Jumping up at people

Our 9 month old pup is generally good as gold but he has a tendancy when he spies another person in the park to go sprinting over to them and jump up at them to say hello! As he is a 42 kg dog this can be quite dangerous. If we can get his attention before he goes this is fine but as I generally take him out late (less people/kids around) I don't always notice people walking through the park.
Last wet and rainy weekend he ran and jumped up at this poor bloke that had a nice white top on.... and left two muddy paw prints on his back. I could not apologise enough.
We have tried the telling off and putting him straight back on his lead. The other thing is he knows it is wrong as afterwards he takes a wide berth of us and then will not look at us.
Please help....

Teaching a dog not to jump up is difficult. Consistently is very important in correcting jumping and other problems. Quickly correcting him each and every time he jumps on somebody is very important. He must never get the affection he wants. A number of things have been used. One of the most gentle is to grab his front paws and hold him up. The traditional knee to the chest or step on his paws are fading from use. As part of the the trend away from negative methods, just step backwards leaving his front feet to fall to the floor. After a few tries, the dog may just stand there looking confused.

Teaching other people to use an aversive instead of petting the dog is even more difficult.

I think the way your going about it will cause you to have a dog that will eventuly not come back to you after he has jumped up on someone as he knows hes going to be told off and put on a lead,
If I were you I would try to solve the problem at home or under controlled situation in the street with a lead on,
clickers are great for sorting this sort of stuff out, so your using the possitive not the negative,

I have done this with some dogs that have been introduced to the clicker, I have stood there and incouraged them to jump up and put there paws on me, when they do that I just stand still, the moment they get bored and jump off I click and treat, it only takes a few times for a dog that knows the clicker to get the idea, the result should be when the dog is asked to jump up, it will remain standing and just look at you, at this point click and treat.

I know what you mean, my 10 month old dog runs towards people barking - he's a big boy too. I just have to be really careful where he goes off lead. He won't come back once he's done it either as he knows I'm not happy with him. I have to say though, that he is starting to learn, and can now be distracted away from most people, as long as they don't have a bike with them. It's a hard slog, and you may have to resort to a long line for a while to improve his recall. That's what I have been doing and it's starting to pay off. He needs to start seeing you as the most interesting thing in his life, so maybe do some trick training or games when you are out? Training him to perform tricks may seem silly but will help improve your bond and make him more responsive to you. It may take some time though, as you have a crossbreed of independently minded animals! Take heart, and good luck. (and pictures would be great too!)

Labman - I think the OP's problem is with her pup jumping at strangers - holding the paws is not practical and could be damaging for a young large breed dog. He may resort to mouthing to release the grip too.

no its not, some dogs can be taught not to jump in a few mins,

others may take a little bit longer,

I cant see where grabbing a dogs front paws and holding him is gentle..as lokis mum has said already, it could lead to mouthing or aggression.

I've got a big dog too and it's twice as important with a 45kg+ dog that they never jump up as they could really hurt someone. The one thing I've found that has worked is never, ever allowing him to jump up at home, not in any circumstances. Tell him no really sternly if he does, so he gets it's totally unwanted behaviour. Moving backwards and 'no' should be enough and sound like you mean it. It's definitely worked for us but while you're training I think you may have to keep him on the lead around other people while he gets out of the habit of jumping on them.

We worked on this in class with a dog that leapt on everyone he met. His owner walked him, on lead, up to each person in turn and 'chatted' to them. When the dog jumped the owner said 'off' and moved further away.Then repeated the process. Once the dog stood calmly or sat he instantly got a click and a treat. It seemed to help, but you'd need to find some willing stooges to practise on.

Does your dog jump up at anybody when he's indoors? If so, then that's the time to teach him to stop. We had the same with ours when she was about that age, but right up to that age actually! At training classes of course, she'd never do it to anybody so there was no chance of actually teaching her not to do it.

The worst, was when my husband arrived home at night. She would jump right up to his face and he's 6ft 2" and she now weighs 37 kgs! We tried the lead, the sit, the down, holding her down, ignoring it, oh we tried it all, but nothing stopped it like shoving a slipper in her mouth when he arrived home! My kitchen windowsill on the outside is full of soft toys and slippers ready for his arrival at night, and I can honestly say, since we discovered this neat little trick, she has NEVER jumped up at him nor anybody else when out! Instead of jumping up, she keeps all four feet firmly on the ground, she now just goes mental all around him, but the minute she dropped it, she started to jump up again, so he immediately shoved it back in her mouth and down she stayed!

Try it, it worked for us and still does, although he only uses it now for her initial excitement, just so she knows not to jump up! I know you can't carry something around when you're out like that, BUT, we worked on it at home, so if you have it at home and manage to stop it, you'll find it will stop when you're out! Good luck, it's a nightmare, and so embarrassing, but it can be cured with whatever method works for you.

Hi Dolfin I would start by looking at what happens at home first, has your puppy been allowed to jump up on anyone at any time . If so he won't be able to differentiate between being allowed to do it in one place but not another. Puppies should be discouraged from jumping up when they are still small.

I wouldn't tell your puppy off, he doesn't know jumping up is wrong and by doing so you may make him wary of you (he will be reacting to your tone of voice not what he has done ) and reluctant to return to you.

So, I would approach what happens at home first, no jumping up . If your puppy jumps up on you don't rewarded the unwanted behaviour with attention. Better to fold your arms and turn your back, no word no eye contact . The moment he has all 4 feet on the floor ask him to sit then bend down (so you are not encouraging it to jump up again ) and give lots of praise.
If you are sitting down and he jumps up I would ignore him/get up and walk away, again don't reward the behaviour. Everyone needs to adopt the same approach.

Next step when anyone comes to the house I would get your pup to sit to greet them, if he is likely to jump up put a lead on him and ask him to sit before he is spoken to.

I would not avoid taking him out when people are around, he needs to get used to seeing people.also I would put him on a long line in the park until he improves.
Also make sure you have a supply of treats with you and if you can find any willing strangers in the park get him to sit for praise and the occasional treat .

If you are patient your puppy should improve, some dogs will do so quickly ,others will take more time .

This is not to be recommended, other members have given reasons why. I will add it could make your dog wary of strangers and of having his legs touched. Apart from anything else how many strangers are going to want to do this with a unknown dog no matter how friendly it seems and by the time you have crossed the park to reach the people he will have already jumped up.
...not fading guickly enough it would seem as some people still mention it.
Thank goodness most people have progressed beyond such heavy handed methods which may cause issues for the dog and the person training it.

Thank you for all of your replies

He has previously jumped up at home, in fact he only does it now if my partner and I have a cuddle! We always say a stern "no" and turn our backs to him, so once this has stopped it may stop outside hopefully.

We have bought a 20ft horse lunging lead which we have used to aid recall training after much research into how self willed and free spirited his breeds are!! This is good when we are in a big open field as he cannot tangle himself around anyone/thing!

Thank you for pointing out how I reacted would affect his behaviour after the event. If/when he jump again I will react differently.

I will post post some pics but need to figure out how to do it first

Thanks again and fingers crossed for our walk later on