Aggressive Jumping... out of control!

[Dogsareme]

My friends sister has a dog, it's a Lab/American Bull dog/Australian Shephard mix. She is 11 months old.
Well they got her as a pup last year just before Christmas, but as happens to alot of dogs, as she got a bit bigger she was still jumping, biting, and soiling so she was banished to outside (some how they though that would solve there problem). Then because she was to unruly outside, digging and jumping on them as soon as they stepped in the backyard she is tied on a chain. We have been working with her and having become more a part of the family.

When they go to let her off the chain they ignore he until she stops jumping and acting excited and only allow her off chain when she sits. She now lays down automatically when they go outside to let her off and does not USUALLY jump on her owners once she is off.

However to those people that are not an active part of her life(feeding her, rewarding her, playing with her), even if they use the same techniques as the owner to stop the jumping she just gets more and more aggressive about it by latching on(literally grabbing your waist or legs) and sometimes she tries to start humping (dominance over guests). She will continuously jump even when someone steps on the leash she will still try and try and try. A few of us have very big bruises from her grabbing on so aggressively. Nothing is improving her from jumping on guests to date, no mater what we are doing and we NEVER allow it. Never look at her, talk, or push her. She is ignored, treated for sitting, walked away on, yelped at, etc... just not working. When she starts jumping on guests she also starts jumping on her owners more too... not as aggressively, just slightly every now and then in frustration.

Also when trying to teach her not to pull on a leash she gets extremely frustrated and starts jumping all over the person holding the leash. I was able to stop that by pulling her tight to my leg and holding her collar and reading her signs before she gets frustrated, but her own is now having as much luck and keeps getting jumped on. We have been working continuosly with her for 3 weeks with slight improvements which give us hope.. but what can we do about the aggressive jumping? You honestly want to slam her into the ground (which I honestly would never do) and I have be praised a million times for how patient I am with the most annoying dogs, but this dog really tries my patients to no end. HELP

[Sophie45]

I heard so many people recommend Emma Parson's "Click to Calm-Healing the Aggressive Dog". I bought it and recommend it immensely!!!! I think it's mislabled-it is NOT just for aggressive dogs, but rather a book on using clicker training for positive reinforcement and calming/soothing techniques. You can get it on Amazon-I found at least where I'm located that no local bookstores (even big chains!) carry it.

Obviously you know that by ignoring good behavior and giving attention to bad behavior leads to bad behavior, and so many people do that because it's just common to scold bad behavior. Even though my dog is (usually!) very well behaved, I constantly "catch her doing something good" to reinforce when she is being a good girl. I think it builds confidence, as well as encouraging good behavior as well as increasing your bond. I wouldn't overdo it, as to desensitize her to praise, but should be commonplace nonetheless.

There are special kind of leashes that you can buy that have a caribiner clip on them so when they start jumping on leash you can clip them to a tree/pole/porch and walk away when they start that behavior. Obviously by 'walking away' I mean like no more than 10-20 feet, but enough to make them realize when they jump, they get left behind and their walk is interrupted until they start behaving. You can also buy the caribener clips and stick it on the leash. My puppy kindergarten teacher recommended this. You can get one @ Eastern Mountain Sport, Galyans, Gander Mountain Sport, Dick's (if u have any of these stores around u) or probably even Wal-Mart, but for a strong, aggressive dog I would recommend a good one. Here is the the link for EMS:
http://www.ems.com/catalog/subcatego...=1191700212310

Just remember when you are training positive reinforcement for the really challenging behavior, make sure the treat is super delicious-like a bit of cheese or chicken, rather than just a plain biscuit. Also make sure the treats are very small-the size of a pea, just enough to give them a taste, but not enough for them to chew. Once they start chewing, they are just focused on the food rather than the behavior in which the treat is coined with.

[dogs4life]

Poor dog! Have you found a solution?

What happens if the dog is tired? Have you ever run the dog? Do you think the dog had too much energy to let out that it's "unruly"?

[Dogsareme]

She is doing much better thank goodness
We started working on exercises with her on a chain and us near a door. Anytime she jumped on us, we walked inside. Then we would come out, she would jump and we would walk away. Working really good.
We have tried running her, but she does not do well on a leash. We have tried leash training her but if she is not going where she wants to, as fast as she wants to then she gets frustrated and turns and jumps on you. So we have decided work on jumping first. We exercise her first of course, but when we finally get the jumping decreased we will work on the walking.

Just glad we are getting a handle on things. Slowly but getting there.