How do I stop a gundog jumping up?
Recently got an email in through the gundog training site which I am copying here: -
I downloaded your email book recently and going great so far.
I have a five month old pup primarily a family pet, but with lots of walking (live near a forest).
I would like to train him myself and so far he will to a degree, sit on command, lie down, recall (obviously not doing them every time, but getting there) to voice and hand commands.
I am introducing the whistle .
The only problem so far is jumping up and trying to start walking to heel. I realize he is a baby but although read a few books and trying to follow advise, I don’t seem to getting anywhere with either of these problems. I don’t want to do the wrong thing and cause bad habits, have you any advise on how best to proceed especially with the jumping up.
We try to ignore him and turn around, is it just time and patience and keep going.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:13 pm
My reply, with my admin hat on, was: -
I am glad things are starting to come together. What breed is it?
The most important thing in any training, is being in control of the situation. Keep your training to no more than about ten minutes at a time, although you can have several sessions a day. As you say, he is still young, and training should be gentle and fun, play almost!
First the jumping up – we teach our dogs the word no! Once a dog realises what this means, it is much easier to control bad behaviour. So what I would do is get the dog into the situation where he would normally jump up, but have him on a lead held by someone else. Do whatever it is that makes him jump up, and as he goes to do it say no! and get your companion to give a tug on the lead, just enough to stop him. Quite often they jump up when you praise them, if that is the case just cool the praise a little. Terry (my wife) suggested crouching as you praise him if that is when he jumps up.
Walking to heel is quite often a case of putting the dog on the lead and ignoring it… make sure you talk to it, keep its attention, but gradually phase out the fussing. If the pup insists on walking in front, don’t be afraid to stop and get it back to heel. If you keep stopping, you will find that eventually the pup will almost shrug and come back and sit next to you. It can be quite boring though.
Puppy training classes, for general obedience, are quite good places to learn these initial training tips, and have the advantage of allowing a pup to socialise with other pups.
February 25th, 2010 at 9:21 pm
Puppies in the litter roll over and jump on each other and their mother. Whilst it is no great problem when your puppy jumps on you and treats you like it’s mother and siblings, you do not want your adult dog treating you in that way, especially as a GSP grows into a large muscular dogs. We always tell our dogs the ‘Off!’ command, do not use ‘Down!’ as this is used later in your training when you want the dog to lie down.
There are several ways to teach this: -
• As the pup goes to jump up, you can step back as you say the command.
• You can apply gentle pressure to the pup’s shoulder, pushing them off you and saying the command.
• You can ask someone else to gently pull the pup back (by it’s collar), once again using the command ‘off!’ or ‘get off!’.
Whichever you use, keep it consistent.
As with the No! command, use a firm, quiet, low voice. Once the pup is back on four feet, praise him up with a bright voice. A warning though, don’t be too bright or the pup will get very excited. He’ll jump about and you will be back to square one.