How to stop jumping on cars.

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When visitors arrive she rushes up to the car and looks in the window,just using her front paws,never scratches the car, as if saying I'll just see who this is. Not a problem when anyone leaving.
Thank you.
Regards,
Sandy

Hello Francesca. We have a gorgeous Labrador/cross, not sure what with, but she is a big, big dog. 99% obedient, except for jumping on visitors cars. Not aggressivly, but it has to stop, your suggestions would be most welcome.
Regards, Sandy
Answer -
Dear Sandy,

I can see why you'd want to correct that behavior, and I'm happy to help you.  I have a question first, though, so I make sure I give you the correct answer.

Can you describe for me exactly what she is doing, as well as when and under what circumstances?  For example, does she only do it as they are leaving?  Is the car moving or stationary?  Is she jumping onto the car and/or laying on the hood? (silly though that may sound, I once had a dog who'd do that!)

I look forward to your response.

Warmest wishes,
Francesca

Answer
Dear Sandy,

Wow, that is a very tough problem to cure.  The difficulty, as I think you'll find, is that you will have to get others involved in helping you solve the behavior.

Now, let's start out with the fact that she is a very obedient dog.  That tells me that she is extremely intelligent, and the behavior can be stopped.  Yet, she is doing this in excitement, which means that you have to take away the positive portion of the activity.

As your dog is so obedient, and you are clearly intelligent and in tune with her, you will already have tried the simpler methods (restraint, punishment, etc).

When a dog has a habit of jumping on humans which will not stop by any other method, I prescribe the knee - simply raising one's knee will deflect the dog, will not hurt them at all, but it does stop the behavior rather quickly.  For this situation, I would suggest a variation of the knee.

When your dog starts to jump up on the car door, open it.  This will foil her attempt to peek inside the window, and teach her that she will get no positive gain from the activity.  Obviously, you don't want to fling the door open in any way which would hurt her, but a large dog is highly unlikely to be harmed by the opening of a car door anyway (they're far more likely to be harmed by the closing of a door, i.e., getting a limb caught).

However, here comes the tough part.  Since she is doing this to visitors' cars, and not yours, you will need to get others to do this for you, or she will only learn not to jump up on some car doors, but will continue to jump up on others' doors!  If you have certain visitors who are regulars (relatives, friends, etc), ask them to help you with this.  

While you are doing this variation of the knee, make sure you give her negative reinforcement ("bad dog", etc) when she does the forbidden act, but highly positive reinforcement when she does not jump on the doors.

In the meantime, anytime she jumps on a car door, you must render punishment.  I would suggest a "time-out" would be best for such a social dog.  In other words, correct her behavior with stern words and tone and then, rather than permitting her to be around the visitor (which is probably what she wants most, at least for a moment), remove her to another area for about 15 minutes.

Try this, and let me know if it seems to be helping.