Is your dog jumping on everybody?
Is your dog jumping on everybody coming for a visit? Are you worried your dog is going to knock someone over, or spoil that wonderful dress your neighbor just bought? Have you tried the suggested things from ignoring to distracting to pushing the knee in the chest and nothing is working?
Would you like to try something else? What else is possible? What if the possibility to change something would not be the same for each dog and the real trick would be to ask your dog what would change the behavior? Some dogs are a lot more sensitive to your thoughts, feelings and emotions than others. For those, the approach would be different to the dog that seems to never check in with you, is constantly 'distracted' and doesn’t seem to know their name.
Some methods used for one dog will be too harsh for another, and the other way around, a method not getting the message across at all! So first see what energy level your dog has and how much you are connected. Some dogs find it highly insulting to be walked towards directly and others will not react to that unless stepped on, literally!
That might be the first step you could try to get your dog to give the visitor some space: Herd the dog away from the visitor. Claim your space and walk towards the dog, and let them know at the same time what you are asking of him or her. In this case it could be 'space' for the visitor, or to go 'lay on your bed', or even 'sit' if your dog reacts to that.
Saying 'sit' ten times in a row is not what I would recommend, only use the 'sit' command if your dog will do it on the first try and you know it! If that worked wait for the dog to be calm and reward with the visitor greeting. If that gets the dog excited and jumping, start again with claiming the space and moving towards the dog.
See if this worked for you and if it did not, or if you’d like to hear a few more tricks listen in on the show of Feb 11, 2009 on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thehappydog
