# Dog constantly jumps on me



## vazime (Sep 2, 2010)

I adopted a lab mix (she is about 1) and she is constantly jumping on me. It is starting to wear me down.

I have tried turning my back and ignoring her but she keeps jumping on my back. I have tried turning sideways and looking the other way but she still keeps jumping. I tell her off and she immediately assumes the sit position and 2 seconds later she starts to jump on me again!

I am so frustrated and do not know what else to do. She also jumps on my 4 year old. She is also very mouthy and bites us!


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## Tavi (May 21, 2010)

Ah the joys of labs that aren't given proper instruction early in life...first off for the mouthy part I definitely recommend reading all the posts here on the forum on Bite Inhibition. They're going to take you a long way to helping you take care of that problem. Even though it mostly talks about puppies, trust me it does work on slightly older dogs as well. Especially if she's mostly grabby and not actively biting down hard. 

So let me ask how much exercise are you giving her a day? The jumping behavior you see on most dogs is over excitement and excess energy. So she's end ups focusing all the energy on you and your daughter. I recommend a lot more play time and exercise runs to wear her down. Also how is her basic obedience? Working on sit, stay, down, etc can also help take her focus off jumping up on you. You didn't really mention a specific time that she jumps up, so I'm assuming its not just when you come home, but its whenever she wants attention. For dogs that are greet jumpers the ignore technique tends to work quite well. Stopping, ignoring them completely until they sit down and then greeting them. What is your energy like when she jumps? Do you get upset? Mad? Annoyed? Any shouting or yelling? From you or your daughter? This can just trigger even more excitement for the lab since she's getting a response to her jumps, even if you think you're giving a negative response in her mind any response means she's getting the attention she's craving! LoL

My main advice though...take things one day at a time and focus on keeping your cool and working with her on her time. Dogs don't learn instantly, ok most dogs don't and the ones that do just confuse us about the others! So try taking her out for more exercise, try obedience courses. Find things that she loves to do and keep her occupied both mentally and physically!


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

This kind of training is a process. You have to work up, very gradually, to the desired outcome. An untrained 1 year old Lab mix will be a test of your patience and determination, but don't get frustrated. She doesn't know jumping is wrong until you teach her, and she doesn't know that "sit" means "sit until I say otherwise" until you teach her that.

Try the turning-and-ignoring exercise with her line made fast to an iron railing, or somesuch. As soon as her four feet are on the floor, turn back and reward her. If she starts to jump up, repeat the turn/ignore. I find it works best if you turn away even as she starts to shift her weight to her hind legs.


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## vazime (Sep 2, 2010)

We take her to the dog park almost every day for about an hour, where she runs with our other dog. I can be walking from my bedroom to the kitchen and she jumps on me, from my office to the kitchen and she jumps on me. It seems like she is always jumping on me no matter whether I come home or have been home for a while. She does not jump on any of the other family members except for my daughter and me. At first when she jumps I am calm and ignore her but I have to admit there are times when I am so frustrated and angry at her that it comes out!

I was thinking about signing her up for agility classes to release some energy.


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

vazime said:


> I was thinking about signing her up for agility classes to release some energy.


That's good but she needs basic manners and obedience first. It's not all about the energy; it's about self control.


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## wvasko (Dec 15, 2007)

Yes the big difference between keeping a year old Tiger and a year old Lab is while the Tiger could end your life, the Lab will just make you wish you were dead  As stated above you have a wild rascal with absolutely no basic obedience. The work that should/could have been started as young pup and more work done as he aged. Even an agility course while could help with energy can not be handled with a no-control dog. If possible get dog into a class somewhere and start getting dog under control. Good Luck.

You missed baby/puppy stages of life and got your dog when he was starting his teenage years when stuff really goes awry.


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## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

1. Work on the Bite Inhibition, now. The yelp technique will help you understand how to communicate and will help her understand what is allowed and not allowed. After you get the yelp method working for Bite Inhibition, you might also apply it to jumping and other behaviors, when you want to say No! ... But don't use it, until Bite Inhibition is perfect.

2. You can also teach a very good Sit. Then anticipate the jump and cue her to sit. The advantage of this approach is that you can teach your 4 year old to say "Sit!"

3. Also, you might try something completely out of left field. Let's assume that it is a greeting jump rather than an excitement jump, and Anticipate when she is going to jump. Then, squat or knee, before she can jump. If it is a greeting jump, then she won't jump, but you could get a face full of sloppy tongue. If my assumption is wrong, and it is an excitement jump, then you will need to "protect" yourself from an exuberant dog, who will still jump, even though you are at her level. 

In either case, prepare to end up sitting on the ground... If you are small or the opposite of athletic, you may not want to try this. However, I used this method on my Lab for a month or two, and he NEVER jumps on me, now. However, he will still jump on other people.


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## kitley2001 (Aug 11, 2010)

We just adopted a ten month old labradoodle, who is 43 pounds, and had the same issue, only different
because the majority of the time it was a greeting issue. It was sooo bad that I hated to come home. So, we used a method given to my daughter by her dog trainer. We used an old water bottle and put about an inch or so of pennies in the bottom. When we come home, before letting Ginny out of her cage we give the bottle a little shake and say sit and quiet. Only once did we need to really shake it at her ears, and then she knew. I am sure it was not pleasant for her , but it really worked quickly, and not being happy with her was not pleasant either, I am sure. We have been doing this for five or six days, and now make her sit and quietly say "quiet" to her...she gets it every time. This works even when not a greeting jump. Being soft spoken with her seems to be the answer, but before I was so frustrated that I could not keep my tone quiet and calm, and that made her worse. We do not even have to shake the bottle anymore,,though I have it in my hand, on the ready, should I need it. Good luck..something will work for you.


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## qingcong (Oct 26, 2009)

My dog was very similar, jumping all of the time because he had no self control and no idea that there were consequences for jumping. In my experience, the quickest non-aversive way to get the point across is to turn away the exact moment the paws lift the ground and walk back out the door. Then repeat each time she jumps and proceed only when all four feet are on the ground. You can do this anytime the dog jumps, just find the nearest door to disappear to. 

His jumping behavior tested my patience, but after about 3 months or so of being consistent with the rules, we noticed a definite decrease in the behavior. That turning around stuff did little for me. I mean, it might have worked, but it probably would have taken 2 years to get any sort of results. I think turning around doesn't send a strong enough message to some dogs. The main things that worked for me were body blocks and walking away. I think a lot of people struggle with using their body to communicate with dogs because we are so used to being verbal.


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