Jumping & nipping

Prior to this question I have asked for advice to stop Sky, jumping up at people. Although I have never managed to cure this, I merely put her in the crate now when people pop over as it has got that bad, with her just going crazily mental/excited.

However now it has moved onto me, I let her out the crate, come in from work, or come back into a room, that I've not been in for a while and Sky immediately thinks fun time, and starts jumping up at me. I have tried the yelp that doesn't work she gets more excited, and I am now trying to ignore and turn around, however sky just walks around until she faces me and jumps up again. She then continues to jump over and over again grabbing at clothes, until she manages to yank me down!!! The problem is she has one hell of a jump and can get upto my shoulders! Now she isn't biting to hurt, but when she grabs at the clothes she sometimes pinches the skin, which does hurt! and because she is in mid air when is doing this it makes it worse.

All verbal commands seem to fail, although he is brilliant when it comes to sit, stay, etc! Bar getting the plant sprayer with water, and spraying her I am not sure what else to do! Although not sure this is the right thing to do, or if it would work..

Any further suggestions people!?

I do find the folding your arms and just keep turning away from her, keep at it she will get the gist of it if she knows there is no reaction she wont like it nor the ignoring they hate it. Personally I wouldn't use a spray as I don't think it makes much difference as they sometimes see that as a game   

I have this exact problem with my boy.  

I turn away from him and keep turning away, (as he will just come round me and jump more) until he calms down.  He will also bite and mouth as he is jumping and like you say, he catches me and my clothes and sometimes and it really hurts.  Yelping doesn't work for me either, he thinks that's a game.  

If he persists, I walk into another room, just walk away, and he just looks baffled as to why I am not entertaining him. Stay away for at least a minute to show him that you are not playing when he is acting like that.

Once he has calmed down, make him sit down, then and only then make a real fuss of him, stroke him, tell him he is a good boy etc.... if he stands up, I stop and make him sit again, and then I stroke him again.

Also when you let him out of his crate, make him sit before you let him out and as hard as it is, just completely ignore him once he comes out.  If he jumps, turn away and do the above.

That's what I have been doing and its working slowly but surely.

Now when I let him out of the kitchen and ignore him, he will eventually sit and starts putting his paw out to me to shake which looks so cute, so I have to try not to melt and hug him haha.  

I hope that helps, it is an on going every day thing that is quite overwhelming sometimes, but it does work.

Oh and also, tell people who arrive to ignore him as well, then can stroke him when he is calm and sitting nicely.  He will soon learn (hopefully) that he will ONLY get attention when he is calm and gentle :0)

Good luck and do let us know how you are getting on.  It is nice to know I am not the only one dealing with this   :-< 

Hope this helps, I still have to do this every day and Bailey is 8 months, but consistency does pay off.....

xx

Turning around and ignoring is the best method I've found. If you give in and give her attention it will reinforce the behaviour

I had this problem with Zeus too and found that turning around and ignoring didn't really cure the problem, he'd just follow you around and do the same thing.

What worked for me was removing him from the environment as a punishment, e.g. if we were in the living room and he start jumping and nipping, i'd shout "NO" at him, pick him up and put him in the kitchen and shut him in there for a minute or so. I'd then let him back in, and do the same if necessary. There were times I literally done it 10 times in a row but he got the message in the end and stopped doing it.

I'm afraid we are just getting through it with the methods already explained above. Bane still jumps and nips, but only when he is playing and in his hyper state. The only thing that works is to say "NO" quite firmly and then walk away from him. He does continue to bother you for a few seconds but once we stop looking at him and just pretend he isn't there he stops and tries to come and cuddle you.
Other times when he gets over excited, we tell him "NO" and ignore him. If he doesn't calm down we then get him to sit and stay and he will usually calm down himself then.

We have never tried spraying him, but my parents did with theirs. Once he realised that it was them spraying him he thought it was a game and just tried to eat the water and water bottle making him more hyped up. He was a real crazy pup but is now the most mellow dog in the world They just take time I'm afraid.

Spraying (or the idea of spraying) isn't actually a bad idea, when Zeus was a pup and used to chew door frames, doors, skirting boards etc, one of our friends mentioned that putting vinegar on whatever we don't want Zeus to chew will stop him. So we tried it and instantaneously it worked, he didn't go near a door frame or skirting board ever again.

Then, a few times he was being naughty and we literally picked up the spray bottle that we put the vinegar in and he was on his best behaviour. We didn't spray anything at him (I don't think I'd do that) but just grabbed the bottle and he stopped.