Your Weimaraner jumping on people can be a real annoyance and just plain rude, not to mention dangerous should your Weimaraner knock someone over.
There are several ways you can work on keeping your dogs feet on the ground, but here is a quick and easy way to do this, and — bonus! — it teaches respect at the same time.
Consider this video:
As you can see, Shirley is placing her feet in the exact spot where the offending Weimaraner’s back feet were, invading the pups space. She is not stepping ON the pups toes. The key here isn’t to cause pain to extinguish the behavior; it is fighting fire with fire by invading your dog’s space when she does it to you.
Shirley explains, “Dog’s are innately aware of the concept of personal space. Old dogs grouch at puppies who get too close or jump on them, even if done by accident.”
“This technique shows a non-violent way of reclaiming your own personal space by moving into the dog’s space whenever they move into yours uninvited, by putting your feet exactly where the dog’s back feet are until they back off and begin to show respect for the human’s space by staying approximately a body length away, backing up if necessary to accomplish this.”
Have you tried this method, and if so, has it worked for you? What other methods do you use to discourage jumping up on people? Please comment below.
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Haven’t tried it but I’m gonna! It’s not typically a problem but when it is, this sounds like a good way to fix it.
After reading of this technique we began to work at it in our home and it seems to be working well for us. We haven’t had any guests yet to test the theory though, but all guests will be asked to help us!
This is exactly how we fixed our dog’s jumping problem. Kudos to Shirley for the fix!
I’m going to have to try this. I’ve tried all the other techniques and I’ve never been able to stop Bella from jumping up. Turning your back and ignoring? Hah! She just jumps on your back. I’ll start trying it today!
This is a great tip, we have been using this with out notorius jumper blue weim June, she came as a rescue and you could not move without her jumping on you. A lot of people decide to turn their back and move away, this is telling the pup that Yes you did invade my space and I let you, instead of you invade mine and I will invade yours.
We`ve been doing this with our four month old puppy for a few days.
He`s great with me, but he does greet my husband and daughter by jumping.
It seemed to click with him today! Thanks for the tip!
This is a method we have used for years. It is probably the best. The downside is you have to talk “visitors” into doing it too, since they want to test EVERYONE’s space (it seems). I found also that just walking forward in a looming way can be effective. Dinah, our most notorious jumper, was bad. But when our friends would come over and we would try to get them to enforce it, they would say, “But it’s just me and she LIKES me!” Of course, we know better than to give in to that now. The knee-up works too
Hi all
Here are Three forms of shaping behavior that can all be used alone or in combination, depending on the situation at hand. And the best way to put them together to inhibit jumping
Abolishment: Or stopping the behavior, does not train the correct behavior, but prevents undesired behavior. In the case of jumping, leash the dog, then step on the leash right where it hits the ground, which will prevent the dog from jumping up. Or remove her from the situation entirely.
Extinction: Or ignoring the behavior, also does not teach a correct behavior, but if a dog is not rewarded with attention, they will stop any behavior in time. Ignoring includes ALL eye contact or sounds. Takes the longest for results. This means completely ignoring her till she disassociates and goes off to something new.
Alternative behavior: This is teaching the dog an alternative behavior that rewards their motivation. In the case of jumping, that would be the sit position. The dog only gets attention when they are sitting.
So, put these 3 methods all together to stop jumping: the dog gets leashed when you come home or someone new comes in, very first thing. Next, step on the leash and totally ignore her till she settles and sits. Then, tell her sit/stay and approach to pet her; if she breaks and jumps, turn away. At this point, you can go back to ignoring her or you can command another sit/stay. Handler or visitor can use food to hasten the learning curve and improve her motivation for the task. If she stays seated, she gets the treat or the attention she craves.
If she is jumping and you don’t have the leash handy, put your knee up to block her. DON’T thrust her, but you have every right to keep her off of you. Move forward in a confident manner till she has to back up.
Follow a “four on the floor rule” and never pet her if she has her back feet on the floor with the front feet standing in your lap or on furniture.
Chris Conklin
Ok, how do you do this with a weim that has learned to jump on your side and manages to chew on your hands. I have had June now for over a yr and have done this OVER AND OVER and this dog still jumps at me when excited and manages to mouth on my hands. How do I stop this? I will walk towards her until she sits down and then walk away, a second later she is right back at it, driving me crazy. I have managed to stop other fosters I have had from doing this, even Rocky my male, not a problem, June on the other side is just so excited all the time.
I just read my coment from 3/2010 and now realized that June has gotten worse at this…… back then it was not so bad and she was getting it, now she manages to jump on my side…….
Iris are you working her with a leash? I would snap a leash on her when you know she will be over excited or if she is jumping and too crazy to do a sit command for you then put your foot on the leash where it hits the ground and ignore her till she can pay enough attention to follow your commands. Use food if needed at first to capture her attention. If she already has a down and stay command put her in a down and brief ( 30 second) stay every time she mouths you if not use the foot on the leash and ignore for 30 seconds instead. Do not yell wave your hands or get excited/agitated with her for jumping or mouthing because she will think it is a game. An easy option to stop the mouthing and help her to calm herself in general is to teach her to fetch a favorite toy when she is over stimulated. I ask my Weims to do this when letting them out of their crates so they don’t mouth at each other in excitement.
Annddd…. if the dog has learned to jump up and down and backs away before you can step “on” her feet, or even raise your knee…? In situations where you don’t have a leash, or before you get the chance to get the leash hooked. Smart girl, leash-wise.
When without a leash (should be a seldom as possible) and she starts jumping I would give her the benifit of sit (for attention positive tone of voice not corrective) every 10 seconds and otherwise ingone her altogether when jumping. Is she dancing out of reach after she stops jumping andor darting in and out and jumping, how is her whoa/stay command? Start teaching a strong whoa, stay and down command she is a smart girl so that shouldn’t be a problem! lol Then for each episode of jumping have here do a down stay and ingore her. Once you have her under control even if you have to ignore her till she quits on her own and you can catch her, never make a chase game of bringing her down to earth and under control. Have her do a down stay until she is trained to do so put your foot on the leash ( hopefully you’ve gotten the leash by now) close to the ground and turn your back on her about one minute for each time she jumped up on you always make me feel better. Weims are smart they seem to understand this calm controling exercise is a result of their jumping.