Dog behavior solutions: Jumping upJumping-up is primarily a problem of adolescent and adult dogs. Puppies jump-up, but owners rarely see it as a problem. In fact, many owners unintentionally encourage puppy jumping. For dogs that jump-up to greet people, a variety of dog training texts recommend the owner: shout at the dog, squirt it in the face with water or lemon juice, swat it on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper, yank on the dog's leash, hang the dog by its choke-collar, squeeze the dog's front paws, tread on its hind paws, knee it in the chest or flip it over backwards. Surely, this is all a little excessive for a dog that's only trying to say hello. Confucius once said, "There is no need to use an axe to remove a fly from the forehead of a friend." Why not just train your dog to sit or lie down when greeting people? Why dogs jump upDogs jump-up for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, most dogs have been trained to jump-up since puppyhood. When the young pup jumped and pawed, most people patted it on the head and scratched it behind the ear, because they were too lazy to bend down to puppy level. And then one day the dog dutifully jumps-up to greet its owner, who in turn greets the friendly furry with a whop on the bonce or a knee in the chest. The dog's only crime? It grew!Pawing, licking and jumping-up are all friendly appeasement gestures - the dog's way of saying "Welcome home. Pleased to see you. Please accept my presence. Please don't hurt me - I'm a lowly worm compared with you most honored human!" And so what does the most honored human do? But punish the dog for jumping up! Now, of course, the dog has two reasons to show deference - the initial reason and the fact it must now appease its angry owner. And how does it try to appease the owner? By pawing, licking and jumping-up! This is one of the many paradoxes in training - the more one punishes the dog, the more the behavior increases in frequency. Again, the 'treatment' is the cause. Preventing a jumping problemRight from the outset, reward-train your puppy to sit-stay when greeting people. Rather than trying to extinguish complicated social behaviors with punishment, it is easier to employ a simple counterconditioning procedure and train your pup to perform an alternative and acceptable greeting behavior - one which is mutually exclusive to the problem behavior, i.e., the puppy cannot sit and jump-up at the same time. If your pup sits and stays, you may praise it both for sitting and for [Continued] 
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49 topics, 205 posts
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The rear end ....
My dog drags her butt on the rug, grass etc... you get the point. She has know worms in her bowels and, eating habits are good. Any sugge... (continued) |
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Jul 17, 2008 12:00pm by purplerose33 view |
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aggressive puppy
i got a puppy 2 months ago..she is now 5 months old and is spaded. my problem is when she sees another dog she goes crazy..growling and sho... (continued) |
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Jul 16, 2008 6:11pm by joycestairs view |
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hi, we r new here....have a question
I have a 5 month old pit bull terrier diablo, and he hates vacumes. Anyone have any idea why? he'll start barking and running around and crying. |
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Jul 15, 2008 11:12am by kaycee_white view |
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Dog behavior solutions: Jumping up
