Enough with the jumping!

Our new dog Phoebe is great, except for her habit of jumping on me when I walk in the door. I need help getting her to stop, she is way too big and her jumping leaves me covered in scratches, bruises and sometimes even cuts. I've tried the "be a tree" method where I cross my arms and stand still. While I wish I could do this until she gives up jumping she ends up hurting me too much. I've tried turning my back to her which also results in lots of scratched on my back. We are in obidience school right now and the trainer suggested I put her in a sit. She does listen and will go into a sit when I tell her to, but then the second I try to give her attention she jumps on me. I wish I had the patience to continue to repeat this until she realizes she needs to stop jumping however she is almost as big as I am and much stronger. Do I just have to deal with the pain? Right now when I get home I've just been turning my back to her until I can't take it anymore then she jumps on me until I make it to the back door so I can let her out. Then she stays there for about a half hour until I'm ready to take her out for a walk. Then when we get back from our walk she's calm and doesn't jump anymore.

Oh, what a conundrum! Can you talk to her through the door, and get her into a sit before you open the door? Then you can get inside while she's still in sit, then run her through stay, down, sit, and whatever other commands she knows - even circle around you but no touching - for several minutes, then reward her with a treat? Wearing her out a bit may be your best defense!

You can try a 2 step approach. The first step allows you to get safely in the house! The second step works on a long term correction.

Have a treat with you, and when you open the door, toss the treat in ahead of you. While she is getting that, YOU need to either sit on the floor, or sit on the sofa (if she is allowed up there). This will put you both on the same level, so she won't be jumping. Expect her to be in your lap, wiggly, licking your face.

This is not the 'best' solution, but it will stop all the scratches and hurt.

Next, you need to work on stay with distractions. This is practice session, NOT when you are returning home from work, grocery shopping, etc. The first part is to teach her to remain in a sit - stay while you are moving - side to side, back and forth, and slowly you build up to you moving to her on the right, on the left, and finally you work on moving behind, out of her sight. Initially you are taking very small steps, to the left and back to start, and treat her for the stay. Small step to the left and back, treat her for the stay (if she is still holding it). You can do this anywhere - any room, out in the back yard. Build up to 3 steps, backing away from her and then stepping toward her. Stepping in to her and backing away. Mix it up, but build SLOWLY. So you may have to do one session of you moving 1 step left and back, treat, repeat, treat, repeat, treat, session over. Keep it small and within her ability to succeed and get her reward (the treat). Next time do the left ONCE and then step to the right for the 2d and third. Increase SLOWLY. These are such short training sessions you can likely fit in a few each day.

In a few days you should be able to take a small step to the side, then walk past her to out of her sight, and then you back up (do NOT turn around, that is a another training session a few days later, the turn movement WILL catch her eye), small step back in front of her and treat. Build SLOWLY, I can't emphasize this enough. You want to be sure she will succeed at one level before you add another. You should work to the point that you can walk all the way around her and back to standing in front of her, facing her. That may take 2 to 3 weeks. Progress SLOWLY and if it takes 4 weeks so be it. You have a goal in mind and you CAN get there. Building steps slowly, ensuring her success, is the best route to the goal. But meanwhile, you are getting in from work, shopping etc without being scratched, because you are doing entries as in the first step.

Mix up location on the training sessions and with time, start doing the sessions at the entry door. So she gets used to you walking past her, behind her, out of her sight, at the door. Introduce jackpots at this point -- when she does it correctly in a training session at the door, she gets not one but 5 treats! WOW!

Next build step: doing this at the door, (still a practice session, not an actual entry yet), you start with the door open behind you; then you start with you standing outside the door holding it open, then you stand outside with the door closed. You have put her in the sit stay BEFORE you move back to these positions. Break it up into small steps to ensure her success. Remember to have a baggie of treats as you will be giving her several at this point. When she is getting it right, she gets a jackpot - 5 treats! Hold them in your palm and let her lap them up. Do not dole them out one at a time.

By now you can see where this is going. You get to the point that you are coming home from work and instead of tossing a treat in ahead of you, you talk to her through the door, ask for the sit, give the stay command, you enter and give her a jackpot of treats. You move past her and sit down on the floor at her level (remember, she has not retrained beyond this point as yet, so you are still doing the floor or sofa piece!) and cuddle.

Another option which some owners use, is that they train the dog to go sit in a pet bed when they hear the door bell. This means the dog learns not to meet guests by leaping on them. Then you enter from work by ringing your own doorbell so when you are walking in, she is sitting her bed. You walk in, set down your bags, approach and treat her. If you want to do it this way and need help identifying the build steps, let me know. You may already have enough info to see a way to that path yourself.

Thank you so much! This helps a lot. I think next week we are working on the stay command in class, she kind of knows it right now but still needs work on it. Your advice will help me a lot. The good thing is that she doesn't jump on guests, she will jump on my wife but not to the extent that she does to me when I walk in. She is really bonded with me, so I get the majority of her excitment when I walk in.

Glad we can help! :) Part of training is being more stubborn than the dog in question, which some people do not understand! ;)

I realized I forgot to include a picture, because what good is a thread without a picture. I joke that she's one of the dancing hippos from Fantasia.

Hee hee! With that big block head, she's even less delicate than a hippo! ;)

Hello Phoebe! You are a very pretty gal, and you are going to love having training sessions with treat times! :love:

Pheobe is precious! :)

She sure is a cutie and she does have that ornery look in her eye http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-bounce018.gif