How To Deal With A Jumping Dog

Jumping is a really common problem among dogs – well, I guess I should say among dog owners? It’s rarely a problem for the dogs themselves – jumping, in actual fact, seems to act as a reward in itself. It’s a different kettle of fish for the exasperated owner, who’s forced to deal with a new set of muddy footprints/gouges in their skin and clothes/offended guests/scared children!

Many owners inadvertently encourage jumping behaviour from puppy-hood: when a small puppy runs excitedly over to us, wagging the tail and making small, clumsy leaps at our knees, it’s almost natural to lean down and respond in kind. Why wouldn’t we – the puppy is just so cute!

Effectively, we reward that puppy’s “jump-y” greeting by reacting with exuberant affection, hugs and kisses. The puppy is learning a fast lesson though - that jumping is a good thing, because it results in plenty of positive attention and physical contact. Plus, greetings between dogs are communicated through sniffing the backside and licking the mouth. So it is natural for a dog to want to greet us by licking around the face if we let them.

So now your dog is not capable of understanding the difference between a jump as a small, cute puppy, and a jump as a huge, hairy adult. A greeting is a greeting, and just because he or she has aged by a few months is no reason to stop jumping – at least, not voluntarily.

This is where you really need to take matters into your own hands, and make it perfectly clear to your dog that jumping is no longer an option. It would have been so much easier, though, if from the very beginning the puppy only got the attention and hugs and pats when all his or her paws were on the ground.

When is jumping not appropriate?

Obviously, whether or not you’re prepared to accept your dog’s insistence on redefining verticality all comes down to personal preference.

Many owners of smaller dogs actually expect them to jump up – among toy dog owners, jumping seems to be viewed as a sign of excitement and affection on the dog’s behalf. The good news is that these small dogs aren’t likely to knock anyone flying when they’re feeling rambunctious, and their size usually won’t intimidate any but the youngest of children.
On the other hand, there is rarely a scenario where strangers will actively welcome being leapt up on by an unknown dog, regardless of said dog’s size; really, it’s just plain good form to teach your dog the “off” command, so that you’re prepared for those incidences when you’re not directly on hand to stop the jumping behaviour.

For owners of large-breed dogs, the “off” (or “no jump”) command is mandatory. Some large dogs are often taller than humans when they rear up on their hind legs (and just imagine the experience from a child’s point of view, with a dog’s slavering jaws looming above your own head!) – they are often heavy enough to knock smaller adults tip over tail. At the very least, a large dog’s paws are heavy enough to gouge long rents in cloth and exposed flesh. Scratches and bruising are unpleasant enough to deal with when they are your own problem; but much worse when your dog has inflicted them on somebody else, especially if the visitor is elderly or a very young child! This can really cause some major damage.
Really, any kind of jumping is just bad manners. All owners with even pretensions of responsibility should arm their dogs with a reliable recall to the “off” command – just in case.

Why does jumping happen?

The main reason that most dogs jump up is really out of excitement: it is an enthusiastic greeting, reserved for times when adrenaline is running high and the dog’s happy about something.

Some dogs don’t jump very much at all, except when their owner returns home after a relatively prolonged absence (like the average workday). If your dog is leaping up on you in these circumstances, there’s no sinister motivation at work here- he is literally jumping because of the happiness in the master being back.

A less common, but a more serious reason that some dogs will jump is to exert their dominance over you (or over whomever they are jumping on). Dogs are pack animals: and they live in designated hierarchies of social rank and order. When a dog needs to assert dominance over a lesser animal, one way of doing so is to declare physical superiority, which is usually done by “jumping up” where he will sling one or both paws over the other dog’s shoulders.

You should be able to tell the basic reason for your dog’s jumping simply by considering the circumstances surrounding the event. If he only jumps up in periods of great excitement (like during play-time, or when you return home from work) then he’s clearly just demonstrating an exuberant frame of mind.

If the jumping behaviour occurs in a variety of situations, then it could be more likely that the dog is expressing dominance over you, which is a more complex issue – the jumping is a reflection of a symptom of an underlying attitude and communication issue. If this is the case then you will need to make some serious adjustments to your overall relationship with your dog, and learn about the alpha-dog techniques (tip: SitStayFetch has some fantastic resources on coping with a dominant dog – there’s a link to the site at the bottom of the page).

Four paws on the ground, please!

How you react to your dog’s jumping plays a big role in whether or not that behavior gets repeated. You’re going to need to make a prolonged effort to be consistent in how you choose to deal with this problem. For your dog to stop jumping, he needs to be taught that it is never ever acceptable for him to do so. This means that you can’t allow him to jump sometimes, but forbid him from doing it at other times. Your dog doesn’t understand the difference between a playful and an irritable mood, or your work and play clothes - all he understands is that, if you allow him to jump up on some occasions, he’ll try to jump up on you whenever he feels like it, because he doesn’t know any better.

Stopping the jumping!

Most trainers agree that the most effective way for you to weed out unwanted behaviours (like jumping) in your dog is also the easiest - all you have to do is simply ignore him whenever he jumps up. The idea is to give him the cold shoulder: withdraw all attention, even negative attention (so no yelling, shoving, or corrections).

Here’s how to implement this training technique: whenever your dog jumps up on you, turn your back straight away. Since dogs understand body language a lot more clearly than they do the spoken word, you are going to be using your posture to convey the message that such behaviour is not acceptable here - fold your arms, turn your back, turn your face away from him and avert your eyes.

This is where a lot of people make a mistake - they confuse ignoring the behaviour with ignoring the dog. You’re not ignoring the behaviour - i.e., you’re not carrying on with whatever you were doing as if the jumping wasn’t happening; you’re ignoring your dog. You’re still going to react; but your reaction is for you to actively ignore him.

By giving your dog the cold shoulder you are effectively communicating your displeasure to him and he or she will catch on very quickly. Without the encouragement of your attention and your reactions to his behaviour, the dog will calm down very quickly indeed.

When to praise!

When all four paws are on the ground, then – and only then – you can praise the heck out of him!

Don’t be confused by the proximity of the positive reinforcement to the negative – dogs have a very short “training memory”, and are only capable of associating a reaction from you with whatever behaviour it is they’re exhibiting at the time of that reaction. In other words – your timing for reward has to be spot on. Any delay on your part for praising the dog could mean that you may end up praising if he or she has jumped up again.

So, it’s perfectly OK for you to react with wild enthusiasm the very second that his paws touch the ground, even if you were cold-shouldering him the split-second before.

Recommended Reading

For more information on understanding and solving canine behavioural problems, you would probably be interested in checking out SitStayFetch. It’s a complete how-to manual for dog owners, and is packed with just about all the information you’ll ever need on dog psychology, canine communication how-to’s, practical advice for dealing with problem behaviors, and detailed step-by-step guides to obedience training.

To visit SitStayFetch, just click on the link below:
http://www.kingdomofpets.com

Dog Obedience - Overcoming Challenges

posted by Carolyn Read from DIY Dog Grooming on 8th May 2008

If you have read my blog on “What I Did With My Aggressive Golden Retriever” I mentioned that our challenges in the dog obedience ring were significant after Elliott being confronted with an Alaskan Malamute standing over the top of him in a drop/stay exercise. This was his first ever dog obedience trial and he was working beautifully.

Generally, in the obedience ring you individually do a series of exercises, firstly on lead heelwork with sits, drops and stands, turns in both directions, figure of 8 heelwork exercise, stand for examination and recall and then a routine again off lead. That’s it in a nutshell. Once everyone has been through and the obedience judge has assessed your dog we then all wait to go in to the ring together for the 1 minute sit stay exercise and then the 3 minute drop stay exercise. For these two exercises the dogs are about one metre apart (not a lot of distance between each dog really). You start off at the side of the dog and then at the command of the judge you leave your dog and walk to the other side of the ring. You stand there for the allotted time period and the dogs are not allowed to move (if they do they fail).

So, in this first trial Elliott and I were there waiting for the sit stay exercise and he had the malamute on one side of him. We got through that sit stay exercise perfectly. Believe me - one minute seems like eternity when you are competing in an obedience trial like this. We returned to our dogs and the exercise was finished. I like to get Elliott up and do a little circle on the spot to prepare him for the drop stay. The dogs were all put into their drop stay positions and, once again, we left them on the command of the judge. This is a three minute exercise and seems like even more of an eternity than the one minute exercise! During these three minutes the malamute got up and went and stood over the top of Elliott – my heart sank as I was not allowed to move. He just lay there looking at me. No one did anything and so the dog just kept standing over the top of him. Finally, we got to return to our dogs – the fact that Elliott had remained in the drop position and no fight had occurred was like winning the trial for me. That was a major breakthrough! I was so relieved that our efforts and dog obedience training had made a difference.

However, this incident did create a problem. When we entered subsequent dog obedience trials, Elliott did a beautiful round but when it came to those stay exercises he would get up and follow me, sometimes immediately and then sometimes he would wait but he would never stay for the whole time.

Someone suggested we train with the Malamutes so we did. I spoke to them and asked if I could join their training. I made some great friendships from that and eventually down the track helped them out with instructing in their classes.

I was already going to an all breeds dog obedience club once a week. And then, I ended up going to classes and instructing for the Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club, so we were three nights per week training and getting him used to different breeds as much as possible.

In the training he would do his stays perfectly but when it came to the trials, no. It became a real frustration as the rest of his work was fantastic.

I had a discussion with one of the obedience judges and she pointed out that his reward was coming back to me and then being taken out of the ring. I did realise this but didn’t quite know what to do about it. Well, I decided to engage the assistance of the next judge who we were entered under. The idea was that the steward would come and take him from me when he came back to me and take him out of the ring. I would complete the exercise and then go and get him. So that is what we did. And it worked! Hallelujah! At that particular trial we had to repeat one of the stay exercises because one dog got up and took, all bar Elliott and another dog, with him.

So our problem was finally solved – no more breaking the stays. We had a couple of hiccups with different exercises in a few subsequent trials but his stays now were solid and he passed them.

A few months down the track and we had gained our Novice Dog Obedience Title, one pass included and equal third place at the Perth Royal Show (with the Llamas walking past!). Another trial we got a second place under the judge who was well-known as being the hardest to score well under so we knew we had done well that day also. The last trial we passed we only scraped through – our consolation was that no dog performed well on that night.

By this time, though, he was very bored with dog obedience training and once we had the CD Title was the time we made the switch to Retrieving – more challenges but an activity which he really loved! That’s another blog!

Dog To Dog Aggression – The Road To Recovery

by Carolyn Read, posted from DIY Dog Grooming on 26-4-08 at 20:37

Ok, so if you have read my blog titled “What I Did With My Aggressive Golden Retriever” then you will understand that if you have a similar problem with your dog and his/her aggression towards other dogs it is going to take time and effort and is going to be an ongoing process – there is no quick fix! But I am going to give you some tips to help you along the way. I know what it’s like to have a dog aggressive dog and sometimes the embarrassment that goes with it, especially when it’s a breed not generally associated with dog aggression. You expect this type of behaviour more from the so-called ‘aggressive’ breeds. The truth of the matter is that any breed or type of dog has the potential to be aggressive. A dog is a dog and therefore has those inherent aggression characteristics regardless of breed.

So, where to start? I can only give you information about my experience and what worked for me and Elliott. What worked for us may not necessarily work for you. Over time you will need to listen to what people say and take on the information that helps you the best. We went to see a dog behaviourist who gave me a bunch of notes which I did my best to adhere to. They included actions I could take so my dog would be clear about where his place was in the pack. A couple of examples were when out walking to allow Elliott to walk slightly in front of Sophie; when feeding them both giving Elliott his dinner first; making him sit and wait at the door – I was the first one to enter in the house and exit the house. I might add here that having two dogs is a completely different ball game than just having one. If you are having problems of any sort, including aggression, then get some professional one-on-one help. They will be able to make a qualified assessment of what is going on in the whole relationship.

After that, down the track when Elliott showed that aggression to the other dog at the agility training, the President of the Club offered me some help on a one-to-one basis. One exercise we did was I stood with Elliott sitting at my side. I will digress here just for a minute. A very important thing for you to keep in mind is to – STAY CALM! There are now some natural herbal remedies available to help calm your dog also (and you also, if you need them!). Your dog will pick up your vibes and if you are uptight and stressed then he will pick up on that. When you speak to your dog use a firm calm low voice and speak as though you are in control. Screaming and shouting will get you nowhere.

Anyway, Barry walked around us in a fairly wide circle with his dog and my job was to keep Elliott focussed on me. Now, most trainers will tell you to use food, toys, ball or whatever. If that works for you – great! None of those things had any distraction value for Elliott. If your dog is so worked up that he is not interested in any yummies you might have in your hand then you might like to try what I did. With my hands on either side of his face I had to steer his face to look at me. Now, I noticed that even though his face was pointing at me his eyes were darting from side to side – so I used my hands also to blinker his eyes and try to prevent him from looking at what was happening and focus on me. At the same time I was doing this I kept repeating the word “watch”. As I got more proficient if I saw his eyes dart outwards I would say “ah-ah” and when his eyes were looking at me “good boy” (he wasn’t interested in any treats). We swapped over so that I was walking Elliott around and once again trying to keep his focus on me. We did the same exercise in a line both walking past each other. When you do these types of exercises make sure that both owners are between the dogs, eg walking up and down have the dog on your left and make sure that the dogs are on the outside so that you both can prevent any aggression incidents.

Every weekend in summer was an outing to the beach and when Elliott was off lead swimming or running he actually wasn’t so much of a problem as when he was on lead. If a dog came too close he would growl as warning but was really focussed on swimming and fetching his ball so all I would have to do would be to throw his ball into the ocean and he would be after it. On our walks along the path back to the car park he would be back on lead. Well, we had the same old problem if anyone was approaching. I found that by stopping before the oncoming person and dog got to me, sitting Elliott beside me and repeating the exercise of steering his head and blinkering his eyes as best I could as well as talking to him in a calm firm voice we would avoid any sort of aggression. I would also let people know that he was not sociable. I later read a book on Dog Calming Signals and found that sitting, for a dog, is one of the communication calming signals they use in the pack.

As I said this was definitely not a quick fix. As I got training with him, three nights per week at one stage and with different dog clubs and as many breeds of dogs as possible, after a period of time I actually learnt to read him down to a tee. When there were other dogs around I could never have a chat to someone face to face – I always had to chat with my eyes on Elliott. Having said all of this, Elliott has never shown any aggression to people, it has always been dogs only. For him, missing out on socialisation during the critical period between 8-16 weeks (as that was when we did start our training) really made the contribution towards his dog aggression, I believe. Every dog is different – my Sophie had exactly the same upbringing and she was fine. Every dog is an individual and you have to treat them as such – that is why I say to try different things and whatever works best for you and your dog to prevent any type of dog aggression then use it.

What I Did With My Dog Aggressive Golden Retriever

I could write a book about my wonderful (despite his aggressive nature) dog Elliott, – bless his dear cotton socks – who is now closer to 14 years of age and still going strong! Wow, what a journey we have both been on and he has taught me more than I could have ever taught him.

Elliott came into my life because I wanted a companion for my Sophie (Golden Retriever also). She was on her own all day as I was out at work and the best thing I could do for her was get her a companion.

Well, at the Golden Retriever club training classes, I had befriended one of the breeders, and mentioned that I would like a companion for Sophie. This breeder had a litter due and wanted to keep pick boy as a stud dog. We agreed to go joint ownership and the dog lived with me. The deal was that I would show him and get his eyes and hips done at 12 months of age. All was going to be perfect, but little did I know!!

Please bear in mind that this was 1994 and there was no such thing as puppy pre-school – it was more important about the vaccinations than socialisation!

So, after picking Elliott up at 8 weeks of age, we had to wait until he was fully vaccinated before we were able to attend the Golden Retriever training classes. He started growling and being a little bit aggressive at the other dogs at that early age. I didn't think much of it. He was absolutely fine with Sophie – they were like chalk and cheese in temperament but best buddies! As he got older he became a real handful, as well as full on dog aggressive. Can you relate to this situation? We even went to a doggie psychologist!! We got a list of instructions which needed to teach him his place in our ‘pack’. He needed to be dominant over Sophie, even though he was the youngest. I got very involved in dog training and I realised that because he was hyperactive plus dog aggressive his energy would need to be channelled into positive activities. We did obedience training and were ready to start trialling at about 18 months of age. That's another story.

We started to get into Agility and gave that up after he took on a female German Shepherd. I was told to take him off the lead and very reluctantly I did so. No damage was done to either dog but was not nice. Because of this aggressive incident toward this other dog someone wanted us banned from the grounds for a few months but the President of the club was very kind and said he would work with us. Really, how can one correct a problem if one is banned from being involved in the training groups? These are the types of dogs (and owners!) who need this kind of help! And we needed major help!

The next week we did some exercises and that was really the start of us getting very serious about dog training. Elliott really was quite uncontrollable when he was around strange dogs. And when he was in this state food treats, toys, or a ball just did not have any affect on his behaviour. Over time, though, we got to be able to read each other like a book.

We eventually got training three nights a week at different dog clubs after an Alaskan Malamute stood over Elliott in his first ever obedience trial during the drop stay exercise. There was no fight – and that in itself was a major breakthrough. However, it created a problem which is the other story I mentioned above. I'll talk about that in another blog.

We finally got our Novice Obedience Title. I wanted to do Retrieving which is what Gundogs are bred to do and once again, I thought this would channel his energies into positive activities. There was one trial in the early days where he ripped the lead out of my hands and ran over to fight with two Labradors – yes, he took on two of them! And he was 5 by this stage – so he wasn't a real spring chicken. I was trying very hard to keep him well away from the others. I was devastated. I drove all the way home in tears and rang my mentors, Jean and Dave. It was after that I decided to get him sterilised. I hadn't done it because I thought I would get him back in the show ring eventually.

Well, it took 6-12 months and he started to settle down. He was still aggressive and I had to be careful when he was around other dogs. We continued our retrieving and competitions until he was 10. By this time he had started to mellow down. I was so proud when he finally achieved his Novice Retrieving Dog title three days after he turned 11. And nowadays he doesn’t really socialise at all and his aggressive nature has pretty much subsided even when he does come into contact with other dogs – he’s very much into retirement years.

I should mention that I don't hold the breeder at all responsible. This person is a responsible breeder and sometimes I think it is the luck of the draw. Personally, I believe that the animals choose us and in our case, I have Elliott to thank for the position in which I now find myself - he changed the path of my life and I owe that to him. He has taught me far more than what I have taught him!

Do you have a dog who is aggressive? Do you want some hints on how to cope? I dread to think what would have happened to Elliott if he had gone to a family situation or to someone who wasn't prepared to put the time and effort into him. An aggressive dog is not easy to manage and will take time and effort. Please post if you would like to make comments or ask questions if you have an aggressive dog. Keep your eye on this site for further ideas on the things I did to actually manage and control this dog aggressive nature over a period of time.