle Leaders often have a calming effect on dogs. They also provide great assistance in controlling her if your dog starts to jump on someone. This is especially helpful if the dog is going to be around children or elders.
How we can help more
North Coast Dogs provides instruction on greeting people in our Family Puppy, Family Dog, Family Dog Extra and CGC/TDI classes. We provide instruction on "stay" in all of our beginner and upper level classes. We also sell, fit and train Gentle Leader Head collars by appointment.
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OUCH! A seminar on play biting
Join North Coast Dogs trainer, Ginger Alpine CPDT, for an hour-long seminar on play biting. Learn why some dogs bite and bite hard when they want to play with you. More importantly, learn how to prevent and solve this annoying and painful behavior.
Congratulations
to our newly certified Canine Good Citizens / Therapy Dogs
Name
the team
It
has certainly been a busy year. We've added new trainers, a new
location and new learning opportunities for the people and dogs we love
so dearly. North Coast Dogs trainers have also grown in skill and
knowledge. We hosted a wonderful workshop with Jean Donaldson.
We graduated trainers from the SF/SPCA Academy for Dog Trainers.
One of our trainers took her CPDT exam and I began my work on an MA at
John Carroll.