Jumping Staffie

BanglaRoad · 06/09/14 - 13:10

I have recently got myself a male Staffie approx. 4 years old from Battersea and he is a wonderful friendly little dog Highly sociable with people and other dogs Only problem I have is that he tends to jump up to greet people and am not sure the best way to discourage this behaviour Especially as small children seem to gravitate towards him "Doggie doggie" and am scared he will jump in greeting and send them flying Then it will be the "bad staffies" fault
Apart from the jumping I am over the moon with my first dog!

molliepops · 06/09/14 - 13:21

Best way is to train from early on but not possible here, basically you must not let him jump at you or anyone else at all. One way is treats get him to sit when he meets someone and give him a treat when he does it. I keep mine on a lead and get them sat before they greet anyone and until they know not to jump up they are not allowed to greet strangers at all.

BanglaRoad · 06/09/14 - 14:46

Thanks I will try the treats It seems to be his first thought to jump Apart from this he is a very biddable dog who seems to enjoy obeying commands As I said, this is my first dog so is a huge learning curve for both of us

StressMonkey · 06/09/14 - 15:30

Teach a cast iron sit. Every day, several times teach with a high value treat (tiny bit of cheese, bit of hot dog - careful not to get him fat!!) Several times on you walks - but get down to his level to give him the treat so he doesn't ever have to jump for anything nice (same with praise, playing etc - always on his level, never needing him to jump up) It may add hours to your walk having him sit for people to pass, but less dry cleaning bills for dirty paws

Then when approaching people, tell him sit & reward. Praise and reward as he keeps his butt on the floor as people pass. If people want to fuss him, ask them to go down to him & explain he jumps up.

With visitor to the house, they fold their arms & turn their back if he jumps up. He gets no attention until he calms down.

I'd like to say the above works overnight - took about a month of consistent sitting & ignoring to get Murphy to stop jumping. And even then he'd forget himself sometimes. Eventually he did calm down and stopped the silly jumping entirely.

The above approach helped with Hansel's random barking at men. Never did work out why some men were OK by him and others the devil incarnate.

BanglaRoad · 06/09/14 - 16:37

Thanks Monkey
Sounds sensible advice He loves cheese so will try that

Hogzilla · 06/09/14 - 16:44

Staffies seem to be very good at jumping up. (Watch out for him opening doors, as well. Both of mine did it. A friend who had only ever had non staffies rang me in excitement one day to announce "You'll never guess what Jet has done... she just opened a door!" Friend was very surprised to hear they all do it. (If it's got a lever type door handle). Or rather, the staffs I have known, do...

They also go crazy with excitement when people visit so, as StressMonkey says, you have to start a very consistent campaign of rewarding the good and ignoring them when bad. They are incredibly intelligent, on the whole - some staffs have even won obedience competitions, above the GSDs, labradors and all the rest. So they are quick learners (even at 4).

What worked with our last staff was clicker training. Might be worth looking it up online. My son (then about 9) taught the dog to sit on command within one session, using a clicker and treats.

CollieWobbles · 06/09/14 - 21:56

With a persistent, boisterous jumper that is of a fairly decent build and size, the best way to stop them jumping up is as the dog goes to leap up at you, you simply lift your knee up. The sudden collision between your knee and his chest is not enough to hurt, but it is enough to make them drop down in surprise. If he attempts to jump again, repeat, and keep doing it every time he jumps until he gets the message, and get other people to do the same thing, so he doesn't think its just you he's to stop leaping up at. Be persistent, keep at it, and he will learn that jumping up at people has an unpleasant consequence so he should stop doing it.

BanglaRoad · 07/09/14 - 18:08

Thanks to everyone for the valuable advice It is early days but the raised knee seems to work Tried it a few times and he looks sort of confused as to whats going on but I think the penny is beginning to drop

[Deleted User] · 09/09/14 - 12:36

CollieWobbles wrote: »

With a persistent, boisterous jumper that is of a fairly decent build and size, the best way to stop them jumping up is as the dog goes to leap up at you, you simply lift your knee up. The sudden collision between your knee and his chest is not enough to hurt, but it is enough to make them drop down in surprise. If he attempts to jump again, repeat, and keep doing it every time he jumps until he gets the message, and get other people to do the same thing, so he doesn't think its just you he's to stop leaping up at. Be persistent, keep at it, and he will learn that jumping up at people has an unpleasant consequence so he should stop doing it.

THIS^^^ brilliant advice CollieWobbles.

Mines a staff cross mastiff and he jumps up at people and myself. I do what is said above so does my OH but when out walking him I don't give him much reign on his lead if a person is close to stop him jumping and then if people want to stroke him I make him sit down first.

They are brilliant dogs look scary but are big old babies. All this dog talk makes me want another puppy.

mrsgrumpy49 · 09/09/14 - 21:20

OP start with training your friends or visitors! Because there is always someone who will undo your hard work by encouraging the dog to jump up. Ideally people should not respond to the jumping. They should turn away in fact with no eye contact and put the dog on ignore till he settles. The dog will eventually learn that jumping up not the way to get attention.

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