Jumping dog

Question
Just wondering if you might have some helpful hints on how to get my young britney dog called sugar to stop jumping up on people or myself. it can be very anouying with a dog her size with her long legs and such, thanks for your time,  

Answer
Tammy, there are several ways of stopping this behavior. First, has your dog had ANY obedience training to this point? If not, I would recommend that you open your phone book, go to "Dog Trainers," and start calling until you have found a trainer (or several trainers) that you think you would like to meet up with. I prefer one-on-one 'classes' to group classes, when you are just starting out, because it allows you to be the center of attention and is less distracting to the dog. Some trainers will come to your home, and some require that you bring the dog to their facility - usually once a week. I like the ones that come to your home, because that's where the dog needs to learn how to behave first!

Ask if you can come and observe a training session (either a group or one-on-one class) before you make a decision. Do not bring your dog. Doing this allows you to see how the trainer interacts with the dog, as well as the training style(s) that the trainer uses. Ideally, you want to find a trainer that incorporates several styles depending on the individual dog, rather than a trainer that uses only one style.

Jumping up is fairly easy to stop, but teaching the dog some general obedience is never a bad idea. One of the methods of training a dog not to jump up involves telling the dog to sit *just* before it jumps, so that it does not have an opportunity to jump. However, this requires that the dog understand the sit command!

Another method involves turning your back to the dog and walking away whenever it jumps up. This teaches the dog that jumping up earns it NO attention (which is the reason the dog is jumping up to begin with), and eventually the dog will stop doing it.

Another method involves putting a training collar and leash on the dog, and correcting the dog whenever it jumps up. It's important that you understand how to give a leash correction, so here again, going through an obedience class is a prerequisite.

Another method involves keeping a small squirt bottle or squirt gun in your hand, and squirting the dog in the face whenever it jumps up. This does not always work, though, if you have a dog that LIKES water!