# Dog Jumping up on Strangers at the Off-Leash Park



## hjax (Dec 14, 2015)

Hello everyone, and happy Thursday!

So my younger boy, Sonny, is absolutely in love with any and everybody. He loves people dearly and it's one of his best traits. However - when we're at the dog park he's having some trouble with getting too excited and jumping up on people. He was doing pretty well with not jumping for a while as long as I said "Sonny off" before he jumped up on them but lately this only seems to be working some of the time. I just feel really bad when he jumps on strangers because not everyone is welcoming of such behavior, which is understandable. 

We (my boyfriend and I) do allow Sonny to jump on us and it doesn't bother us at all, we enjoy his affection/excitement and I'm wondering if I will have to stop allowing him to do that in order for him to understand that he shouldn't do it to strangers? He does know what "off" or "stay off" means, he just gets very very excited at the presence of people. Do you guys think that maybe if I can find some ways to work on his excitement/impulse control the jumping will start to subside? 

Any thoughts/advice is much appreciated  Sonny really enjoys going to the off-leash park but I'm always worried he'll knock someone over. I would love to solve this for him. 

As a side note: I will only accept positive training techniques as I personally do not allow adverse training in my house/around my pups at all. 

Thanks a ton!


----------



## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

If you are working on jumping it would be advisable to have your dog on leash when greeting people for the time being. Think about it... Every time he comes into contact with people he has the chance to succeed or fail. If he is offleash and there are strangers all around, not only can you not control the actions of strangers (short of yelling "I'm training my dog! Please turn around and be still as a statue so he won't jump on you!" but who wants to do that?), but depending on how he is at following cues from a distance, it may be harder to have him Sit politely when he is running up to a person and getting excited. By putting him on leash, you can better control his actions AND who he interacts with. Double whammy!


----------



## hjax (Dec 14, 2015)

That does make a lot of sense. So you figure once his skills are solidified by meeting people and not jumping up when he's on leash we'll have an easier time at the dog park?


----------



## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

You'd be best served by enforcing a no jumping on anyone rule until he stops doing it to everyone. If you enjoy a jumpy greeting (which is fine), you can then put that on cue afterwards.


----------



## hjax (Dec 14, 2015)

Amaryllis said:


> You'd be best served by enforcing a no jumping on anyone rule until he stops doing it to everyone. If you enjoy a jumpy greeting (which is fine), you can then put that on cue afterwards.


Yeah, that's kind of what I figured. Thank you


----------



## Kona'smommy (Aug 4, 2015)

We have an up command where we pat our chest for our puppy to know she is allowed to reach up and give us hugs and then we also work on a command for going off. So we still get the fun affection but only when we have told her it is ok. It seems to be working well and we are very strict with enforcing off the majority of the time. She always has to sit nicely for a welcome with us before the up command is ever given. Then we do a down and back up..... It also helps her from getting to out of control.


----------



## hjax (Dec 14, 2015)

Kona'smommy said:


> We have an up command where we pat our chest for our puppy to know she is allowed to reach up and give us hugs and then we also work on a command for going off. So we still get the fun affection but only when we have told her it is ok. It seems to be working well and we are very strict with enforcing off the majority of the time. She always has to sit nicely for a welcome with us before the up command is ever given. Then we do a down and back up..... It also helps her from getting to out of control.


That's a lovely idea! I'll have to try it.


----------



## Canyx (Jul 1, 2011)

hjax said:


> That does make a lot of sense. So you figure once his skills are solidified by meeting people and not jumping up when he's on leash we'll have an easier time at the dog park?


Yes, though it may take a while to get up to that point. On leash and off leash are like night and day to dogs and your dog may generalize 'no jumping' easily or you may have to teach him both on leash and off leash. But teaching him an incompatible, acceptable behavior, such as Sit, on leash... Will make it much easier to transfer that skill off leash. Which still doesn't mean Sit in front of you on leash is the same as Sit in front of a stranger he runs up to 60 feet away, thus the working up to it..
But jumping up is tricky, and I would second Amaryllis' "no jumping on anyone" rule just because jumping up is very often self rewarding so the behavior is hard to extinguish if he is sometimes allowed to and sometimes not. Again, some people very easily teach their dogs 'jump up on me but not others' or 'jump up when allowed only'. But some dogs when given an inch take it a mile. With my own dog, I had a zero tolerance rule for jumping and even then it was one of the hardest things we worked on. In his older age (like 5 and beyond) I taught him to put his paws up on me on cue and to jump into my arms on cue. Last week he jumped up on someone who had treats... The no jump rule is already being undone


----------



## hjax (Dec 14, 2015)

Canyx said:


> Yes, though it may take a while to get up to that point. On leash and off leash are like night and day to dogs and your dog may generalize 'no jumping' easily or you may have to teach him both on leash and off leash. But teaching him an incompatible, acceptable behavior, such as Sit, on leash... Will make it much easier to transfer that skill off leash. Which still doesn't mean Sit in front of you on leash is the same as Sit in front of a stranger he runs up to 60 feet away, thus the working up to it..
> But jumping up is tricky, and I would second Amaryllis' "no jumping on anyone" rule just because jumping up is very often self rewarding so the behavior is hard to extinguish if he is sometimes allowed to and sometimes not. Again, some people very easily teach their dogs 'jump up on me but not others' or 'jump up when allowed only'. But some dogs when given an inch take it a mile. With my own dog, I had a zero tolerance rule for jumping and even then it was one of the hardest things we worked on. In his older age (like 5 and beyond) I taught him to put his paws up on me on cue and to jump into my arms on cue. Last week he jumped up on someone who had treats... The no jump rule is already being undone


Silly puppers! 

Thanks for all of the help Canyx  I really appreciate it.


----------

