Tuesday Training Byte: A dog that won't stop jumping up and biting

Recently a client asked if her 4 month old pup would grow out of the bad behavior of jumping up and biting. The short answer is that behavior that is "rewarded" will continue. Let's talk about rewards. Dogs are like young children and will engage in all sorts of naughty behavior to get your attention. My question to people is "What did you do about it?" If you scolded your dog, looked at your dog, touched your dog, yelled at him to sit, pushed him away- you just rewarded that behavior. If your dog jumps on you and nips to get your attention, then you pick your dog up, you just trained him that if he is naughty, he will get picked up and held! This is where most dog owners make their mistakes. We must show the dog what behavior we want, and reward him when he does that behavior, not the other way around. Here is how I fix the problem:

My Rottweiler pup is 4 months old. I started training her to "heel" by my left side at 9 weeks. We practiced in the living room, with no collar or leash. I held some tasty high-value treats in my left hand close to my left knee. I called her name in a happy tone and said "heel", as I lured her to follow with the treats. Every couple of steps she got the treats. After she was getting the idea of where she needed to be to get treats, I increased the number of steps and added in some turns and stops. After just a few sessions, she had a an understanding of the proper heel position, and that the treats came when she stopped and sat by me. Next I introduced the collar and leash and used the food lure so she would ignore the collar and leash. The second week we went outdoors with a collar and leash on, and I had treats in my pocket. If the dog tried to jump up or nip me, I pivoted in place and turned away from her. As soon as she figured out on her own to sit, I immediately turned to her with treats, pets, and praise. Literally in two weeks with zero corrections, my pup knows to sit and wait for a treat. She also clearly understands the assignment of heeling on my left even without a collar or leash, no jumping, nipping or running off. We can run fast, slow, about turn, and stop and she remains in the correct place. I will make sure to only reward the correct response to solidify in her mind that jumping and nipping result in her getting ignored and no treats. Any time I get the dog treat jar out, all my dogs come over and sit and wait for their name and get their treat. She tried jumping at the table, so I ignored her and she did not get a treat. The next time I asked her to sit, and then she got her treat. This helps my dog to "generalize" the proper behavior to other situations. She understands bad behavior simply does not get her what she wants. Happy training

Be sure to not engage with your dog in any way when he is being naughty. As soon as he sits nicely without being told, he gets treats and praise.