# Constantly Jumping up on / Barking at my child



## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

My 15 week old puppy is constantly jumping up on my 7 year old daughter (the youngest of my 3 kids). She barks and continues barking even when we tell her to stop. We have to remove her from the room ( a time out). Sometimes this works, but usually only after a few timeouts in a row. She's wagging her tail, doesn't seem to be threatening, but we can't figure out the behavior. The largest problem is that she's big/strong and often knocks my daughter against a wall (where she hits her head/gets hurt). My daughter's been a good sport about it so far, but I don't want her to fear the puppy either. 

I need to stop this behavior, but I don't fully understand what the puppy is doing. My husband thinks she may be 'herding', but there is no real pattern to where/when or what behavior sets her off (other than when the kids get rowdy and overexcite the puppy). Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, can you explain shy she's doing this and how we can stop the behavior? We've tried giving my daughter a pocketful of treats and taught her to say "sit". The puppy calms down long enough to sit and get her reward, but returns to the behavior. We've given up on that route.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

I would have your daughter show the pup that she is also one of the "leaders". 
Pup is probably treating the youngest as a playmate, and your daughter needs to show her that she is someone the pup needs to defer to. 
Show your daughter how to correct pup, by being consistant with the command words along with praise. 
If you use the word "off" for no jumping then make sure your daughter knows which commands and to use them with a _firm_ tone. When pup complies, a treat or verbal praise. 
My mom just adopted a 4 month old small breed and he was jumping all over my 2yr old nephew. We took the pup away and he just went right back for more(this was the adoption day) Finally the nephew had enough and said NO firmly, the pup listened!
Though I'm sure pup/nephew will have to go thru this several times!


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## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

We've gotten out daughter to stop running away, stand her ground and give the dog the order "sit" since that works for her and the puppy. But once the puppy has her reward/treat, she goes back to jumping, and this continues... I sometimes think the puppy has discovered this is a great way to get what seems like an endless supply of treats.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Sounds like the pup has control of the game for sure! 
I would have your daughter after the sit~ say "good sit" and work on another command before treating the pup. She really needs to be assertive and show the pup she is in charge.


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

Teach her not to jump up....start with you doing this. Do what you can to get her to jump and when she returns all paws to floor praise/reward that behavior. Or teach her that she only gets attention when she's sitting on the floor, never when she jumps up.

Minna doesn't jump up on me too often, but I did teach her the "up" command by hitting my hands against my legs and saying "up". But then I had to teach her that hitting my hands against my legs didn't mean to jump up; and she figured that out in about a day....so she knows when I say "up" you can jump and say hi; otherwise keep your paws on the floor and sit for attention.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

another method that you might want to try, while the pup is still a great deal smaller than he/she will be as an adult. Victoria Stillwell recommends it but so do a great many other trainers. You said your daughter is 7 and therefore is old enough so understand the basics of what she can do. Since it sounds like treats arent working, when the pup goes to jump, your daughter should say no firmly and turn her back to the pup, ignoring her completely. After a few times of this, your pup should get the idea that he's not getting his way and is only being ignored when he does the unwanted behavior. When he starts barking, a very firm NO BARK! should get the message across too. The no bark would be a good time to treat train as when you say no bark, the pup should stop for a few seconds. After a few seconds of silence, you treat and praise saying Good No Bark. and you gradually increase the time before you treat. after a little while the pup will generally be more quiet than loud.


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## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

KZoppa said:


> another method that you might want to try, while the pup is still a great deal smaller than he/she will be as an adult. Victoria Stillwell recommends it but so do a great many other trainers. You said your daughter is 7 and therefore is old enough so understand the basics of what she can do. Since it sounds like treats arent working, when the pup goes to jump, your daughter should say no firmly and turn her back to the pup, ignoring her completely. After a few times of this, your pup should get the idea that he's not getting his way and is only being ignored when he does the unwanted behavior. When he starts barking, a very firm NO BARK! should get the message across too. The no bark would be a good time to treat train as when you say no bark, the pup should stop for a few seconds. After a few seconds of silence, you treat and praise saying Good No Bark. and you gradually increase the time before you treat. after a little while the pup will generally be more quiet than loud.


I think I'll try this next. I guess what I failed to explain is that my pup is already quite big and long. She's about 30 pounds and can easily reach the kitchen counters with her front paws. So, when she jumps, she's connecting with my daughter in the face/head and it's been hard for my daughter to stand her ground against a powerful and heavy dog. Turning her back might work and give her a better defensive position at the same time. She's been saying the 'no barking' bit, but that hasn't worked thus far. I'll report back on how this works. thank you, everyone for your suggestions!


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

i hope that works for you. At 30 lbs i understand her size as Shasta is about 18 weeks old and at 27 lbs. For a 7 year old thats a pretty hefty pup to be jumping on her. I think as long as your daughter has a positive attitude and doesnt begin to be afraid of her, everything will work out. Another thing that should help at least cut down on the jumping is thoroughly wearing that pup out. It might also help for the pup to realize that your daughter has alpha status over him and isnt technically a playmate if she, supervised of course, controls the food source. Make sense? The pup is more likely to respect the ones who handle putting that bowl down in front of him. If you feel confident there is no food aggression issues either, your daughter could take the bowl away and make him sit again before he gets it back. If he jumps up, he loses the prize. But ONLY if you're 150% confident he isn't a resource guarding type.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

At 15 weeks the pup shouldn't resource guard. I would have the whole family practice NILIF, not too early to start.


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## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

My puppy doesn't resource guard. My daughter can put her hand in her bowl to take out food and the puppy doesn't care. So having her control the giving of food for a a few meals is probably a good idea too. Thanks!


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

hope it works and he stops jumping on her!!! patience and persistance!!!


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## GSDBESTK9 (Mar 26, 2002)

Your puppy should be dragging a leash at all times. Every time she goes to jump on your daughter WITH SLACK on the leash, give her a few pops and tell her OFF. Set her up if you need to, she needs to learn that jumping up on your daughter is not worth it/fun. Your daughter can also put her knee out when the pup tries to jump on her while telling her OFF. She will learn quick enough that jumping is no longer fun.


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## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

Good ideas ( and great support)! Thank you, everyone!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Have you signed up for a puppy class? Most of them encourage all family members to come to class and participate in the training. In one of Halo's classes there was a dog being trained by a boy who looked to be around 9 or 10 years old - under the guidance of his parents, of course. But he did all the handling during class and I assume at home as well.


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## VChurch (Jun 14, 2010)

^ The puppy class would also address the issue of jumping up, barking, -- and how to train the puppy.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

don't let the children excite the puppy.
i think by giving your 7 yr. old a treat to give
to the dog and telling her to sit is
rewarding the jumping. having a 7 yr. old train
a puppy isn't a good idea in my thinking.
a 7 yr. old doesn't have any command.
you and your husband should be controlling
and watching the pup at all times. i think you and your husband should teach the pup not to jump not a 7 yr. old.
as you said "i need to stop this behaviour, but
i don't fully understand what the pup is doing".
you do fully understand what the pup is doing.
she's jumping on your 7 yr. old daughter. why is the pup 
jumping on her, that's what pups do. 



JuliePgh said:


> I need to stop this behavior, but I don't fully understand what the puppy is doing. My husband thinks she may be 'herding', but there is no real pattern to where/when or what behavior sets her off (other than when the kids get rowdy and overexcite the puppy). Has anyone else encountered this, and if so, can you explain shy she's doing this and how we can stop the behavior? We've tried giving my daughter a pocketful of treats and taught her to say "sit". The puppy calms down long enough to sit and get her reward, but returns to the behavior. We've given up on that route.


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## dakota20 (Jul 9, 2010)

If you're daughter were to leave the room when your pup starts barking/jumping, he'll learn his behavior is making his "playmate" disappear. Only re-enter when he's calm and not barking. If he starts again, out goes your daughter.


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## JuliePgh (Aug 29, 2010)

dakota20 said:


> If you're daughter were to leave the room when your pup starts barking/jumping, he'll learn his behavior is making his "playmate" disappear. Only re-enter when he's calm and not barking. If he starts again, out goes your daughter.


Anytime my daughter tries to leave/move away, the dog interprets that as a "tag/chase game". We've tried putting the dog in another room/hall for a 'time out', during which the dog instantly calms down and waits for us to let her return. But when she returns, she's back to the same behavior.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I'm in agreement with leaving a leash on her at all times, so you can pop a correction especially for jumping and barking at your daughter. 

When you put her for a time/out and she goes right back at it, she is not "getting it". I'd be correcting her instead.


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## Zoeys mom (Jan 23, 2010)

I like the leash idea too the pinch of the prong will quickly teach jumping on kids is off limits for sure. Zoe jumped on my son once and was corrected in a similar method- it took once and she realized my babies are no no's.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

i guess i cant say 2nd so i'll say 3rd about the leash idea as well. It works well for other issues too depending on the situation. I used the tether method when Shasta insisted on pottying in the house. When she was not given the choice to disappear to relieve herself somewhere downstairs, as we keep the upstairs blocked off during the day, she started going potty more reliably outside. We also did the leash pop on her when she would jump on my 3 year old. You've gotten tons of suggestions and all work nicely when used consistently and correctly. It will depend on the dog which one works best but given the size of your pup and how big the pup can become, its good that you're seeking info on how to correct the situation now instead of later.


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