Puppy Training Available Near Georgetown, SC

There are a few ways to teach your puppy to relax when you pet him and to not bite your hands. Get some yummy treats ready and sit down with him in a quiet place. Try to train during a time of day when he is naturally more relaxed, not when he is ready for play or exercise.The “Collar Grab Game” teaches your puppy that he gets rewarded for staying calm when being touched. If at any time during the game he gets excited and mouths your hand, stand up for a minute, then start again. Ask your puppy to sit in front of you and give him a treat for sitting. Then begin to reach your hand towards his collar but not all the way. Move your hand back, then give him a treat. Repeat this a few times and watch to see what your puppy is doing. Is he turning to bite your hand, or is focusing on the food and sitting? Keep practicing over a few days until you can reach forward and hold his collar or pet his head without him turning his head to mouth. Be sure to practice this with both hands. 

If you need help we can do a session on line dog training or with you privately . 

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Initially, the title of this blog post was “how do I stop my dog jumping?” … then  I changed it to “how do I train my dog not to jump?” …

 then I added “up” to the end. The changes were made because for agility, we DO want our dogs to jump, and I write about agility frequently.

But this post is about dogs jumping on people, and you guessed it, the question about how to teach a dog to NOT jump on people is one we see frequently. I know that many of you will be reading this thinking, “julie  I’ve seen your dogs jump on you” … and you would be absolutely correct! My dogs jump up by invitation, and it also has a strategic purpose. More on that below.

Anyone can teach this, you don’t have to be a professional dog trainer; you just have to know what you want your dog to DO. 

The thing is that most people try to train from the world of “don’t”.  Don’t jump on me, don’t bite, don’t bark. Dogs don’t understand don’t, because don’t is a concept. Dogs understand DO. They understand behaviours.

What you have to do, is look at what you don’t want, and create a behaviour that you DO want, so that your dog can be right and you’re setting him up for reinforcement. This makes for a much better relationship for you and your dog, and for anybody else who comes in contact with your dog. Reinforcement builds behaviour, and what is reinforced will be repeated.

There are many reasons a dog will jump up, but the main reason is that we teach dogs to jump up with reinforcement. The behaviour continues as our dogs grow up because it is very rewarding. When our dog is fully grown, we decide we don’t like the behaviour because it’s annoying, and it suddenly becomes a problem. The good news is that you can help your dog and have fast results if you know what you want your dog to DO.

1. Remove the reinforcer meaning looking at them instead turn your back and quickly turn back around ask for a sit and reward or reward four paws on the ground. 

 -60 repetitions 

We let our dog know that jumping up when uninvited is not appropriate by removing our attention. 

It is also essential to also reinforce the dog’s good decisions not to jump up. 

If your dog jumps up without being invited to do so, turn around so he can’t see your face. Turning away removes the reinforcement of your attention. As soon as your dog chooses another behaviour, give him a treat that he loves.

When your dog starts to understand what will earn him reinforcement, you can reward him for all four feet on the ground with your attention, you don’t always have to give him cookies for not jumping up. When we take the reinforcement away for jumping up by consistently turning, our dog is not going to want to jump up as there is reinforcement for alternate behaviour. 

The dog is going to start to offer the behaviour that has the most reinforcement for him, which is “four on the floor”.

For more information go to our blog on this topic.