Lab puppy jumping up- scares ds

[opalescent]

My 9 month old Labrador is a lovely dog- he's really getting to grips with day to day routines, and doesn't have a bad bone in his body. He is awful for jumping up at new people arriving though, and big enough that it's really becoming a problem. He gets hugely excited when someone new arrives into the situation, and will relentlessly try to jump up at them, requiring lots of restraining for the first 15 or so minutes. He can really knock a child, especially ds (6). It's especially stressful on walks, where he cannot be off the lead at all, unless NO ONE else is around.
How can I discourage this?

What do you do at the moment when the dog jumps up?

I have a one year old lurcher who has the same issue - it’s a nightmare as she’s also big. What I will say is that’s improving immensely as she matures - whilst she used to jump at pretty much any person who looked at her, now she only does it in times of high excitement. She barely jumps at members of the family - it usually only happens if another dog walker fusses over her.

Things that help - saying a firm NO when she does it. Trying to get visitors to the house not to fuss when they walk in - not easy, particularly because post-lockdown, she’s not used to visitors and they are exciting! At school pickup, we keep her on a short lead and make her sit and try to stay a bit away from hordes of kids trying to stroke her!

It does get better, I promise. It’s an annoying flipside to having a lovely big dog - because when small dogs jump at your legs, no-one particularly notices or cares! Hope this is helpful.

Teach ds to turn his back on ddog as soon as he starts to approach..

Thank you all.
@sunflowersandbuttercups firm NOs and physically hold him down (gently but firmly)

We are all trying to turn away when he jumps (as advised online!), and reserve positive attention for when he is calmer

Train him to sit on command, 5-10 minutes twice a day with lots of high value treats. I had a dog like this growing up, she was trained to go to her bed when the doorbell rang. At 9 months old it shouldn't take long to train the behaviour out. I wouldn't recommend a 6 year old turn his back on a Labrador. He's even more liable to get knocked over.

@opalescent

Thank you all. *@sunflowersandbuttercups* firm NOs and physically hold him down (gently but firmly)

I wouldn't do anything physical with him at all - and saying "no" has no meaning - your dog doesn't speak English! I know it's totally natural for us to say "no, stop it!" for bad behaviour but really it doesn't make sense to your dog.

You just need to be really consistent and never, ever fuss him or give him attention for jumping. Labradors are big, strong dogs and you could be in real trouble if he knocks over a stranger in the park.

Another option is to scatter treats on the floor so he learns that good things happen there.

Think of a behaviour you want your dog to do instead of jumping up.

it is much easier to teach a behaviour than to teach nothing eg stop jumping up

If you teach your dog to sit they can not be jumping up

For the next few days reward your dog everytime he sits. Not when you ask him to just when he sits.

Then start to ask him to sit YOU MUST reward him every time he does this.

All dogs will repeat a behaviour which is being rewarded. So heavily reward the sit he will sit a lot

Start to ask him to sit in front of you and then when this is happening a lot bring in a new person have him on a lead and ask him to sit in front of them. He will find this hard as for 9 months he has been jumping up. It is important that you reward the sit not the visitor. (the visitor is exciting enough already without adding treats into the mix)

If you are consistent with this his default behaviour if rewarded will be to sit.

He will find it harder with your DC as they are young fast moving and have exciting high voices. It may be keeping him apart for a bit until he learns the new behaviour or keeping him on a lead when they are together for a bit. This will not be for ever just until his behaviour is modified.

Teach him that he must be sat down before anyone greets him. We have a stair gate on the kitchen door and I make Dpup sit before I open it. Then I go into the kitchen and say good morning / give him a fuss.

Dogs which can't behave are a real pain. Really glad you are dealing with this.
A relative's jumpy and unrestrained dog which terrified me for my entire childhood has coloured my lifelong feeling about dogs. I'm not scared of them any more, but I really don't like them, and get no pleasure from being around them. DP would love a dog but it's a big fat no from me.

We have a six month old Saint and she was bad recently when HV was in doing a visit. Next time DPup will be on a lead. Can't rely that sit command would work in these kinds of situations.

I understand how you feel, OP. Labs are also big. Maybe not as big as a Saint, but they are much more energetic than the breed I have so you need to be very careful. When DPup gets excited around the 5yo and 3yo she goes outside or we segregate in the kitchen and dining room area for a while until she calms down. Around the time kids get in from school we often put her on a lead so she is fully controlled until she has greeted everyone.

Some good advice here :)
www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/training/jumping-up-training

@opalescent

Thank you all. *@sunflowersandbuttercups* firm NOs and physically hold him down (gently but firmly)

Definitely have a watch of the Dogs Trust video. Telling him no and physically restraining him won’t make him think “oh no I shouldn’t be doing this”, as far as he’s concerned he’s getting lots of human attention which is what he’s jumped up for in the first place.

Stepping back and ignoring unwanted behaviour, but immediately rewarding him when all four paws are on the floor is the way to go. And everyone in the family plus visitors MUST do the same thing.

Thank you all, such helpful advice. The dogs trust link and video is great. Much appreciated!

Working on this with 10 month old lab at the mo. Ignore ignore ignore and bouncy behaviour and generously reward 4 paws on the floor. I'll share with you the steps we've been going through.

Engage a stooge to help you. Put pup on lead in the garden, get stooge to stand far enough away the pup isn't excited. Ask stooge to slowly get closer, when dog sits and looks at you instead of trying to go over to new person, reward reward reward. The person must not interact in any way with the dog unless he is sitting calmly. Keep getting closer until stooge can gently stroke chest or sides and do chooses to sit and look at you instead of jumping. Repeat with lead off. Go inside, put lead on and repeat adding in stooge coming through the door (we use a sit stay command here) Maybe just start with opening door and then shutting it without them coming inside. Take lead off, repeat. Add in stooge greeting you, conversing with you, repeat. Our dog trainer says try a stage 5 times, if the dog is successful 4 or 5 times try the next stage, 3 or less go back a stage and try again.

Do this many times, with as many stooges as you can muster. It does seem like a lot but labs are smart dogs and they do learn quickly. It's really easy to accidentally reward jumping up which is why we're still working on it!