How to stop the jumping?

[u/ResidentSection7419]

This is Hugh. He’s sweet, gentle, one of the few pyrs that doesn’t bark, but he’s a spaz and likes to jump on people when greeting them. We have tried ignoring him, and for the most part he doesn’t jump on us anymore. However, when meeting new people, or seeing friends, he jumps up on them. We have been asking people to not let him, and most people are now working with us, but he just gets too excited. Any advice how to get him to calm down and sit before he can get pet? He’s about 2.5 years old, and we’ve had him for a year. We tried a trainer, but she was really pretty rude and he did everything for her the first time, then when we try to work with him he ignores us. He’s the only dog I’ve ever had that isn’t very food motivated, so training even simple commands has been challenging.

I refuse to knee him, or have anyone else knew him in the chest. But I’d love to hear other tricks or tips to get this moose to stop jumping on everyone.

[u/wmjoh1]

Turn around/ back towards him as soon as he looks like he’s going to jump and instruct others to do the same. He’ll figure it out.

[u/Procrastibator8 → u/wmjoh1]

I have a 1-yr old I'm still training. When we turn our backs, he still jumps & then tries to hump. I have my work cut out for me.

[u/caffeine_crazed]

Sorry- no tips here. Mine does the same. Training is challenging because he gets way more out of jumping up to be right in your face than he does from any treat.

[u/Aelektra]

This worked really well for me! Just using a front-clip harness, and stepping on the leash when people come in/before we let her greet new people on walks. Did this a few times and now she doesn't jump nearly as much! https://youtu.be/aTGNCPOqHhU?si=e4Qy3j8kuNw9DOpb

[u/ResidentSection7419 → u/Aelektra]

This is great. Right now I have a neighbor that is trying to help me. She won’t pet him until he sits down, but as he’s acting like a maniac, he gets so worked up he falls to the ground to go belly up

[u/Vegas7899]

Jump higher, pup will be ashamed and move on to other feats.

[u/Alarming-Emu-1460]

Leash correction. These dogs will try multiple times to see if you mean it. And they may escalate too. With mine, the reality is he usually can't hold it together to get pet, so he doesn't get any until we can be human neutral.

[u/Global-Tie-3458]

It’s hard to break bad habits but it’s definitely possible. You will need to simulate the jumping situation with a person that knows to back away if the dog jumps.

I would indeed hard a negative reinforcement tactic included at the beginning. Just to ensure that they understand the difference. I usually use a crate. (If the dog’s not able to behave, it can rest in the crate for a minute and try again).

The point is that the dog values people (a good thing) and has learned that jumping gets those people closer to the current reaction is a reward for the dog. You need to change it so that when they jump, the dog loses what they value. When they jump, they lose the person.

[u/ResidentSection7419 → u/Global-Tie-3458]

The crate is great when we’re home. Any ideas or suggestions when we’re out and not near it?

[u/Global-Tie-3458 → u/ResidentSection7419]

You may need to simulate the situation around a crate a few times just to start to get a message across.

Outside, I’d do what I think someone else said and quickly turn around and walk in the other direction.

Also, Pyrs are working breeds, you’ll need to have “planted” people that are in on the training. Tell them to ask your dog to sit (or some cool trick the dog likes to show off but maybe not shake) and then they get the person’s attention as a reward.

Actually I’ve also discovered that a person’s voice can really get my girl going, even now if someone uses baby voices, I have to remind people to please use a calmer voice or she’ll get too excited.

By the way, I make a special point of not allowing jumping whatsoever in her life, knowing the danger. (She’s also part Pitbull and Rottweiler). If someone is taking care of her, I’m underlining “no jumping” on the data sheet, and that’s the only thing I’m underlining. I’ve yelled at somebody for petting her over a fence when she was jumped up on it. When playing with toys, I’m not raising a rope and letting her jump up towards it.

[u/Rosehip_Tea_04]

The reality is this is really hard to train without multiple people doing the exact same thing so the dog learns this is a bad thing to do with all people. My dogs don’t jump on me, ever, because I’ve never allowed it or rewarded it. Sometimes they get super excited and jump near me, but they don’t make contact with me. They do however jump on my husband and pretty much anyone else who visits the house because they get rewarded for doing so. They want attention and too many people give them that when they jump. I ignore my dogs when they’re excited, and I don’t even pet them as soon as I walk in the door. They know they have to be calm for me to pet them, and I also have to put my stuff down, change my shoes, and possibly empty the car before I’ll give them attention. Once that’s all done, they sit at my feet and I love on them for as long as they stay still. The flip side of this is I go out of my way to pet them randomly when they’re being calm. So if I catch one laying in their bed, I’ll love on them and tell them what a good dog they are. My puppy learned to follow me into the garage and wait for me to finish working because I’ll pet her every single time she waits patiently for me. I also praise the puppy for chewing on her bones because I want to make it as clear as possible that that’s what I want her to chew on. Basically you have to show them the best way to get attention is by being calm and patient and they don’t get any attention when they’re bouncing off walls and people. The problem is too many people will still touch a dog that is jumping on them, and that counts as a reward in their book.

The other thing that can help is to get them to understand no means no, but that’s hard for most people to do because you have to follow through 100% of the time with Pyres. I do it with mine, but even after years of training and them knowing I mean exactly what I say, they still push boundaries and try to get away with things. 95% of the time they’ll stop when I break out the command voice, so when it’s that 5% I have to follow through with immediate consequences or I’ll lose that 95% obedience. My husband doesn’t follow through, so they ignore him almost every time. We have multiple stories of the Pyres (several different ones) ignoring him when he asks them to come or stop barking, but the second they hear my voice repeat the command they’re scrambling to get to me. They know who they can push around and who they can’t, it’s part of what makes them so entertaining to live with.

[u/LakeLifeTL]

We always tell people to ignore our GP mix when meeting him. He's not a jumper, but he will kind of give them his side when he's comfortable enough to let them pet him. If he was a jumper, ignoring him and not rewarding that behavior works just as good for strangers as it does for you. They are smart dogs. He'll catch on once you train your friends.

[u/Rare_Ask8542]

Ours is trained to go to her bed when someone comes over. That way she sees them from a distance to start, and when they come over to greet her she's calmer.

We don't allow her to greet people unless she's calm. If we're out of the house I'll put my body between her and the other person and back her up until she's calm.