Help : Jumpy puppy

[nimbs]

Hi was wondering if any of you more experienced dog owners could help us with our puppy.

She is a 14 week old border collie x collie and is lovely However she is very jumpy when we are out for our walks - she is fine off the lead and her recall is good and she'll play nicely with other dogs but if she sees a person she'll jump up. At the moment I try and pre-empt her by getting her to come back/giving her a treat/getting her to sit etc if I see someone coming but as they pass she is so desperate for them to say hello and jumps up lots.

She also does this to our 3yr old daughter when we are out - when she is off her lead and does her mad puppy moments she jumps up at dd1 - she is quite a big puppy and is easily as tall as dd1 when she jumps so dd1 is quite nervy when puppy is off the lead. DD1 is really good with the puppy at home/and isn't off the lead and is willing to give her treats when she is being trained - but don't want it to become a habit. IE when she's off the lead it's ok for her to jump up at DD1.

We spoke to our puppy trainer (we've been going to classes) and she says to get the person to give the puppy a treat if she sits - but it's not really that practical so if anyone has any other advice that we can try it would be much appreciated.

nimbs - you're doing exactly what I've done -with the pre-empting bit. the only other thing I can think of is a form of distraction - our lab adores chasing a ball - above anything else (as far as he's concerned his ball is better than other dogs, treats and people) so it's a very good training/control aid - we take it on walks and he just completely ignores anything else. if someone is coming I stop walking and stand with the ball while getting him to sit, until they walk past.

It sounds like you're doing really well - with the recall and classes - so just keep at it. it takes a long time I'm afraid.

thank you for your quick response - good idea with the ball/toy - will def. try that

at the moment though I've gotten very good at fetch whilst she will run for it then come back without it
#thanks again

Ok, do you have a group of friends you can get together one weekend? Preferably over a couple of days?

Basically it is just a repetition thing, do as you trainer suggests but get your friends to walk up and down a certain area the whole time you are walking the dog (ie walk past then double back and walk past again, then another person comes past and so on). You don't do anything except walk the dog along off the lead. Each time someone comes up they are to ignore her alltogether as she jumps on them and so on, you come up calmly and put her into a sit or down if possible. The friend then drops a treat on the floor between her feet and walks away. You walk on with the dog until the next person comes up - and repeat and repeat... and repeat! Do it a few times the first day and a few more times the next day. Once you have it under control a bit more get dd walking along with a friend, the same rules apply but it is dd who drops the treat. Once the dog gets that idea have dd walking with you - if possible get her to give the sit command if one is still required.

Hopefully she will learn that the best way to get a treat from someone is to go up and lie down in front of them. Of course it would be even better if you could get her to ignore passers by but it sounds like just calming is the first step - perhaps then you could work on getting her to come back to you for the treat (ie goes to stranger, lies down then comes back for treat) this would then work its way up to see stranger and go straight to mum for treat.... but that will take time!

She should be an intelligent dog so she will get the idea fast - of course she will spot loop holes and inconsistancies quickly too!

thanks so much for that - will also do this - she is a clever dog but like you say can spot the loop holes! will get friends to dig out their oldest clothes though.

thanks again

You are welcome, would be interested to hear how you get on

Hi - we're slowly getting there - thought I'd update you - she's doing really well with people we know - think she's sussed our plan! Strangers though are a different matter - we're keeping at it though - thanks again for your advice