What is the best way to teach my puppie not to jump up on me?
He's a 10 1/2 week old GSD and he's going to be big so I would realy like to get this out of the way ASAP.

I had several dogs growing up and the way I was told when I was young is to hit the dog on the shoulder and say down. I'm not very fond of this. I got him to do protection work so I'm trying not to hit him at all(for his drive), plus, groung up I never found this to work.

Also, I'm starting bite work with him and so i'm not sure what to do when he bites me when I'm doing somthing to him like grooming and leashing. I wa salso told when young to hit his nose but of course I'm not going to do this now, so what do I do? Do I just let him bite? If yes, when will he stop eating my hands every time I get neer his face?

 Quote: christi collett

What is the best way to teach my puppie not to jump up on me?
He's a 10 1/2 week old GSD and he's going to be big so I would realy like to get this out of the way ASAP.

Have treats in your pocket (all the time when you are working with him) and if he jumps on you, ignore it and when he gets off, with ALL four feet on the ground, you give him a "yes" (or whatever you want to use to mark the behavior) and a treat.
Soon he will realize that jumping on you gets him nothing but coming to you and performing an acceptable behavior gets him a treat.
Be sure to use a high value reward..(I use any of the soft treats from Leerburg or cut up sirloin, boiled white meat chicken or turkey ect.....) It just has to be something that he REALLY wants to work for.

 Quote: christi collett

I had several dogs growing up and the way I was told when I was young is to hit the dog on the shoulder and say down. I'm not very fond of this. I got him to do protection work so I'm trying not to hit him at all(for his drive), plus, groung up I never found this to work.

Yeah, this is an old school method from the yank and crankers, IMO. I don't like it either.

 Quote: christi collett

Also, I'm starting bite work with him and so i'm not sure what to do when he bites me when I'm doing somthing to him like grooming and leashing.

Keep a toy in your pocket and redirect his mouth from your hands or whatever he is biting to the toy.

At 10.5 weeks he is not going to understand any type of correction.
With Ember and her mouth, if it is on me, I say "uh uh" get her on the toy/rolled towel tug and say "yes, good girl".

With the leash, I use food. Em come out of her crate in an excited manner and jumps on me, bites my sleeves ect.....I ignore her (I have a treat in my pocket) and then she stops since she knows she will get food if she sits......so she sits and looks at me....."Yes, good girl" as I feed her the treat (holding it so she cannot get it all at once) I hook her leash to her collar.

She totally knows what the YES is now so I can start putting commands to the other behaviors she offers me that are acceptable.

It is REALLY important that when the dog offers the behavior you want, he offers it correctly....ie: sit=butt on the ground, not halfway, down=elbows on the floor, not elevated, off=all feet on the ground ect.....

What about when he jumps on the bed? Should I do the some thing when he jumps on me? give him a treat when he gets down. Should I teach him the word down are just let him learn not to jump?

Is your puppy tethered to you? Jumping on the bed is something they cannot do if they are on a leash and you have control, or he is tethered to you.

I do keep him on a leash on me all the time but he jumps on the bed when I'm on it. So now what?

1. Get off the bed and when he jumps down, mark being on the floor.
By mark, I mean...."yes" and give a treat.

2. Shorten the lead so he cannot jump all the way up. (this is what I would do)

3. Give him a chew toy or kong filled with cream cheese or peanut butter on the floor next to the bed.

4. Do not take him in the bedroom so that he can jump on the bed. Wait until he is older and better at displaying behaviors you want to work on this. (another thing I would do)

I read in an old forum on this site and some one said that jumping up was a pack problem and it needs to stop. Do you think thats true? If it is true than how do I make him stop and let him know that I am the leader?

Hi Christi, One thing you can also try, is when he jumps on you, grab his muzzle (not too hard) from the top with one hand and guide him down. You can say Off at the same time. This replicates the mother correcting a puppy. This is also an action of a dominant dog (mouthing another dog's muzzle).
As far as jumping on the bed, with my jumping bean, I would just give him a dirty look, motion him to the floor, get into bed and totally ignore him. He got the message quickly and he sleeps in the living room every night now. Good luck!

Sandy

He is a puppy that needs to be taught what you want him to do. Ember jumps on me and I do not see this as a pack issue since she is a baby. She is learning from me what I want, just like she learned from her mother and litter mates what she could do and could not do.

Puppies jump on their mothers and sometimes the mother lets them and sometimes she corrects them. Basically any behavior has to be invited by the leader. I let Jesea jump up on me so I can love her up, but I ask her to by patting my chest with an "up" command, this lets her know that it is okay to come up for some petting. I say "off" and she gets down.

I ignore Em and her jumping, and she is not jumping as much anymore since she is starting to realize that it is not a behavior that gets her what she wants......the treat.

It takes time, repetition and also, will get better the more you work with him and the better you are at timing to reward the correct behavior.

Now, with this said, you can use something that Michael taught me. When he is jumping and/or biting on you, you can hold him away from you with the leash (not hanging him though but just so he cannot come close to you) and calmly with either no talking or just a simple, calm and normally said "no", allow him to calm a bit and once he does, redirect him to follow you or sit by holding a treat out and above his head (make sure he knows you have the treat) and once he sits, mark with a yes and reward.

Thanks so much for all your help. this was just what I needed.