Dog jumping up on people? Why “OFF” & turning your back doesn’t work.

One of the top reasons people call us is that their dog jumps up on everyone that visits.  Many clients have been to obedience class, hired trainers, read books and watched TV shows to try to solve the problem. I had a conversation a couple of days ago with a client that’s pretty typical of what I hear from folks dealing with this issue.  I walked into their house and their dog jumped up on me to say “Hi!”.  She was a pretty big Lab, so you really knew it when she jumped on you.  I asked if that”s typical behavior when people come over.

They said, “well, ya, we”ve been working on the jumping a lot, really – ever since the last intermediate obedienceclass we went to.  We even had the trainer come out to do a couple private sessions here with us.  We’ve been telling her “OFF!” every time she jumps but she’s not really understanding it.  We’ve also been having people turn their back and then we’ve been giving her a treat every time she gets off someone but she doesn’t seem to be getting it? Our trainer said we just have to be more consistent.

“How long have you been working at that”, I asked.

“About eight months now”, they said with a strange mixture of pride and resignation.

If this describes your situation and you’d like to learn why OFF, and turning your back, aren’t working, and how to remedy this behavior, watch our little 10 minute mini-lesson on jumping theory and practice.