puppy jumping up at people to say hello vs missing out on puppy-ness

Woodsy

Hello everyone,

I really would like some opinion on something which might seem a bit silly to some people but I've rather taken it to heart.

My gf and I have a 4 month year old labrador girl and we've been training her pretty constantly since we've had her with the usual sit, down, wait, lead walking, recall etc etc.
In the evenings we let her out in the living room with her toys.
Sometimes I sit\lie on the floor with her. She sits on me, walks all over me, puts her paws up on my shoulders, falls asleep on me and she loves to lick ears! I play with her toys on the floor etc etc you get the gist.
She is getting there with her lead walking but she has a problem with jumping at at people when they walk past to say hello not helped by the fact they then sometimes give her attention.
A couple of times when we have been out she hasn't seen the difference between a child and adult and tries to jump up at these small people to say hello. Today a guy was in the local park and was crouched down and our puppy ran up to him and practically jumped onto him making him almost fall over, she tried to get to his face so she could lick it but he got up before she got the chance.
My gf is currently training to be a dog trainer and therefore we have to have a pretty well trained dog otherwise it doesn't look like a good advertisement for her!
She told me that I should stop sitting on the floor and letting our doggy jump at me as its not good for when she goes out and this could turn into a big problem when she get fully grown.
I understand this but I'm actually really upset cos it's kinda a 'thing' the little puppy and I have together at the moment and I really enjoy playing with her this way
When we're out walking her I actually feel quite undermined by my gf as the dog seems to dote on her the majority of the time when we're out and I am the one who always has problems getting her to come to me.
The last thing I want is for our doggy to hurt some child by launching herself at him\her but at the same time I don't want a robot dog that I can't play with.
I feel a bit silly about being upset about it to be honest but I can't help it. Any opinions gratefully received from anyone! Thanks!

Owain_Moneysaver

She has to learn not to jump up unless she's given a 'jump' command.

Of course it is not helped by friendly strangers encouraging her but that's humans for you.

CFC

If you have the same command for 'release' from any posture eg 'OK', you could compromise by training her to stay down and not jump up unless you are sitting on the floor together, then it's 'OK' as its play time. Pup will learn the difference between you sitting on the floor playing and people standing, dogs are pretty smart.

Mupette

i have no advice just wanted to say what a beautiful looking pup

missindecisive

what a lovely lab. Could you not distract her from jumping up at people, by anticipating her doing it before she makes her move, offering her a treat and keeping her attention on you? Put yourself inbetween her and the person she is likely to jump up at. If she does jump up, make it in no uncertain terms to her that you are unhappy, give a firm 'NO' and a sharp pull on the lead. she will soon get the message that you don't want her to do this to people when you are out & about! meanwhile, keep her on the lead at the park etc until you can completely trust her !

zaksmum

How gorgeous is she?? I had the same problem with my lab/whippet cross when he was a pup (but the size of a fully grown dog) - the local kids would shriek "JACK!!" whenever I took him outside and all come racing up to him squealing.

So he'd have about six hyper kids hurling themselves at him, which made him so excited he'd leap all over them like a creature possessed, and any of the smaller ones would be knocked flat! He'd be on his lead and I'd be grappling with him, with my other dog on her lead in my other hand...!

So when I saw anyone approaching, I'd say "Don't jump up," and amazingly he began to understand when I subsequently rewarded him with a treat for NOT jumping up.

By the time he was six months he knew not to jump up, and I asked the kids not to get him excited, so all is fine now.

Lirin

Don't worry about losing the puppy-ness through training. My Lab and Rough Collie respond to commands, will sit if they're asked, won't jump, know what they can and can't do. If they're well trained, they'll sense what they can get away with- for instance, my Lab isn't allowed on furniture, but just every so often, I'll reward her and allow her to wake my DH up- she'll jump on the bed, plant feet either side, and lick DH's face into submission..... She knows this isn't something she's normally allowed to do, and waits for me to tell her to wake him.
It's very easy to train Labs, and they're very smart dogs- she will learn the differences between play and behave easily.

Woodsy

Thanks for all you comments and advice.
I guess I'm also asking whether me playing with her on the floor, letting my lick my ears and walk all over me encourages her to jump up and at people outside?
My gf wants to ban me playing with her because she thinks little puppy wouldn't be able to learn the difference

Woodsy

Oh another pic!

Hyak2

Hi there, I was reading this post with interest. Since I am an animal trainer by trade maybe I can offer some assistance to you. Really there is only a couple of things to remember here. Animals will only routinely repeat behaviours that consistently get a very positive response. Therefore you either need to make jumping negative (or rather not-jumping needs to become super positive). Visitors cuddling and playing with the dog when it jumps HAVE to be stoped otherwise you will never break the pattern. When anyone comes into the same area as the dog, they need to ignore it (not even look in her direction) until it is doing a good behaviour other than jumping. If the dog does jump, then the person being jumped on needs to turn around as to ignore the dog and so everytime puppy jumps, she is met with someones back or someone ignoring her. JUmping therefore does not get a positive response. As soon as she finishes jumping about, give some kind of reward, fuss food, toy or whatever. She will eventually pick up that as soon as she is good, then treats are forthcoming. Some dogs pick this up quicker than others but if you use this method she SHOULD get it fairly quickly, then if you continue to maintain your neutral response to any future jumps, the behaviour will gradually extinguish completely.

By the way playing with your puppy, (as long as you continue to 'go neutral' if shedoes jump on you) will NOT make you puppy more jumpy/aggressive or whatever, just make sure you keep giving the same negative/neutral response to any jumps she attempts! Puppies need play and excitement so I think banning play would be a big mistake! I remember when I worked abroad, my idiot boss wanted to discourage our dolphins from jumping because 'it makes them too active,aggressive and unsuitable for dolphin therapy'. Idiot. Naturally active animals NEED to be active - I advised him that if he wanted an animal therapy that liked sitting still and being poked about all day by kids then he should get something else!

Pinkdebster

Hiya

We have a lab (now 20 months) who behaved in a very similar way when he was a pup - like you, I didn't want to discourage "playtime" but I did want to stop him jumping up at people (and by the way, he NEVER jumped at my partner, just me and anyone else!!!) The guy at puppy class told me to completely ignore his jumping up and just to turn my back on him - he quickly learnt within a matter of days that if he "jumped" up at me, I'd ignore him.

However, playtime still continues to this day - I get down on the floor with him and play "big dog, little dog" with him where he clambers over me and teases me with toys - the jumping has stopped and now it's just playtime. (I have no idea where that name came from!!!)

I hope this helps - labs are such friendly dogs and really need the interaction. Enjoy - you'll be amazed how quick they grow up - Dexter is a lot heavier now when he clambers over me!!