I've been working on good manners w/my boxer and she does not jump on anyone in our home. It had been a while since someone w/a kid had come over & last night, my dog was uncontrollable! I was so pissed (and embarrassed). I put her on a leash before hand but any correction I popped would not work. I didn't want to do a level 8 or higher correction on her in front of the kid, so I just put her in her crate. Don't know if that was a mistake or not, but she was not listening to me. I recently bought a e-collar because it was at a good price. I have not used it on her, (she is in the 1st week of conditioning to it). How can I re-test for this to stop the jumping and should I use the e-collar for that? Thanks

 Quote: Alex Corral

I've been working on good manners w/my boxer and she does not jump on anyone in our home. It had been a while since someone w/a kid had come over & last night, my dog was uncontrollable! I was so pissed (and embarrassed). I put her on a leash before hand but any correction I popped would not work. I didn't want to do a level 8 or higher correction on her in front of the kid, so I just put her in her crate. Don't know if that was a mistake or not, but she was not listening to me. I recently bought a e-collar because it was at a good price. I have not used it on her, (she is in the 1st week of conditioning to it). How can I re-test for this to stop the jumping and should I use the e-collar for that? Thanks

Here are two things I have found helpful with the visitor thing:

With a doorbell-helper, train the dog to do a certain thing when there's company. Training to do something is way easier than correcting to get them NOT to do something, IMO. So you could train that sitting quietly ten feet from the door means praise and a reward.

Also, you can step on the leash. With a rescue last year, he had an old habit of jumping up on people who stopped to admire or talk to him. While I was training him how to react to people on walks, I sometimes stepped on the leash when I saw that he was about to fall into his old habit. It helped to break the cycle.

Alex,

E-collars can be used for your situation. I do not know if you have Ed's e-collar DVD or not, but I highly suggest that you get it, if you haven't already. Dogs who jump on people are discussed on this DVD, and Ed explains how to eliminate the problem. I can explain how Ed works with dogs who jump, but you might be so anxious to fix this problem, that I'm afriad that you might get ahead of yourself (might start pushing buttons during collar conditioning process). How are you conditioning your dog to wearing the e-collar?

I find that in a situation of high distraction, it is better to practice more before beginning corrections. Practice the doorbell scenario like Connie said.
I think it was a good idea to put the dog in the crate. Keep re-testing and if your dog is still having trouble, go to the e-collar. I believe you can skip the usage of it if you just make a couple tests of distraction and train when you are able to deliver a correction level the dog will respond to. Start with less distractions and work your way up to a bouncy neighbor kid when you know your dog is under control.

Connie, I don't have many visitors, but I have trained my dog to sit about 15 ft from the doorway (where the hallway begins to the front door). When I did the door bell test, she would sit and not move because she would see it was either I, or my wife at the door. I was confident she'd stay seated last night, but when she saw new people she bolted to the door and that's when I grabbed her leash. I put her in another sit and was giving her a chance, but she jumped on the kid about 4-5 times w/no response to the corrections & that was enough for me. I have tried stepping on the leash, but the lil' booger is so stong, she pulls it from my foot.

Julio, I have seen the video and I am putting on and taking off the color about 4-5 times a day along w/her prong & normal collar. I am not in a hurry, since we don't have visitors too often but I didn't know if stimming her would be a good idea while she is so close to people. Thanks for the responses.

This is really the problem I have having. Visitors cause my dog to go ballistic. I was thinking of having someone help me practice ringing the bell but my neighbor is about all I have for options and she has cancer so I can't really impose on her too often.
I need to go backwards anyways as I can't even get my dog to sit still right now.. I am really frustrated with my dog training skills. I have all the videos as well so I just keep trying!

Elizabeth, this would be a good post to start your own thread with.

If this is a puppy, for example, you could go here http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/postlist/Board/14 and click on "new topic" (blue, upper left).

Alex/Elizabeth - I like to work on the no-jump thing by manipulating the environment and allowing the dog to teach him/herself how to get what he/she wants.

I start with the dog back-tied to a stationary object (either outside or inside) such as a post. I walk up to the dog and, when he jumps, I turn and walk away. I repeat the walk-ups, all the while saying nothing to the dog, but each time turning and walking away if the dog jumps up. The dog eventually will not jump up on me as I walk up, either because he gets tired or because he's not getting the expected response from the human. (This may take 2 walk-ups and it may take 20 or more depending on the level of the problem.) At the very moment the dog does not jump, I use a marker word ("Good!") and give a food reward. Then I repeat this process. The dog quickly learns that jumping up on me will send me away and that keeping four paws on the ground will get my attention and a treat.

As soon as the dog shows an understanding of this, I will increase the level of distraction by talking to the dog as I walk up or other such behaviors in an attempt to get him to jump up on me. If he jumps up, I walk away. If he doesn't, "good" + treat. After a couple of sessions (increasing the distractions all along - you can use other people/kids too), the dog will learn that no matter what the human is doing, if he doesn't jump up he'll get a treat and attention. Remember, I don't give him any commands and he doesn't get a physical correction for jumping up - just ignored.

I'll transition this to the house by back-tieing the dog near the front door (or have somebody act as a post and hold the leash) and setting up the visitor situation. In practice rounds, no attention is given to the dog unless his feet are firmly planted on the ground. Then you transition to no backtie.

What I've described (and I hope I explained it well enough!)isn't a quick fix, and it requires good timing and an understanding of behavior shaping, but it really works well. You've seen what happens when the level of excitement exceeds the power of the correction. When I do what I've described above, the dog learns on his own that people coming in the door and approaching him is the "cue" to elicit the behavior of not jumping, which in turn earns the reward of attention or food.

I've found that if you allow the dog to teach himself, the learning is very powerful and fewer corrections (if any) are needed. I use this same methodology to train a dog to ignore distractions in disaster SAR training and it is very effective - so much more effective than teaching the same thing through physical or verbal corrections.

I just re-read this - I need to get this on video because it is a little cumbersome to explain!

Edited by Konnie Hein (04/05/2009 04:08 PM)
Edit reason: add last sentence

Konnie Hein- thank you for your response
I did notice on Ed's video Basic Dog Obedience that he used a tie up method on one of the dogs- will start this- I really appreciate the advice!

I think you have nailed it on the head regarding my dog- I can see that I will first need to start this with no speaking on my part as my voice will be a distraction!

Also is it better to try and focus on one training issue at a time every session every day or vary them. Meaning should I do this training for the next day, week,month etc.. until it is working and then move on to another issue? Thanks sooo much!

Elizabeth:
I work on many things in one day with a dog, but the level of learning that can occur in a training session probably depends on the dog, the human and the combo of the two. My working dogs can learn several, unrelated concepts in a training session, but this is after I set up a communication system with them. I also like to vary the training day to day to prevent boredom (mostly my own).

Perhaps start with one thing the first few times and slowly add/vary more as you gain confidence and skill. Using the method I described above can also be a great way to introduce marker training (you can use a clicker instead of a marker word too!) to your dog. I've done that with several dogs and they seem to catch on right away.