Dog Issues

Question
Kristen,    
Great day to you! First let me tell you a little about my two dogs.   

Sam - White Lab, male, 4 years old, and my wife has had him since he was little, and I came in about when he was a little over a year old.   

Poncho - Bullmastiff, male, 1 year 4 months old, and we got him the week after we got married.   

They do great together, obviously, Poncho has become a little bit of the dominant male, although they both know that I am the Alpha dog of the house.   

There are just some things that I am wanting them to quit, and I am not sure if they are able to do it. We are wanting to take them to become certified for Therapy dogs (they are VERY well tempered).    

But we can not get Sam to lay down, he just doesn't want to do it. We have tried the sitting by your side, and rolling him with his leg, we have tried treats, but he just won't lay down? How can we train him to do that?   

Poncho, he jumps on people, because he likes to "hug". He just will put his paws on your shoulders, and just put his head on your shoulder. It is cute to me, but I am 225 lbs, when he does it to a smaller person, he can knock them over. I have tried pulling him down, and scolding him, but he continues to do it. Is there a trick to get him not to jump on people?    

Also, both of them are lickers, and we want them to stop licking, as we have twins that are due in Feb of next year, so we need to have them not lick (plus I get annoyed by it. :-))

Answer
The licking I cannot help you with, because I have two of those myself, and nothing I've tried so far has worked! You could try getting up and walking away when they start to do it, or squirting them in the mouth with lemon juice when the start it up. Licking is a bonding thing, and it also signifies that the dog sees you as alpha, so you shouldn't outright PUNISH them for doing it.


I have a couple of training videos that detail how to teach your dog to sit and lay down. I have not gotten the most recent one uploaded yet, so I will send you the link as soon as I do that (hopefully tonight).


What kind of collar do you use for training? I would recommend a prong collar for Poncho especially, because of his size. For the jumping, you should put it on so that the leash attaches underneath his chin.

What you need to do is teach him to sit for petting and attention, instead of jumping up on you. He needs to understand the sit command first, of course. Whenever he comes towards you, you should tell him to sit when he gets just a few feet away, BEFORE he starts to jump up. Do not bend over towards him; stand straight up. If he sits, pet him and calmly praise him (you don't want to get TOO excited because that will make him get up) and tell him what a good boy he is. If he DOESN'T sit, and instead jumps up on you, take ahold of the leash and give a sharp jerk downward, repeating the sit command. Praise him and pet him when he sits. It shouldn't take too many of these for him to figure it out.