Cuba, an 11-month old German Shepherd came on a mini-pack walk today. The owner said Cuba had a few little issues: 1) Cuba pulled so hard on the lead that she needed two hands to stop herself being dragged down the street. 2) Cuba jumps up at people with excitement 1) Pulling on the lead: It took about 5 minutes to have Cuba walking a 90% perfect heel. It took another hour for the other 5%. 2) Jumping up: The rules are the same if its a 2-pound chihuahua, or an 80 pound gsd, no dog should jump up on people. Its not good manners, and it can accidentally hurt someone. So we did a sit-stay for the six dogs, and I deliberately returned to Cuba in particular to praise her and show affection, to see if it triggered her to think the sit-stay was over (the other dogs have learned not to be so naïve). Sure enough she became very excited and tried jumping up at me a few times. She may not mean harm, but its not the point. Shes not a small dog and I dont want that face coming flying up towards mine at speed. I brought my knee up and kept it there so that she couldnt actually get to me, or get any joy out of it, and then I put her back in a sit-stay, walked away and did the same thing again. I returned to her again, praised her for waiting, she thought the exercise was over, became excited and jumped up again. I brought my knee up until she got bored of trying, and I put her back in a sit-stay for the second time. Third time: I walked away, came pack, praised her, and she stayed sat and couldnt be bothered to jump up because it clearly wasnt going to get her anywhere. Smart dog. Time taken: about 5 minutes? However you choose to stop your dog jumping up (there are loads of different ways), the key to all of them, and by far the most effective, is to not reward it with affection or even attention (and that includes ALL members of the family, especially the kids, and also ALL visitors, no matter how cute they might think the dog is. Blank the dog completely. By all means correct as well, but the lack of affection will often do the trick. Dogs arent dumb. Why waste energy jumping up if it never EVER gets affection? Training is little things, done OFTEN. This is especially true of young dogs who dont have a massive attention span. P.s. Cuba is very cute! She did absolutely great.
Posted on: Tue, 03 Dec 2013 18:31:42 +0000
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