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Aggressive jumping and mouthing

19 18:00:43

Question
QUESTION: I have a 6 month old female golden retriever who has been through 12 weeks of treat based training, which she accomplished beautifully.  My only problem with her is that ever since she was 3 months old, she jumps on me and grabs at my sleeves (to the point of ripping a jean jacket), sometimes bruising my arms.  This happens only outside, when I am walking her (on or off leash) by myself.  She does not do this to anyone else, or to me when I am with other people.  I have tried the alpha rollover for a couple of weeks straight but that just makes her more aggressive (baring teeth, jumping even more aggressively when I let her go).  I have also tried calming her down which does not work.  I cannot figure out what stimulates this behavior or how to stop it.  This morning she did it four or five times in the course of a mile.  I would like to get this straightened out before she gets too big to handle in this situation.

ANSWER: One of the best techniques for jumping is to step back and turn away.  That may not work quite as well with the dog on leash.  See what you can do.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Yes, I have tried that too, but all it seems to do is to cause her to jump and grab at my back.  On the leash, I am able to step on it (sometimes for minutes at a time), but upon release, she is right back at it.  The obedience trainer for her class said that this is just typical of this breed of dog, but I have had several and never had this problem.  What concerns me more is the biting that goes along with the jumping.

Answer
Well I can see that part the problem is the trainer.  Have you asked him about all the well behaved Goldens working as service dogs?  While it is true they are very well bred, part of that breeding includes being intelligent and strong willed, not the easiest to train out of such instinctive behaviors.  

Perhaps I needed to go into more detail in my original answer.  This will not be fixed with a few repetitions.  With the dog having had 6 months to establish the habit, it will take a long time of absolute consistency to break it.  Quickly correcting her each and every time she jumps on somebody or bites is very important. Something bad has to happen each time.  If you are not quick enough with a physical correction, give a sharp ''Ah, ah, ah!''.