Jumping Up

My dog is sooooo lovable he just wants to be loved by anybody and everybody,he isn't fussy.
But this doesn't always go down well when I am out with him on the field off lead and he sees a person and jumps up on them
He is getting a lot better as he now listens when I say LEAVE IT and most of the time he will do just that.....but at other times he doesn't want to listen.And I don't want to say LEAVE IT everytime he sees somebody,I want him to be able to walk past somebody and not jump up at them.I dont know what to do HELP!!!!

ah ha , the old jumping up thing again! i know it well, a setter trait too!

if you are close enough to him and you can see when he's going to jump up, just as he's about to jump say a big firm 'NO'.

this is what i used to do with jazzie, and she no longer does it.

though i'm sure some expert advice will be along soon.

My previous dog was a collie/shepherd x & she did this too, my obedience class instructor told us to bring a knee up, it puts them off balance.... worked for us!

The only difficulty may be to persuade strangers to do this, but "dog-park buddies" should be easily pressed into service, eh?

Even at home I always make Jake sit nicely before he gets a fuss. Have done that from the start. So now when he's out if he does approach someone he'll sit when he reaches them so he can have his fuss. Takes a bit time but once he's got the habit he'll keep it

Hi Moonpink you don't say how old your dog is , It sounds as though you are 90% there if your dog is getting a lot better and he comes to you most of the time.

What does he do at home? Consistency is very important with dogs, if he is allowed to jump up on people at home or on you he won't be able to understand why he can't do this with everyone. People often make the mistake of allowing a puppy to jump up so the puppy learns this is acceptable behaviour and it will of course be continued when the puppy has grown.

As Ian says teaching a puppy the way you wish it to behave is a good thing to do, ask it to sit when greeting people so that they can approach the puppy if they choose too always praising the puppy and rewarding with the occasional small treat.

So I would say the first thing to do is to make sure the basics are there, that means no jumping up anywhere on anyone and teach your dog to sit to greet people. It also helps to make sure your dog is well practised in doing simple things like sit and stay so that he becomes accustomed to focusing on you not just in training sessions but throughout the day,always reward with lots of praise and the occasional treat. Practise the recall at home over short distances so that your dog again gets used to focusing on you and doing as you ask, when he comes to you give lots of praise and a treat but no jumping up.

Here are two articles by one of our members Shadowboxer, one on basic puppy training the other on recall, tyhey may be of help to you.

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=14526

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=8049

I must admit JJ still jumps up now & again, although only at certain times eg when we come in after being out or when we get up in the morning. When he does it i turn round from him, stand still and totally ignore him, it usually does the trick and as i said it's only now and again it happens.

Well Aston is 2 years old now, and an absolute bundle of energy.

He adores people and loves to be stroked, he expects to be loved by everyone, he is also terrified of other dogs,we have had him since he was 6 weeks old and he has never encountered anything to make him so scared of dogs, so I don't know why this is but if he sees a dog he will run in the opposite direction, though if he sees the owner he will make a dive for them.

As for jumping up we always make sure he sits before we greet him at home and when he does jump up we ignore him.When we have visitors though he gets so excited there is absolutely no way of him sitting down to be greeted he just won't do it.

He calms down within minutes but it's the initial reaction of him having to jump on everybody that we can't seem to stop,and it drives me crazy.
Believe me we have tried everything we can think of.

Hi Moonpink Aston sounds a lovely boy, have you tried putting him on a lead /making him sit when visitiors arrive and asking them to ignore him until he is sitting then a greeting and praise/ tipbit . That way he will learn sitting is more rewarding than jumping up. In a while you should be able to just put him in the 'sit' without the lead while he waits to be greeted (ah bless him ).

My present dog used to get so excited when visitors arrived, even in the sit position she couldn't sit still and padded from one front paw to the other in impatient anticipation of a greeting