April 19, 2011
Our dog is obedience trained but it continues to jump on guests that come to our house. We alpha roll her when she does this.
Full Question:
We have an 11month GS/rotti mix. She was a rescue and we have had her since she was 11 weeks old. She has completed basic obedience (prong collar was used) and did very well. I do, however, have one main concern in regards to training. When our dog meets new people, or our friends that she doesn't know well, she is relentless to get their attn. by jumping up on them and nipping at their hands and clothes. She has never hurt anyone, never even really nipped hard, but nonetheless it makes us and our friends anxious.When she is doing this behavior, we instruct our company to ignore her to the best of their ability, and we verbally scold her, using the "NO JUMP" command. If she does not stop immediately, we will grab her by her grab leash and put her down in the submissive alpha roll.
However, 9 times out of 10 she will do it again and again. She is not being aggressive or mean while doing this, she is usually very excited and happy. I don't want to be too harsh, but at the same time, my husband and I DO NOT want to have a problem adult dog on our hands either. In all other situations she is generally very submissive and well-behaved. She has been socialized since she was a puppy and has mastered her walk. Basically, I want to know if you have any suggestions in regards to getting her to stop jumping and nipping on our friends and new people. I keep on having other dog owners telling me that it's not normal for an 11 month old dog to still nip at hands and clothes so the older she gets, the more serious my concerns are.
Sincerely,
Erica
SB, California
Ed's Answer:
There are several things that jump at me from this email.
ALPHA ROLLS are a dangerous dangerous thing to do. Never ALPHA ROLL an adult dog. I cannot tell you how many people I have known who have been badly hurt when their dog attacked them as they tried to ALPHA ROLL their dog.
Training adult dogs not to jump up is different than training a puppy. With adults it becomes a simple obedience issue. The dog is told NO and if it does not stop it gets corrected. The correction needs to be done with a leash and prong collar. The level of correction needs to be hard enough that the dog remembers it the next time it thinks about jumping up. The handler must also be consistent and correct the dog EVERY TIME IT JUMPS. So the dog knows that "if it jumps on a person it is going to get corrected."
Some people cannot correct at a hard enough level to create a lasting effect on their dog. Those people need to train the dog with an electric collar. With that said the electric collar should not be used while jumping as the dog may think the person who its jumping on was the source of the discomfort. Some dogs will then bite. The collar should be used in basic Obedience and the owner should set up levels of distraction in training to use the collar on. Distraction training is covered in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD.
What works with a dog is to use the electric collar to train the dog to go into his crate ( I assume you crate train your dog - if you don't then you should) The training involves teaching the dog to go to the crate for food when you give the CRATE command toss food in. Then when the dog knows the command, add the door bell to the command. Its OK at first to have the crate near the door.
If the dog refuses (because the distraction is too high) then give a NO command and use the collar and a long line that is strung through the crate to force it to the crate. ALWAYS give a verbal NO when a dog refuses to follow a command that you know it knows. The goal of electric collar training is to teach the dog to mind and that THE HANDLER IS THE SOURCE of the electricity. The goal is to teach the dog that you can always reach out and touch it.
If the training is correct the dog will develop a healthy respect for the word NO. When it jumps on people give a NO command. The dog will put 2 and 2 together when you have done the foundation training properly.
ALPHA ROLLS are a dangerous dangerous thing to do. Never ALPHA ROLL an adult dog. I cannot tell you how many people I have known who have been badly hurt when their dog attacked them as they tried to ALPHA ROLL their dog.
Training adult dogs not to jump up is different than training a puppy. With adults it becomes a simple obedience issue. The dog is told NO and if it does not stop it gets corrected. The correction needs to be done with a leash and prong collar. The level of correction needs to be hard enough that the dog remembers it the next time it thinks about jumping up. The handler must also be consistent and correct the dog EVERY TIME IT JUMPS. So the dog knows that "if it jumps on a person it is going to get corrected."
Some people cannot correct at a hard enough level to create a lasting effect on their dog. Those people need to train the dog with an electric collar. With that said the electric collar should not be used while jumping as the dog may think the person who its jumping on was the source of the discomfort. Some dogs will then bite. The collar should be used in basic Obedience and the owner should set up levels of distraction in training to use the collar on. Distraction training is covered in my Basic Dog Obedience DVD.
What works with a dog is to use the electric collar to train the dog to go into his crate ( I assume you crate train your dog - if you don't then you should) The training involves teaching the dog to go to the crate for food when you give the CRATE command toss food in. Then when the dog knows the command, add the door bell to the command. Its OK at first to have the crate near the door.
If the dog refuses (because the distraction is too high) then give a NO command and use the collar and a long line that is strung through the crate to force it to the crate. ALWAYS give a verbal NO when a dog refuses to follow a command that you know it knows. The goal of electric collar training is to teach the dog to mind and that THE HANDLER IS THE SOURCE of the electricity. The goal is to teach the dog that you can always reach out and touch it.
If the training is correct the dog will develop a healthy respect for the word NO. When it jumps on people give a NO command. The dog will put 2 and 2 together when you have done the foundation training properly.
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