Big dog jumping up - help!

So, we have a long coat German Shepherd, she's about 10 months old. She is a big dog, although she is still a puppy. She is jumping up and mouthing. Everything I have read tells me that when she is going to jump up we need to turn our backs on her and give her no response. This is all good in theory, but we have been doing this as best we can for several months and she is still jumping up. It is also very difficult for the kids - 9 and 7 - to turn their backs when they are frightened she is going to jump on them and knock them over. When she doesn't get the response she is after from jumping, she grabs an arm and mouths it. Usually gets the desired squealing response from the kids! I have taught her that if she wants attention she must sit quietly at our feet and I ignore her when I get home or go outside until she sits quietly, but that's after the debacle of trying to turn my back on her jumping and protect my arms and the kids at the same. She is a big dog and jumping up is dangerous as well as annoying. Any ideas??

I work every Sunday and DH was taking her to obedience classes, but they are all on Sunday's and it was far too difficult for him with the three children to look after at the same time. We don't have anyone who could look after the kids whilst DH takes her to obedience and all classes seem to be held on weekends when I'm at work. :(

I've never had a big dog so haven't got any advice, but do you have trainers who come to you? We have this in my area and might be a good option.

We used to have a dog or two that would want to jump up all the time when we were kids - my mum bred and would show golden retrievers so we grew up with it. What we used to do was to put a knee up when they came in close, like when they looked like they were going to jump, and I found that more effective than turning, because they see it as something in the way. I don't know any other answers for you but just reminded me of when I was a kid and I used to hate the jumping up too. Sounds like some dog training might be in order though :) A friend of mine used to do natural dog training (might be able to google it) and it was amazing, lots of great, common sense ways of doing things.

Does the dog also jump up at the door/window when you're inside and she's outside? We stopped a previous dog jumping up by taking one step back each time he jumped up at the door and would tell him to sit. For each time he sat, we'd take a step forward. If he jumped again, we'd go back. After a few days, he got it - we wouldn't go near him if he was jumping up.

The other thing is getting down to the dog's level. As soon as she does the right thing, drop down so you're at the height of the dog, giving her no reason to jump. We did this with a German shepherd too and it worked (mostly!) quite well.

We have a dog trainer come to us. Costs a bunch but has made a huge difference. Putting the knee up when they jump is a good one. The other thing is, when she jumps, growl a short, sharp 'uh!'. This is what her mum would have used to discipline her. Then get her to sit nicely and then praise and/or reward her. We use a combination of correction for negative behaviours and positive reinforcement of positive behaviours. An example is doggie wanting to rush to the door when someone is there. We tell him back and put our body between him and the door and move him back that way. When he sits and waits politely, he gets praised.

German shepherds are genuinely pretty bright and will learn quickly. The other thing to do is make sure she has lots of fun, play time with her humans. Also, a big thing is, when you first walk in the door, ignore her. Wait until she's calm before greeting her. The excited greeting is what puppies do. The alpha dogs are calm and assertive. So if you greet her excitedly, you're on her level. Put your knee up, growl at her 'uh!' if she jumps, then ignore her. Wait until she's calm, then wait another 5 minutes, then call her to you and greet her calmly. That teaches her that calm behaviour is rewarded. It takes a bit of practice, but it does work.

The mouthing is normal puppy behaviour. She just needs to learn to be gentle with it.

My 18yr old has a Bull Arab pup who is already huge and lines to jump up, we do a combination of putting the knee up and also making him sit before we will pat him

Our dog is 15 months and will still mouth at times but fortunately he doesn't close his jaws. He will also jump up at DH and the kids sometimes, but not me - I'm definitely the alpha in our house but that is purely because I'm the most consistent with him.

We so a combination of "no", the knee up and telling him to sit and stay, with rewards of either cuddles and pats or food when he does. Most of the time it works pretty well but if the kids are running around screaming then its pretty hopeless and we just separate him from them. He is always last through doors, on the floor and lower than us.

Our biggest problem is that while he is gorgeous, he's a bit of a ditz. Hopefully your shepherd is a lot cleverer!

Thanks for the advice, ladies. She is very clever, Lulu, and gorgeous also! I really think she is very receptive to training, but we are doing it wrong. I know she wants to be a good girl, but we are obviously not giving the correct cues for her to know what the right thing is. I t has reached a point where I feel very frustrated with her and I am not enjoying her as I should.

I just had a long conversation with a dog trainer who runs classes in our area and she was great. I really like her philosophy and ideas. She runs classes on weekends, of course :(, but she did say that her classes are run in an environment where kids are welcome to run around and play. Her theory was that this is the environment the dog live in, so also the environment that the dog needs to learn to behave appropriately. The classes through the GS club were very serious and not very kid-friendly. So now I will have a chat to DH and see if he's willing to at least go and have a look at the classes and see whether he could manage with the kids. Wish me luck!

My 18yr old has a Bull Arab pup who is already huge and lines to jump up, we do a combination of putting the knee up and also making him sit before we will pat him

They sound like the kind of classes we need! I'm guessing you're over east? Probably too far for us to go for lessons ;-)

I feel very guilty over our puppy dog. We "ordered" him very early last year before we decided to have a 3rd bub, and I was so sick throughout my pregnancy that the poor boy hasn't had anywhere near the training and time spent on him that he deserves. Hoping that now we can really get stuck into it because he is just so gorgeous, and such a good boy most of the time.

I hope the lessons really hope your girl

We're in Vic, Lulu... the airfares might make the classes a bit pricey for you?!

If you're in Melbourne, I recommend VicDog. They come to your home. We've had a great response, though I suspect it was us who needed the most training, not the dog :)

L&B, no prices on their page. Do you remember how much the one-on-one training sessions were? Ta.

$235 for first 1.5-2 hrs. $100 per hour for 3 follow up sessions. Our doggie had severe separation anxiety, so we had a couple of sessions to deal with that. Then we've decided to continue with them because it's one on one. When we have better overall control of him, we'll start agility in a group.

It may seem exxy, but Michelle or Kirstie could probably help you fix the problem in one session. It helps them to see how the house is run and it means the whole family can be in on the training. For us, it was money worth spent. Right now we're working on stopping doggie lunging at other dogs in the street. We've already had improvement since the last session on Saturday.

Btw, they both have German Shephards. Michelle is a police dog handler, but she's away now. Kirstie is great too though.

Eta - correcting price above.

Thanks, L&B. That's actually pretty reasonable compared to some of the others I have looked at. What area of Vic do they cover? We're near the Mornington Peninsula. DH might be more receptive to someone coming to our home than him having to drag all the kids out :).

She might also need more exercise and stimulation, gs are very smart active dogs.

sent from my watzamajig so may not make sense....

What I would do is teach your dog to automatically do something when you approach that is incompatible with jumping. The obvious option would be to sit. You could try a training pattern like: Tether your dog to something so that it can move freely but can't follow you if you need to move away. Approach it and ask him to sit. As soon as he does give a treat and pats. If he goes to jump or mouth straight away turn and move out of his reach. Avoid attention. Once he has calmed down (standing and not trying to jump) turn around, give the command to sit, if he sits then reward him. If he tries to jump then turn and move out of his reach. Avoid attention. Repeat.

The problem is that not having gotten attention for jumping (by everyone turning their backs) is that he has upped his behaviour. That is normal (and you can use it to your advantage when training) but it now means that he has learnt that by increasing the intensity of his behaviour to mouthing then he will get the attention he wants. Mouthing is not ok at all because he can be a precursor to biting. Hope this helps.

Thanks, krysalyss, I will try what you have suggested tomorrow. We have somewhere I can easily tie her up on a long lead, we use it when the horse is in the arena or the dog goes berserk!

AngelPants, we are on several acres and she has plenty of exercise and much to keep her occupied. Being a GS, she spends much of her day running from the chooks to the horses to the rabbit to us, checking on her 'flock'.

I just had a friend come to visit and the dog jumped up on her several times - muddy paws all over her WHITE top! I don't want a dog I have to lock away when we have visitors, I want a well behaved, obedient dog I can trust. :(

Nickle - they're based in Eastern suburbs but if you call them, they may be able to come out your way or refer someone who can.

Krysalyss - that makes sense about the mouthing. I'll have to discourage it.

When our big dog jumps up on visitors we tell them turn their back to the dog, if that fails, put your knee up as you face them, usually deters a big dog from continuing....

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Thanks, krysalyss, I will try what you have suggested tomorrow. We have somewhere I can easily tie her up on a long lead, we use it when the horse is in the arena or the dog goes berserk!

AngelPants, we are on several acres and she has plenty of exercise and much to keep her occupied. Being a GS, she spends much of her day running from the chooks to the horses to the rabbit to us, checking on her 'flock'.

I just had a friend come to visit and the dog jumped up on her several times - muddy paws all over her WHITE top! I don't want a dog I have to lock away when we have visitors, I want a well behaved, obedient dog I can trust. :(

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Just on the exercise point - sometimes the more intelligent breeds like GSD, while having sufficient levels of physical exercise, need more mental stimulation in order to really satisfy them. i know it isn't always feasible with kids, and especially given you work weekends, but there are various sports out there that dogs like GSD excel at that can absolutely exhaust them mentally, plus they increase in bonding time with you. Tracking is one that springs to mind. Even if you couldn't do something like that, I would continue to pursue a suitable training club. You will probably find that the day/evening you do train, you will have a calmer, more compliant dog following training.

Directly on the jumping aspect... I agree with L&B on the coming and going ignoring behaviour - do not give them attention until they are calm, and have them come to you once they are calm for appropriate attention. if they launch back into mouthing and jumping either ignore again if it's effective enough, or isolate the dog until again, it is calm, and you can call it over and it greets appropriately.
Another very effective thing I have found works particularly for young dogs is yelping if they mouth. a loud, effective yelp can usually snap them out of it and then you move onto ignoring behaviour. This is what happens with littermates, where the one that is hurt usually yelps and then moves away from the offender.

Aside from this type of thing, you can try other things, such as teaching the dog to lie down if it wants attention (call over, put in a down position and then give pats as reward whilst they remain in that position) but it should really be done in conjunction with the above - which is really a principle of nothing in life is free (NILIF). You are dictating to them that you want a particular behaviour before they get what they see as a positive in return (be that treats or pats as praise).

Also i would suggest you contact DogsVictoria and ask them if they know of any training clubs in your area that train on week nights. I'm very lucky that my training club trains on Monday and Thursday nights at a dedicated dog grounds about 15 minutes from home. I'm hoping to be able to pick back up on my training later when bubs is a bit older as i am currently training 3 dogs to competition level obedience and/or tracking.