Acknowledgements
Wow where to begin... This is book number six, and I'm still lucky enough to work with dogs and owners on how to better communicate and solve problems. So from that point of view, I'm still the luckiest guy in the world!
I could not do what I do without the support of the people around me:
Donovan and Dylan, my boys and helpers with classes and anything else that I need!
Eliza, for the help with keeping my thoughts in check on this journey.
Great Plains SPCA for a place to train, and unbelievable support.
All of the clients over the years who have trusted me with their dogs!
And of course: Leo, Lexi, Bear and Penny (my canine crew, who has taught me so much).
Dog training ain't hard, it just requires two things: CONSISTENCY and FREQUENCY!
Thanks for Keeping it Simple Stupid!
Mike
Dedication
This book is for all the folks who cringe when the doorbell rings, because they realize that the games are about to begin... Whether you have the dog who rushes the door barking like a maniac, or the dog who jumps up on every single guest that comes into your home. This book will give you simple and easy techniques to get the problem under control. It will even work if you are the only person that your dog jumps on!
It will take time and practice so if you are looking for a quick fix, I cannot help you. But if you put in the time and work with your pooch I promise that this is a problem that can and will get fixed, because you are going to make doing-the-right-thing more fun for Fido than all that other stuff that is driving you crazy.
So take a deep breath, flip the page and lets get to teaching how to achieve "Downward Dog"!
Mike
Why Does My Dog Jump Up?
This is a common question, and the answer is not all that complicated. I think it really comes down to 2 things:
1 It's how they would greet another dog.
2 They get what they want out of it.
Let's start off with the idea of how your dog would greet another dog. Go to a dog park and just observe. When two dogs meet for the first time they quickly say hello, face-to-face. There is usually some sniffing, some eye contact, maybe some licking, or even looking away to diffuse situations that are headed down the wrong road. The first thing that they do is come face-to-face. It's quick, and it rapidly continues on to step 2 (butt-sniffing: the doggy handshake)... But it always starts with that initial face-to-face meeting.
Now ask yourself how a dog (who is usually only between 1- 3 feet tall) and a human (who is roughly 5-6 feet tall) are going to meet face-to-face. If humans were smarter, we would kneel down to the side of the dog and say hello. But in most cases we, the "smart ones", just stand there and look at the dog. Then we wonder why the dog has jumped up: To get closer to our faces.
We humans may have way more to do with the jumping problem than we had thought!
What about the idea that we are giving dogs what they want when they jump? Let me share a little known fact in dog training. Dogs live for two things: Food and Attention.
Food has nothing directly to do with jumping (though it can be part of the solution- more on this later!), but the attention factor is huge. If Fido is not taught a correct and polite way to get attention, he will figure out his own way to get it. Your pooch does not really care whether the attention is positive or negative: Attention is attention!
Here are a few examples of how this scenario can play out:
1. The Pogo Stick.
This one seems to be very popular with the big dogs: They look like a bucking bronco, slamming their entire body against you, or jumping up and putting their front paws square in the middle of your chest. We push them down or knee them away. This behavior in big dogs is especially scary for visitors that are small, frail or already afraid of dogs.
Little dogs are notorious for the simultaneous bark (that sounds like they are going to eat you) and jumping up on their hind legs, resulting in scratching your bare legs, and/or ruining pantyhose; small Fido comes running up and jumps up on us, and we immediately push or swat him away. Without realizing it, you have just let the game begin!
Fido is thinking, "Awesome! Man do I have my human trained well... See how I got them to play this cool game?”
They jump... You swat or push. They jump… You push or knee. Over and over.
I still get a kick out of watching the owners get more and more frustrated at the behavior while the dog is going, “Do it again! Do it again!”... Remember I am laughing with you, not at you :-)
2. GET DOWN! STOP! OFF! (Translation to dog: BARK! BARK! BARK!)
So, you’ve walked in the house and the dog jumps up on you, and you start by saying “Get Down! Off! No!” The more Fido ignores these commands, the louder you say them. We have all been guilty of this at some point. Some may even resort to yelling and screaming- in my personal experience, we men tend to be the ones especially guilty of this (just my personal observation). I rarely see this one with ladies, but sometimes they lose it too. Try to remember that dogs don't speak English. So no matter how much you yell, scream or plead, all your dog hears is BARK! BARK! BARK! and Fido is often eager to join in. Before you know it, you are having a grand old yelling match with your dog!
Once again, Fido is so proud of how quickly he has been able to train his human into this wonderful and conversational game! Additionally, if the commands aren’t working, you might start to swat or push (The Pogo Stick) and you are now encouraging two bad behaviors: jumping and barking.
3. "Oh honey I've missed you! Come give Mommy some love!"
Okay ladies, now it’s your turn. This one is usually all you. It’s been a long day at work, the boss has been a jerk, and there is Fido waiting at the door just for you. When you walk in, Fido jumps up on you, and before you know it, you are on your knees giving your best friend a great big hug with kisses and all. Guys, don’t laugh, I have seen you do it too! You just wait until you think no one is looking. And with the smaller dogs, you are way more apt to pick Little Fido up when he jumps up on you... Even encouraging visitors to pick him up when he is jumping up on them, using the excuse, “He just wants to say hello!”
And here we go again: Fido can’t wait to tell his canine friends how quickly he figured out what buttons to push to get just the right behavior out of his human!
The fact is, you are giving your dog attention when they
