Jumping

Question
I have a six month old male husky who has a problem jumping on and nipping at everyone.  You've answered the nipping problem before, so I think I'm OK there, but what to a do the stop him from jumping on everyone?  The neighborhood kids love him, but some are staring to be afraid because of his jumping on them.

Answer
Good - let me know if you have any problems or questions on the nipping.

As for the jumping, there are two methods here, and I use the first one, but both can work.  The secret - consistency.

First, my method.  Frankly, I think it is easier to explain to the humans what to do rather than the dogs.  So, my first method is train the humans and let the dogs figure things out (Sibes are smart, they will).  Since Sibes jump up mainly for one reason, we encourage them satisfying that desire.  The reason they jump: Sibes wish to greet/muzzle with friends, pack mates and people in general.  They do this by kissing with their tongues and want to be in the face of their friend.

I knew this when I got the dogs, and I like it, so I allow this behavior (which is very difficult to get rid of since it is an ingrained pack behavior).  The way we allow this to happen is that we train our guests to extend their forearm out horizontally infront of them - thereby giving the dog a "ledge" to get their paws on to.  You may then lean down and allow them to give their kisses.  We've found this to be easy and allows the dogs their greeting.  And actually, the "greeting" time seems to be shorter this way.  Rather than them jumping up and trying to get in your face for several minutes, this happens, and they have their need satisfied quickly and move on.

The second method is to train the dogs to sit upon greeting.  This requires the utmost in consistency and EVERYONE must help.  Treats at the front door can help, and so can making sure the dog is kept on lead when guests arrive.  The dog is corrected if he tries to jump up (collar pop and a strong "No!" usually work) and is instantly given a command to "Sit."  Now obviously the dog does need to have some basic obedience work already enforced for the sit to work.  And I don't recommend anything besides one command-one response training.  (No repeated "Sit, sit, sit" type commands.)  If you need help on that, let me know.

Treats may be given for successful sits at the front door, and at that point (only after the dog sits), the guest may greet the dog, maybe kneeling down to his level to say hi.  Corrections must still occur if the dog takes that as an invite to jump up.

In either scenario - the secret is repetition and consistency.  Unfortunately, many people are fine with dogs jumping up to them, and that simply serves to let the dog think it can jump on other people.  Therefore, I like the first method, because it teaches the dog to use the forearm :p

Good luck and feel free to write back with questions or clarifications.