Jumping up issues. Help, please!

[JackLappo]

Hi all,

My Lab bitch Fern is consistently jumping up at me and mouthing. Even when I praise her for good behaviour, she is mouthing and taking her front two paws off of the ground. This makes it hard to praise, as I would not want her to think I am praising her for her bad behaviour.

Could any one suggest something I could do to help with all of this?

Thanks in advance!

Jack

[Wendy M]

How old is she Jack?

Sounds like she does this when she gets excited. It may be that you need to work on other ways to reward good behaviour that do not excite her so much while also giving clear signals that mouthing/jumping up is not rewarded in any way, and that she is only rewarded when all 4 feet are on the ground.

Wendy

[Nonehpets]

Hi I was also going to ask her age - cannot see whether you have already told us in your other posts - but also does she jump up at the front of you or at the back?

Cathy

[JackLappo]

Fern is 13 months old, becoming a big dog now, and it is usually from the front that she jumps up. Would something like clicker training be appropriate for this matter?

[MDP]

Might be a bit controversial but when our GSD used to do this, I would give her a quick push in the chest and push her right over. This a couple of times with a sharp no did the trick.

[JackLappo]

Thank you, i'll definitely try that. Did you have any methods for if that didn't work?

[Nonehpets]

I think clicker training could work well - have you used Clicker with Fern yet?

The other thing that might work over a longer time period is to use your "hup"/"sit" whistle or signal when she starts jumping ans wait for her to sit then gently praise by rubbing her chest or throat - immediately removing that touch for any repeat jump or mouthing - it will take a while but Fern will learn she gets the attention when she is calm.

In the immediate term the usual move for a dog jumping at the front is to quickly bring your knee up - the aim not being to make contact with the dog necessarily but to change the shape of your body unexpectedly and put her off balance. This does depend on timing and if you are not confident you can do it quickly enough it is possibly best not to start it.

Cathy

[JackLappo]

I haven't used a clicker with her or any dog yet, so would have to learn all of the basics. I don't really know much about it. I think I may have a go at the sit option, and use the push away method for when I am not praising her, since as even for simple things like the recall, occasionally she will jump.

Thanks everyone!

[Steve M]

Have you tried turning your back on her and ignoring her for a while then when she settles down give her praise. We tried all the usual methods but this seemed to work the best, as all he wanted was to get my attention and we soon worked out that ignoring him affected him the most, just make sure you only praise the behaviour you want. It will sort itself out if you are consistent at 13 months she is still in the adolescent stage.

[JackLappo]

Just reading back over this post from 4 years ago! For anyone interested, making her sit and rubbing her chest worked a treat and she is now such a well behaved mother of two litters! I've found that rubbing the chest and underside of the neck of most labs seems to calm them down a touch.