7 Ways to Eliminate Unwanted Jumping

Dempsey practices sitting politely to be petted at the bus stop.

A dog who jumps all over you and your guests can be frustrating and embarrassing! It can be a serious issue if your dog is knocking down children or elderly people, and getting it under control can save so much stress. Here are a few pointers on what to do about fixing unwanted jumping.

1. If your dog jumps on you, walk into his space, without looking at him, and keep on going. Dogs want attention and if you withhold the attention, they will stop jumping because it does not work for them. Zero attention for jumping.

2. If you see your dog coming toward you from across the house or yard, start moving towards him which usually throws them off. You can add a command to it, like “OFF”, showing him what you mean before he has gotten to you, but try first without any verbal command.

3. Teach your dog to sit when he runs to you. When you are working on recall, have your dog sit each time he runs to you, and then praise. This keeps him in the habit of coming to you and sitting happily, instead of running to you and clobbering you.

4. When you come home, instead of greeting immediately, put your things away and take your time greeting your family. If your dog is in an excited state, continue to ignore him until he has finally lost interest. When you see he is calm, then call him over and have your greeting. This way you reward him for having a calm state of mind instead of rewarding a hyper state of mind.

5. Ask your guests if they can help you with your dog’s training. When someone comes over, have them ignore your dog and walk inside, the same calm way you would come home. They can continue talking to you, without giving your dog any eye contact or attention. When he is calm and not jumping, then they can love on him.

6. Teach your dog to sit for petting. By holding a sit, it helps to practice self control and keeps the energy level down. If he stands up from sitting, stand tall and stop petting. You want to show your dog that any attention stops when he is not in a sit.

7. Once you have a dog who no longer jumps, you can teach your dog to jump on command if you wish.

Kersti Nieto
Certified Dog Trainer
K9 Solutions LLC
http://www.nck9solutions.com

7 Ways to Prevent Separation Anxiety

Having a dog with separation anxiety can be a huge financial, safety, and emotional stress. It is so much easier to prevent, prevent, prevent, than fix it. Sometimes owners don’t even realize they are setting their dog up to be anxious when left alone until it’s too late. Here are some ways you can set your dog up to be happy and confident, and keep that terrible anxiety away.

1. Exercise! Make sure your dog always has plenty of physical and mental exercise. A tired dog is a happy dog is a happy owner. Burning off excess energy leaves you with a nice calm dog when you leave. Teaching your dog commands and tricks is also a great way to mentally stimulate them.

2. Don’t feel like you have to spend every waking moment with your dog. Make time during the day for “down time” – it doesn’t have to be hours and hours – but just a break so your dog gets used to being alone.

3. Don’t make a big deal out of leaving. When you leave, if you want to give your pup lots of love and pets, do it 30 minutes before you leave, then gather your things up, and leave calmly. If you give your dogs tons and tons of attention while they are over the top excited, and then you suddenly leave, it makes it much harder for the dog to deal with you being gone.

4. Same goes for coming back home – walk into your house calm and confident. If your dog is going crazy jumping and dancing to see you, keep going about your business, greet your family, set your things down, totally ignoring the dog until they are calm. Then when that energy is down, call them over and love on them like crazy! Always be aware of what state of mind you are rewarding.

5. Give your dog something to do when you leave so you leaving is actually fun and rewarding! A stuffed kong, knuckle bone, antler, or any other safe heavy duty treat that will last a long time will keep your dog busy while you’re gone.

6. Socializing to new places can be a huge help in boosting your dog’s confidence. Going new places not only gets them used to new things, but also tires them out more. This increases their confidence in you, seeing that you can take care of yourself and them. If your dog knows commands, or even fun tricks, do them while you’re out and about in new places.

7. If you do all these things with your dog but still seem to be having a hard time with constant anxiety, panting, whining, or excessive drooling, it may be time to talk to a professional trainer/behavior consultant to diagnose the anxiety properly and get additional tools under your belt.

Kersti Nieto
Certified Dog Trainer
K9 Solutions LLC
http://www.nck9solutions.com

Friday Canine Friend: Reliable Joy

Yesterday, I left my Japanese Chin Raven out of her crate when I left. So when I pulled up, I could see her through my glass door. She was literally spinning in the air for joy. Spin, run to glass door, spin, run to glass door, spin, run to glass door.

I felt so much joy just watching her in her bliss over my coming home and wondered at how we forget those simple moments of seeing one another–our own family members, friends, most coworkers :), etc. She’s been with me 2 years now and it’s amazing that she can still exhibit so much happiness at seeing me. What a lesson in finding joy in simply meeting each other.

Sylvie Pleasant
Certified Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant
K9 Solutions LLC
www.nck9solutions.com

Friday Canine Friends: Loving your Own Species

My beautiful Shepherd Coyote has never cared for dogs. I found Coyote years ago as a stray and took him to German Shepherd Rescue’s picnic to meet the president and get listed for adoption. Well, everyone sure knew we were there with his performance! So we started our training to walk politely past dogs.

During our early weeks of practice, as we were walking past a dog and he was having a difficult time keeping it together, I blurted out “this is your own species!”

As we continued walking, I thought about my own words and contemplated at how myself don’t always like my own species. When exposed to some of the neglect and abuse stories that we are, it is easy to get hard feelings toward humanity and sometimes even cynical.

I choose daily to focus on the good I see in others and I do always find it. The folks who drop everything to help a stray, the folks who foster, the ones who work tirelessly in shelters and rescue to find homes for their protegees, the ones who feed strays, spend hours talking to adopters, discount training and health services, build fencing for chained dogs. The goodness of humanity is indeed endless when you stay focused in the right places.

Sylvie Pleasant
Certified Dog Trainer and Behavior Consultant
K9 Solutions LLC
www.nck9solutions.com

Friday Canine Friend: Choosing Peace

I am amazed when I watch dogs interacting at how hard they try to avoid conflict. You can see it in multiple-pack households and dog parks. It makes sense as their wild counterparts need their energy to survive, not squabble.

I encountered a situation lately where false assumptions and even lies were told about me. A couple of years ago, this would have devastated me. I would have felt victimized, hurt, defensive, and just gone down that dark road that takes days, sometimes weeks and years, to get back up from. And I probably would have confronted the situation leading to more conflicts.

But I decided to learn from our canine friends and at the very moment that I received this information, I made the conscious choice to choose Peace and simply let the matter go. The incredible plus in this is that I am actually feeling gratitude because the end result actually saved me a lot of hassle. Sometimes what seems like a negative situation is certainly a blessing a disguise, or maybe they always are and we just don’t see them as such?

I have to say that it was so much easier to make that choice than to go down the path of conflict I would normally have taken.  Now, I wonder why it’s taken me so long to get there when our canine friends seem to be born with this gift. But I will thankful for this test and for the ability to make that choice.

I would urge anyone who is faced with a difficult  situation to just say to yourself: I choose Peace and see where it takes you. Choosing Peace does not always mean avoiding conflicts. Sometimes choosing Peace may very well mean finally standing up for yourself and establishing boundaries. We have seen our confident, calm leader dogs suddenly correct another dog that has crossed the line, but it is quick and when done, they move on.

Keep casually observing your dog and  learn from their simple ways. They are amazing species.