How to Stop Your Puppy From Jumping Up

The main reason you're likely to have a problem with your puppy jumping up at you is that you actively encourage it yourself!

Go on, admit it, it gives you a lovely, warm feeling when your new puppy excitedly jumps up and makes a fuss of you, doesn't it?

And what do you do in return? That's right, you make a fuss of him right back, don't you?

The signal you give him by doing this is that he's pleasing you and winning your approval. And perhaps you'll not realize that this is exactly what your puppy is looking for and that it just reinforces the behavior.

Pushing him off isn't the answer, because he'll see this as a game. Remember, play fighting is part of a puppy's natural instinct and learning process.

Shouting at him isn't an answer, because he interprets that as getting attention and that's just what he wants and it may get him barking too.

What you really need to do to break the jumping up habit is the exact opposite of what you actually are doing.

That's right. Ignore your puppy. Completely ignore him. Pay him no attention whatsoever. Yes, we know it's hard but it's the only way you'll ultimately break this habit which can be annoying to guests and dangerous for small children.

Ignoring him means no verbal interaction (don't talk to him) and no touching. Turn you back on him and fold your arms to keep them out of his reach.

If your puppy jumps at your back, take a step away from him. If he comes around the front of you, turn your back on him again.

To repeat, don't give him any acknowledgment whilst he is jumping up at you.

As soon as he gets down on all fours and stops jumping at you, go down to his level, make a fuss of him and give him a tidbit.

In other words, reward him for doing what you want him to do and give him nothing he can construe as a reward when he's doing what you DON'T want him to do.

So, to sum up, you want him to understand that four feet on the ground is what will get your attention, two feet on you will not.

It's also important to make sure that any visitors to your house also understand this drill.
It may seem an impossible task now, but if you're consistent with the above exercise, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your puppy gets the message that remaining on the floor is what will get attention.

Until next time

Teia

An Overview of Dog Training

Dog training is the process of teaching a dog to exhibit certain desired behavior in specific circumstances. Training your dog should be an absolute top priority. Fundamentally, dog training and dog behavior are about communication. The goal of dog training is to build a bond between pet and family and to ensure that all enjoy the process. Dog training should ALWAYS be fun for your dog, so if you or your dog begin to get tired, take a break and come back to it later.

Obedience, herding, agility, tracking, retrieving, hunting, guard, and schutzhund are common areas of dog training. Training social skills is a continuous process. Training starts shortly after your pup comes home, beginning with teaching her to come when called. You also want to begin “potty” or “paper” training your dog so that she learns early where she should go to the bathroom. Waiting until the puppy is older and has already learned undesirable habits makes the training much more challenging. The old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” isn’t completely accurate, but it is much more difficult training an older dog than it is a puppy.

All dog training must be founded upon educating the dog, that is, teaching the dog what he can and cannot do. Bribery can also be a great dog training method. In dog training, the term "bribery" means that the dog is aware of the presence of the reward before he is asked to complete the command. Don’t be disheartened if it seems you are not getting anywhere with your dog training, because it generally takes people longer to learn how to train their dogs than it does for their dogs to be trained. The hardest part of training is communicating with the dog in a humane way that he understands. Until a few years ago, dog training used to consist of punishing the dog whenever it did something wrong. Fortunately that inhumane way of dog training is mostly a thing of the past. Today’s method involves rewards for good behavior. Clicker training has also emerged as a valuable method of training. Check with local obedience training facilities to find out what methods they use. Pet shops also have numerous books on training your dog. Peruse several the next time you are at the pet store and find one that makes sense to you and appears to fit into your lifestyle.

The emotional state of the dog is an important consideration in directing the training, as a dog that is stressed or distracted will not learn efficiently. Failure to reward the dog after he has done what you asked, diminishes the value of the reward method and makes training more difficult. Most training revolves around giving the dog a reward for his good behavior, in the hope of influencing the behavior the dog will exhibit in the future.

Most modern trainers say that they use "positive training methods,” which is a different meaning of the word "positive" from that in operant conditioning. Positive training methods generally mean preferring the use of reward-based training to increase good behavior over that of physical punishment to decrease bad behavior. The goal is to produce a dog that will perform even on occasions that the handler has no reward to offer, since the dog's training has taught him that the handler may have a reward even if the dog cannot see it.

Some trainers, fortunately a diminishing minority, suggest the use of electronic dog training collars as useful tools, especially in the training of a dog who has a barking problem. Mom and dad have researched these collars and found that they do not work very well, as the dog quickly learns the built in sequence that activates them. The dog then varies its barking so that the collar does not shock him and as a result, the barking doesn’t end. The dog also tends to become paranoid, because it does not associate the shock with the barking, as barking is a normal habit for a dog. It has the same effect as spanking a dog when you get home and find a mess on the carpet. The dog has no idea why it is getting spanked, because it can’t associate the spanking with the mess it made earlier. All that is accomplished by these methods of training is to make the dog fearful.

Although dog training can be hard at times, it’s important that you remember to keep things positive for you and your dog at all times. If you experience problems with your training, do not hesitate to seek professional help from a certified dog trainer. After all, half the training involved with training a dog is training the owner how to communicate what is required in a manner that the dog understands. If the dog understands what is wanted, training becomes much easier for both of you. Dogs are creatures of habit. If you are consistent with your training and your expectations, the dog will soon learn what he can and cannot do.

Until next time,

Teia