Question:
How can I stop my 1 year old Labrador, Buffy from jumping on my guest? My friends and family won’t come over, anymore. Last Friday night Buffy jumped on my girlfriend and knocked her over, causing her to hit her head on a table. I have tried to ignore the dog by turning my back when she jumps, but it doesn’t seem to work. I dearly love my dog, however; I am also a very social person. Help, before I have no friends or social life left.

Answer:
Dear socially frustrated dog lover. We can help you become a social butterfly once again and improve Buffy’s life as well. After all this once again shows that negative attention is still better than no attention. Let us look at how this all began. As an 8 week old puppy, everyone came over to see Buffy. She put her little paws on them and guess what? They picked her up; after all she was so cute. What did Buffy learn, whenever people come over suddenly she gets a lot of attention and if she jumps up, they pick her up. Now suddenly when she becomes 5 months old and a lot bigger, now when she jumps, some people still pet her while others start pushing her off, and give you a dirty look. By the time she is 7 months old nobody is happy including Buffy. Jumping always brought her the pleasure of being petted. Now everyone is yelling, pushing her, grabbing her collar or keeping her locked up when guest arrive. This only makes her bark causing even more yelling and frustration for you and Buffy. Our poor Buffy never learned how to meet people or how to contain her excitement and is now paying the consequences.

Prevention is always better than the cure. What is cute when your dog weighs 8 pounds isn’t cute when they are 60 pounds. Another words. NEVER LET YOUR DOG RAISE ITS BODY ON YOU. The worst offenders are people with little dogs. Actually do you know that the worst behavior problems that people have and we deal with stem from small dogs. Why? Because; they spoil them, that is why. The puppy is so small cute and helpless, so we pick up this puppy for everything. You would think that small dogs were never born with their own 4 legs. This puppy will never get to big to pick up and when they gently jump on us you barely feel them. So why care if they jump, everything they do is so cute. Except this morning you are wearing nylons and they jump, they came in with muddy paws, your friends come over all dressed up, or your child’s 7 year olds friends come over and the dog jumps on their bare legs. You can not have your cake and eat it too, as dogs do not understand the difference between when it is rainy (muddy paws) and when it is not

What about our attention seeking dogs. These dogs that unless you are giving them your undivided attention they will purposely act up to get your attention. They tried sitting pretty in front of you and they were ignored. Now they bring their toy and we ignore them, however; suddenly they jump on you and you give them attention. Though negative, it is attention. We all want attention whether it is at work, school or home. We like to be told when we are doing a good job. The bottom line in order for your dog to learn manners they need to know when they are wrong and when they are right. By making your dog work for a living and rewarding good behavior, than your dog won’t think they have to jump on you just for you to acknowledge their existence.

You might be asking what type of job should I give my dog. If only they could do dished. Oh well it was just a thought. However; all we need to do is make our dog do a little obedience. Once in awhile call your dog to you and make them sit. Now you can give them hugs and kisses. Make your dog sit stay before you feed them, sit stay before you just throw their toy etc. This way your dog is getting positive attention for doing positive activities.

Yes, dogs do like to get to our face level, but let’s look at pack mentality and. Hierarchy. When two dogs meet, the more submissive dog will lower their body to show homage to the more dominate dog. When puppies play often the more dominate puppy will put their paws on a more submissive puppies back. Raising of the body has a lot to do with dominance. Very dominant dogs will actually jump and wrap their paws around the owner. They are letting the owner know who they think is boss.

Your next question I know is this is great, but my dog is still jumping. First we need to recondition our dog to understand that jumping isn’t acceptable behavior. Have you ever seen dogs jump on a rose bush? NO. Why because, Mother Nature knows how to protect their beauty with thorns. You see Mother Nature knows 3 major components, timing, consistency, and motivational. Every time the dog jumps on the rose bushes timing is very consistent and very motivational. When the dog jumps on a rose bush, who is the trainer, the bush; when your dog jumps on you who is the trainer? You. For very sensitive dogs just turning your back and ignoring them works. However; your high wire sporting dogs or a hyper terrier, could care less if you ignore them. They will just now jump on your back. One of our clients, had an instructor, from another school try to stop their Labrador from jumping by turning her back. After 25 times, the dog was still jumping. Just not as high. The instructor said “See it works the dog she is slowing down”. Actually the dog was just getting tired. I will never advocate kneeing a dog in the chest, or stepping on the back paws or any other potential dangerous corrections.

We do need to find which behavioral interruptible approach will work with your dog. Always start with the gentlest and simplest first. If this doesn’t work we may need to escalate. For sensitive dogs that don’t like water we could squirt them with water, others clapping your hands and stepping forward works. We can also use a shaking can every time they jump For our really hard headed dogs we might need to give them a leash correction every time they jump. Remember trying to solve one problem is often like putting a band aid on a gaping wound. If you implement the whole Alternative Canine Training system, than you have a far better chance of establishing long term satisfaction. In the mean time try our suggestions and good luck with your girlfriend.

 

Vladae is now offering affordable in-home dog training in Orange County and dog training in Anaheim.

Teach Your Dog the “Come” Command - 10 Simple Steps to Success With Your Puppy

Follow these simple steps and your puppy will always come to you when
called. This is one of the first steps to a perfect and obedient dog!

1.  When you say “come,” as soon as the puppy looks at you, tell them they
   are good. This will make them want to come to you even faster.
2. Bend down or squat, open your arms and have a friendly face when you
   call. You want to display a very inviting picture to the puppy.
3. When you say “come” it should be said assertively but never in an angry
   way. Then switch to a high-pitch happy voice to encourage the puppy to
   come.
4. Never punish your dog when he finally gets to you, NO MATER WHAT
   HE HAS DONE. If you punish the dog, he will think that you are punishing
   him for coming.
5. When the puppy comes to you, gently restrain him by the collar and give
   him a treat. Release the puppy instantly and say “okay” or “free”.
6. Never chase your puppy. Instead have him chase you.
7. Never say “come” if you know that the puppy is too distracted. Get your
   puppies attention first by clapping your hands or saying “hey” and then
   call him to you.
8. If you say “come” and the puppy ignores you, run in the opposite direction
   from your puppy and as you say “hey puppy,” clap your hands to get the
   puppy to chase you.
9. Call your puppy to do fun things, not for things that they aren’t going to
   like.
10. When you start teaching the “come” command, don’t worry about having
    the puppy sit perfectly in front of you.

Vladae is now offering affordable in-home dog training in Orange County and dog training in Anaheim

Welcome to Beach Dog Training - Your Direct Connection to Vladae the World Famous Russian Dog Wizard - Dog Training Expert in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach

Walking - Don’t let your dog walk ahead of you. If he is ahead of you on a walk, he will walk all over you in all other areas of your relationship! Loose Leash - Always walk your dog on a loose leash. Tension on a leash can cause frustration which may be taken out on other dogs or moving objects.

Supervise - Supervise your dog at all times. You must witness a problem in order to correct it and prevent it from reoccurring.

A Tired Dog is a Good Dog - Fulfill your dog’s needs both mentally and physically. A 15 - 20 minute run, twice a day will serve your dogs’ physical needs. 30 minutes of obedience training will have a therapeutically profound effect on your dog and will serve your dogs’ mental needs.

Attention - You can’t teach a dog if you do not have his attention. Get his attention first before you give a command.

Reinforcement - Never give a command that you can’t reinforce.

Mom Says ONCE! - Give a command once, then correct if the dog does not obey. If you repeat a command more than once, you will teach your dog that the command has no meaning.

Jobs - If you don’t give your dog a job to perform at, he will eventually find one himself and you won’t like what he chooses!

Calm and Assertive - Do not yell and scream at your dog when he is behaving badly.

Down Stay - Do a 30 minute down stay, twice a day. This will reinforce your role as the Alpha leader.

Arriving Guests - Before your guests arrive, crate your dog or put him in “place.” No one enjoys being greeted by an out of control dog!

Eating and Entering Passageways - Eat and enter all passageways before your dog does. Alpha’s always eat first and enter all areas first.

Attachment - Don’t let your dog follow you around like a laser guided missile. This behavior can lead to separation anxiety.

Love and Discipline - Always balance love with discipline and structure. If love was all that was needed, my business would not be thriving!

Tonality - Tone of voice is extremely important. A high pitch tone is a sign of approval and a low tone is a sign of disapproval. Your dog will clearly understand this.

Praise - Praise your dog for doing something right. Praise does not always mean you have to shower your dog with affection. It simply means you need to say “Good boy / girl” in a high pitch tone of voice.

Elevating Status - Don’t allow your dog on the furniture or on your bed. If you allow your dog to be on the same level as you, you are elevating his status and lowering yours. This is clearly not the way to establish yourself as the Alpha Leader.

Ignoring Problems - Ignoring problem behavior will not make it go away. Ignoring is condoning and condoning is approval in your dogs’ mind.

Corrections - Correcting your dog must have meaning. If your correction is not strong enough it won’t have meaning for your dog. If it doesn’t have meaning, there is no motivation for your dog to stop the bad behavior.

Behaving Badly - Dogs behave badly because they know they can and they don’t understand it is wrong.

Vladae Roytapel, known as “The Dog Wizard,” is the owner of Alternative Canine Training which is one of the most successful in-home dog training companies in the world. Vladae is now offering affordable in-home dog training in southern California.