Training a big dog not to jump...

[Doglover1988]

We are probably bringing our new dog home tomorrow. She is a lab or lab mix and huge. She jumps alot and scratches us. What is the best way to train her not to do this?

[Doglover1988]

Anyone?

[k9hullio_sam]

I know a dog that jumps up and scratches at you for attention. It is a little dog, so it isn't much of a problem but here is how I approached it. When she does jump up, I have to stop giving her attention completely, and position my body away from her. As soon as she gets downI get really excited and tell her what a good girl she is. If she comes up to me and she is excited, I tell her to sit really quickly so she doesn't even have a chance to jump up. If she does jump up while I am giving her any sort of attention, I just tell her 'uh oh' or 'oops' and turn away. With her, any negative 'punishments' like a 'no' or such only reinforces it because she gets more excited. Usually now, she will up to me and sit down and just stare at me and I give her lots and lots of attention just because I think it is cute

With a big dog you might have to take a more pro-active approach since it actually hurts when she jumps up lol. Hopefully someone who knows what they are talking about can help you out! lol!

Maybe you can practice in a doorway, so that if she trys to jump up you can just close the door and stay there for a couple of seconds. Then she will see that jumping makes you go away. Eventually I assume she will get bored and tierd of you closing the door on her over and over and stop jumping up and you can give her lots of praise then. ??? Maybe you could also accompany the door closing with a 'yuck' noise so that you can carry that over to when you don't have a door and she has a memory lapse! Good luck!

[dogs4life]

Have you tried turning your back to him?

[Doglover1988]

I haven't got her yet so I haven't really tried anything. She is in a fenced in back yard right now so when she would jump up on me I would walk out. I do have bruises and scratches on my arms from her jumping up. Thanks for the suggestions though. I will try turning my back to her.

[dogs4life]

Ooops, sorry, she & her not him....

If she's starving for attention, which sounds like she is, turning your back will work but it will take time and lots of patience. To speed things up, you can reward her for getting off and waiting patiently for your to turn back around. If she is overly bossy or pushy it will take some creativity to get her under control but it's doable. My neighbor dog is a bossy, playful lab and I taught him in less than 2 days. He forgets at times but just a quick turn of my back and he remembers.

Hope that helps....

[Doglover1988]

Thank you! She is a really good girl and walks well on leash. Its just her size and the jumping up that isn't acceptable. I am just now loosing the bruises on my arms from a week ago.

[aquarian215]

Dudley jumps up every once in awhile (not on us, but people he doesn't know who come over) I use the command "off" and treat, or have him on a leash and make him sit while saying hello and treat when he does it right, of course with Dudley the off will work and he doesn't jump up, but he has a fasination with feet and tends to greet people by licking or nipping at their feet (silly herding dog). And I have also noticed that he never does it to small children (my youngest and random kids when we happen to go to the park or something) and I think it is because they are at his level, so maybe bending at the knees and being more at her level will help, most dogs, IMO, just want to say hello face to face, and that is usually the main reason that they jump up.

[Ritz459]

I've found that turning your back works well, along with a sit command. Rose used to jump up on people and when she would she was rake her claws down you and leave welts. It hurt. One day I just got fed up with it and everytime she jumped up I would turn my back to her (and take a slight step away so she wasn't digging her claws into me) and ignore her for a couple of seconds. She'd normally slide down and have four on the floor and when she did I'd turn back around, praise her, tell her to sit, and then pet her. We did a couple of days of that and now she'll only jump up every once in a while and I'll just give her a look and she'll get off.
I did the same thing with Blackie and it also worked like a charm.

Chloe gets the same treatment. In fact, the only person in my family who consistantly turns her back on Chloe is my youngest sister, age seven, and Chloe doesn't try to jump on her now.

[Doglover1988]

Thank you so much! I will try turning my back and treat her for not jumping. She will probably catch on fast she seems really smart. Lucy has never been a jumping kind of dog I guess because her previous owners spanked her for doing anything bad and because of that she has never really jumped or gave kisses since I have had her. Gracie doesn't jump up either and maggie only does when I first come home from somewhere and she is really exited. Gabby seems to jump up all the time and it really scared my grandmother into not even wanting to be inside the fence with her anymore. She is a good girl though just starved for attention. She loves to play fetch and run my grandparents never do this with her just because they don't have the energy. I walked her on a leash last week to see how she did and she is so good on it I could just hold the leash with one finger.

[Ritz459]

I also think that when she starts getting more exercise and attention she'll calm down a bit. Chloe only jumps majorly when she is very hyper or very excited. Once Gabby gets on a consistant exercise schedule and realizes that people will be around that may tone down her jumping.

It sounds like she is a good, smart girl!