Four on the Floor

Emme is still jumping up on us when we return to the house or when she is let out of her crate in the morning. She is so excited to see us, that all training evaporates out of her brain. For a long time, we just ignored the behavior, as recommended in many of the dog books we read. The idea was that the jumping behavior would not get the attention she sought and she would stop doing it. Not so. We would ignore her while she was jumping: no petting, no speaking to her, and even no eye contact. That didn't eliminate the jumping.

So now we are trying another method. On the advice of the trainer, since ignoring the jumping didn't extinguish the behavior, we are telling Emme to sit. She doesn't get any attention until she has obeyed the sit command and has all four paws on the floor, "four on the floor." So now, she jumps once; we say "sit" and she puts four on the floor. Then we pet and talk to her. The minute we stop petting her, she jumps up again. We say "sit" and she puts four on the floor again. Then we pet and talk to her. This can go on three or four times.

She has learned to sit and get petted, but only after she has jumped up on us. I hope we are heading in the right direction with this. She is in no danger of knocking anyone over when she jumps up, but it is just not good manners. She could put muddy paw prints on someone or snag stockings or trousers. She knows what we want, but her enthusiasm gets in the way of her obedience.