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Original poster

Bouncy pup!

7 replies

lucylocket80 · 04/06/2006 20:07

Hi Girls (and whatever boys are there),
Have lurked here for ages and decided to bite the bullet and finally post.

I have a 7 month old retriever-collie cross dog.
He's absolutely gorgeous but we have one problem and that is that he jumps up at people - frail old ladies, timid children, the more robust....anyone really, he loves people more than other dogs.

What's the best thing to do when he is doing this? We have tried a few different tactics but he just doesn't seem to get it.
Didn't matter so much when he was little but he is on the road to becoming quite a big chap.

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
Thanks

OP posts:
Misty10 · 04/06/2006 20:24

Hi ya,

We have a very lively spinger spaniel, I am unable to stop her jumping up at the door when people come, but she doesnt jump up at people anymore ... the trick is to adopt the dog listener theory and to ignor your dog whenever you enter the room ...no eye contact no hello's no lovins .... nothing ... not for a few seconds ... he will get the idea that you are boss.

When you are out, how about calling his name when another person is approaching you, get his attention ... keep calling his name, feeding him tiny treats as you go .. pre empt him jumping up and divert his attention onto you ... worked for me, my springer will do almost anything for food.

Just a couple of ideas.
Good luck.
Misty

wannaBe1974 · 04/06/2006 22:10

it's hard. It's important to make your dog understand that jumping up is not acceptable. If your dog jumps up, then push him off and tell him "no" very firmly, but don't make eye contact with him. If your dog is in the habbit of jumping up at children/old people/members of the public of any type, then it might be adviseable to keep him on a lead until this habbit can be broken. I know this is hard, but there is nothing more scary to a small child than being jumped at by a strange dog, however friendly it is. You could try putting him on a flexi lead so he at least has some space to move away from you, but real him back in if he starts getting boistress, persivere, as long as you are consistent, he will grow out of it.

Frieda · 04/06/2006 22:16

As a first-time dogmother of a very bouncy 3-month-old spaniel, I'm interested in this topic, too. I was lent a puppy training video which advises exactly what wannaBe is suggesting, and I think you have to be very consistent to make the message stick.

On the plus side, a retriever-collie cross will probably be reasonably intelligent Wink

LittleB · 07/06/2006 20:09

Our dog did that too, we used to ignore him when he jumped up and only make a fuss of hm when he was down, you could try that, it took a while but did work.

Original poster
lucylocket80 · 08/06/2006 20:15

Thanks so much for the advice.

The ignoring-him-when-he-jumps is brilliant and he has already stopped jumping up at me and my partner - fab!
Still jumping at others though....gave my 82 year old grandmother a scratch today which was really upsetting as she has very thin skin so it looks bad. Felt so ashamed about it as I feel I should have got this problem tackled by now.

I did tell him off but it seems he knows he shouldn't but just can't help himself.
I can't really tell her to ignore him as he will could do so much damage before he gets the message.
Is telling him off giving him attention? I'm guessing 'yes' if you apply rules for kiddies to puppies too!
So, do I just keep him away from people...but then, how will he learn?

Heeeelllppp!!

OP posts:
wannaBe1974 · 08/06/2006 20:38

does he jump when people come to the house? if so it might be worthwhile putting him on a lead when people come to the door. Put the lead on, make him sit and keep your hand on his collar so he can't jump. then let the people in, keep him on a lead for a bit, say .. 5 minutes, or until he's lying down calmly and not totally hyper, then just unclip the lead but don't make a big deal of having it taken off. chances are he'll just stay where he is and jumping won't be on his mind.

Original poster
lucylocket80 · 08/06/2006 20:45

Wannabe...so simple, but sounds like it could be really effective.
Will definitely start that from tomorrow until however long it takes ...can't believe I hadn't thought of it.
That has cheered me up no end Grin
Thank you so much.
My mantra: Try, try and try again!
xx

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