How to stop a lab from jumping on me..

[Rost]

Okay, one more question... My 3 month old lab jumps up on me ALL the time! Especially when I first get her out to play. She has mowed my 3 year old daughter over a bunch of times also I researched this on the web a bit and it seems like everyone has a different method.

Have any of you delt with this? If so how did you fix it?

[lawdog]

There are anti jumping collar/harnesses you can get if its a big problem, but usually a consistent knee to the stomach/diaphragm area will prove uncomfortable enough to stop this in all but the most stubborn instances... Don't hurt them though, just hard enough to make it real uncomfortable to do and do it everytime so they learn.

[sweept]

We can't be posting abusive techniques....

[gspman]

Get the pup in front of and facing you. Coax the pup to jump up. While commanding "DOWN!!!", knee the pup in the chest just hard enough so you can hear the air rush out of the dogs mouth & nose. Repeat until the pup no longer wants to jump up on you. You may have to apply the knee even harder for a persistent pup. Do this drill once or twice a day until it really sinks in. And then do it periodically to reinforce the behavior.

As far as mowing down the kid, when you first let your pup out make sure the kids are inaccessible until the pup has blown off some steam. It may take awhile to get past this one. My dog is 17 months old and still goes nuts when let out of the kennel.

[Dough]

The dogs persistance shows lack of dominance. Next time she jumps up catch as she does it wrap one hane around the top of the muzzle and place the other behind the head. push her down to her stomach while saying "down". Try that for awhile if it don't work call me at 218-436-3567. I raise and train Labs for 9 years now.

Dough

[Buckslayer]

You can do the knee in the chest, but what I have done is catch her front paws when it jumps on you, and step on her back paws. Of course she is only 3 months old, so no matter what she has a lot of energy and may just forget that you just scolded her. I have a three month old right now too, she is a blast, but as you probably know, hyper.

[gman2002]

i think this is actually one of the hardest things there is to train a dog to not jump up. the excitement of being let out and new poeple around, ive kneed my young lab and pushed his head down so many times i thought i would wreck MY knee. just to excited when there young!! i'll tell you what worked for me though after all the yelling down till i was hoarse. was i put the e collar on him and about 2-3 times a day would have someone come over and when he jumped up just a little tingle and he dropped right down. after about a week he now goes to the door and sits like a gentleman should. no more mowing over little kids .. try that one

[LABS4ME]

It seems most guys use the knee to the stomach... SOME are having results, some not. A fool proof way to train them not to jump and it's not overly physical is to pinch down on the area of the dew claw every time they jump up. I guarantee you your dog will pick this up quick. Even dogs I've had that never developed a jumping habit, get coaxed up to jump and pinched down just to re-inforce that jumping is bad. In a nutshell, when the dog jumps up, immediatley grab both wrists and pinch down on the area of the dew claws (makes no difference if they are removed, this is a very tender area), command the word 'DOWN' and when their front paws touch the ground (you continue to pinch all the way to the ground) you immediatley release the pinch and re-inforce with "good". It is rare to have to do this more than 3 times the 1st session. They may still try to jump over the next consecutive days but usually only once. Then progrees to other family members and friends to do the pinch routine over the next week. You may have to coax the dog up to jump in order to complete the training. The key is to get them to jump on several people to understand they will not be able to get away with it. Your dog will never jump again for the fact he will not know who will and who won't be doing the 'pinch'.

I wouldn't suggest the knee (had one aquaintence years ago who busted a dog's rib doing that) or the step on the rear foot, you risk a broken toe. The possibility of injury exists with those methods. With the pinch it is just severe discomfort. I don't even know what the kick in the stomach post is all about. That sounds like you can really be asking for trouble...

Good luck!

Ken

[setterguy]

If you simply turn your back to the dog, until it settles down, it will stop jumping, I gaurantee it. If it tries to circle you, keep turning. This method does take some time, and with a three year old you may want to speed up the process but this will work, without any negative reinforcement.

[dwag70]

I used Dough's techinque on my Lab and got great results within 1 1/2 monthes the dog quit and has not done it again in 10 years. He was horrilbe as a pup would run and do it almost knocking me over. Worked like a charm and the dog was never fearful when he approached me during that training. Does doing the knee trick make it harder to teach the come command?

[Benny]

When I took Mandy to Elk River Kennels, AL showed me how he does it.

Mandy just would not give up even if I kneed her all the way over on to her back.She just thought I wanted to wrestle.

Al took her by the leash while we talked about how far and where I wanted Mandy to go in the training.As he talked Mandy grew impatient and started to jump at him, he swated her nose with his hand in a down ward motion.Not real hard , just enough to make her wince back. After about an hour of off and on jumping she refused to jump even when Al tried to get her exited to do so.

I could tell she sure wanted to jump, those front feet were starting to move.When she showed the slightest movement he sternly said NO!

Personaly I have never seen the knee to the chest work, but so many people here recamend it that it must have worked for them.

The muzzle grab and put down is simular to the flip them over on thier side and hold them down to get them to settle down.

The trainer at Petco puppy class had great succes with Mandy to get her to stop bowling Melissa over , well for at least the time we were at the class.

I think the running into some one is typical lab puppy playfulness.Same as when they grab the pants leg when your walking, they just want to play and that's how they did it as a litter mate.

We got Mandy to stop grabbing pants by just stoping abruptly and very loadly stating "NO".

Well I hope all the advise this group handed out will help, good luck and enjoy the pup.

Benny

[HeavyD]

When my lab was going thru this as a pup I would take a water bottle with a spray nozzle on it (99 cents at any Target-like store) and give her a good squirt to the face and say "OFF". Took 2 days before she knew the squirt was coming and she would just bounce on her front legs like she wanted to jump up, but knew it was wrong. Since then she now waits patiently waits to get her head rubbed when I first get home. The squirt bottle was just my alternative to the e-collar. Funny that a water dog would hate getting a blast of water to the face

HeavyD

[Eric Wettschreck]

Labs, I've been having the same problem with my GSP. I just tried your advise and boy howdy, did it work. Thank you thank you thank you thank you.

[LABS4ME]

Glad it worked for you B.G. It has worked wonders for me, I seriously can't think of a dog I've used it on that it didn't work.

Good Luck!

Ken

[wallydiver]

Very good advice Labs. I've been trying the knee thing on my 6 month old for awhile now with no progress. I tried pinching her wrists just today and I'm already noticing some results. Thanks for the good advice

[Benny]

HeavyD that's a good idea.

I used that on my cat when she tried to claw the couch before we could get her de clawed.

I don't see why it wouldn't work on a dog!!

Benny

[Dough]

The first thing here is that many of the sterner ways discussed show no dominance only fear. A dog that is scared will not jump, out of fear. A dog that learns doesn't jump, out of respect. The knee in chest, wrist squeeze, and foot step methods are all painful which invoke fear. The e-collar works if done properly, I've never had to try it so i only know what i've read or been told.

The method of holding the muzzle and head with a pressure down to the belly shows the dog you are to be respected as dominant not feared. The end of the nose swat works as well, much in the same way. The dog learns of your dominance, the only problem is you can make your dog flinchy to quick movements of the hand. That is the last thing you need in a blind or boat for duck and goosehunters. There is another technique I've used and that is the turn. With very young pups when they try to "reach", jump on your leg so you can pet them, just don't allow them to ever jump like this by turning so they slide off your leg to the ground, then reach down and pet them. Philosophy is if the dog doesn't "learn" to jump to get your attention or play, it won't do it.

Anything you try make sure its not a sharp waining pain, a knee to the chest hurts for longer then the dog did something wrong, giving the dog the wrong impression, as do any pain techniques.

The muzzle pressure and nose pat will work if executed properly. If you use the nose pat make sure you don't get excited and hit any harder then a tweek of the finger would on the top of your hand.

Always remember dominance is respect, not fear.

Dough