Like the title says, my dog will sometimes get up on his hind legs and put his front paws on certain people, usually women. We've tried the whole "dont pet him if he jumps on you, wait until he's calm before you pet him" approach and he hasn't really broken that habit.

There are other times where he'd be playing with certain dogs and he'll tend to put one of his front paws on the other dog like he's tapping their head or body. he normally does this with my neighbors dog who is a little bigger than my dog.

My dog is always on leash when these events take place. Recently I would tug him back with a "NO" each time he displayed these behaviors, and while he's calm I praise him, but it goes into a cycle back and forth of jumping up and being calm.

Any pointers?

I have a dog that will jump on certain person. Calm person calm dog but those high nervous energy person he feeds off them and jump on them.

All of my frequent visitors participated in training my dog out of this behavior. I coached them to tell her "no" and ignore her, or even turn away, until she calmed down. I also made her "wait" until I released her to greet them. We no longer have that problem.

My dog, my company, my rules.

awesome, thanks

 Quote: Duane Hull

All of my frequent visitors participated in training my dog out of this behavior. I coached them to tell her "no" and ignore her, or even turn away, until she calmed down. I also made her "wait" until I released her to greet them. We no longer have that problem.

My dog, my company, my rules.

This is a good post. I found over the years that certain people inadvertently welcomed jumping up (some, even not so inadvertently). Enlisting especially the help of those people is a good move.

I have also stepped on the leash of a dog still learning doorbell behavior in order to completely eliminate the possibility when a certain visitor came (one who actually loved to be jumped up on and "danced with" and had trouble understanding why such strange restrictions were made).

Doorbell behavior will eliminate a lot of this. If a certain doorbell command/protocol is always followed, then by the time the dog is released, a ton of that first-coming-in excitement has passed.

I agree Connie,the most common response from people who my dog jumps on is "oh he just wants to play! he's still a puppy !"

I thinking of invoking the use of a treat by these people and have them reward him for being calm... or should I just leave the treat out for now?

 Quote: Webboard User

I agree Connie,the most common response from people who my dog jumps on is "oh he just wants to play! he's still a puppy !"

I thinking of invoking the use of a treat by these people and have them reward him for being calm... or should I just leave the treat out for now?

What I like best is to teach and reward for what I want (I mean as opposed to correcting for what I don't want).

What is the wanted behavior when a visitor comes? If it's "place," then I teach "place," and when it's reliable with no visitors at the door, I start to proof it with volunteer visitors.

Or maybe you prefer that the dog is leashed, and that you have him sit by you until the guest is seated.

Whatever the scenario is that I want to have, I'd marker-train the command(s) needed, and when I proof the command(s), one of the distractions I would proof for, which I would work up to as being a high-level distraction, is people at the door.

When the volunteer visitors come, have them completely ignore the dog unless he is doing what you have taught (sit by you, maybe). Then, if the dog likes people petting him, they may. (If he doesn't, I don't inflict this on my dogs.) And of course, I have marked and rewarded his compliance. I have rewards handy near the door even now, with all trained adult dogs. Just as Ed mentions occasionally saying to a well-house-trained dog, "good potty" or "good outdoors," good doorbell behavior is something I reinforce.

So the gist is to think out the visitor scenario you want, that suits you (and your dog's personality), and teach the command(s) --- then to proof, practice, reinforce with volunteer visitors.

(Of course, some dogs will have a different doorbell behavior. A shy or fearful dog would need a different procedure.)


PS
This isn't the kind of situation where I want others to reward my dog (and in fact, such a situation is extremely rare for me).


All JMO! Lots of ways to do this, but the best all involve pre-planning.

 Quote: Webboard User

... There are other times where he'd be playing with certain dogs and he'll tend to put one of his front paws on the other dog like he's tapping their head or body. he normally does this with my neighbors dog who is a little bigger than my dog. ...My dog is always on leash when these events take place.

This is a little different. Maybe we could hear more detail about this. What I'm picturing, I probably wouldn't allow my dog to do.

Again JMO.

I have a tendency, of late, to be, perhaps, too matter of fact and even terse. I apologize in advance for my tone.

It is unacceptable behavior for any one of my dogs to jump up on a person or to act inappropriately around another dog. It has been my experience, and since my dogs are GSDs, that kind of 'aggressive' behavior scares some people half to death.

So, jumping up behavior gets dealt with directly and without negotiation. No treats to dissuade the behavior. No soothing commentary.

I do not let dogs loose around people unless I am sure they will immediately comply with my basic commands. I don't think it is cute for a puppy to jump up, for instance. And I consider that to be different from commanding a dog to act...

Now, in so far as I really train the heck out of NO as a stopping command, if a dog even looks like it is about to jump up I sternly and emphatically command NO. And in that instance there is no treat for responding. The act is not acceptable, period. The NO is a correction, and I do not offer a treat for a correction.

If a dog is polite and goes to a person and sits on command for a pat on the head or to give the person an opportunity to avoid contact with the dog, I offer praise and maybe a treat as reinforcement for the manners.

I don't train a dog not to jump up on a person. Basically, I train a dog to come, sit, down, go, enough, and NO. And I like 'pfui' just because it goes along with an attitude of disgust when the dog is out of line and I want to act a little.

If I have a leash on a dog, I try to anticipate an action and stop it before it can get off the ground, no pun intended. I don't let the dog act and then correct. But I don't mean to imply I meanly correct the dog. A tap on the leash and a NO. And, if necessary, I short leash, which is to say I take a lot of the slack out of the leash and reduce the distance between my hand on the leash and the collar. I am in control.

The whole idea of a dog jumping up on a person or a child is simply not acceptable. I want it stopped before it starts. But in the first instance, I don't let my dogs loose around people until I am sure they are very solid in my command compliance.

People visiting my house are not subjected to my dogs. Humans are always first in the pecking order. If a dog is brought into the picture, it is brought in under control. I want a guest to be impressed by the behavior of the dog not intimidated or frightened by it.

Most importantly, a dog can get into trouble jumping on some people. Friends have been known to sue, and put the dog at risk.

Sometimes there is a behavior that just has to be dealt with and is of such critical consequence that the dog has to trained to recognize the boundary.

Whether it is by raising a knee, using a leash, pushing the head of the dog down, whatever, the behavior has to be dissuaded.

If a dog jumps up, it gets corrected because it did not comply with NO. NO means NO. No negotiation. NO means stop right now. Period.

And the dogs don't seem frustrated. They certainly alert. They are not inclined to cower. But they do comply with the command NO.

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

 Quote: Webboard User

... There are other times where he'd be playing with certain dogs and he'll tend to put one of his front paws on the other dog like he's tapping their head or body. he normally does this with my neighbors dog who is a little bigger than my dog. ...My dog is always on leash when these events take place.

This is a little different. Maybe we could hear more detail about this. What I'm picturing, I probably wouldn't allow my dog to do.

Again JMO.

With this, he'll welcome the other dog to play and every so often he'd get up on his hind legs and place his paw on the other dogs head or back. The action is similar to when a dog paws his toy to bring it closer to him. The other dog never really gets too excited, but none the less I dont want to wait until he does. Normally once this action takes place, I remove my dog from the area and bring him back to my yard.