2-year-old has made a habit of jumping and biting

[CAROLYN GRIGGS]

I have a two-year-old Pyrenees/Retriever mix. She jumps to the point the only way I can work with her is when she is on the line so that I can get away from her. I just practiced teaching her not to jump but to sit when I enter the pen, after watching your video, and she already pretty well has that down. We'd worked on this a little before. Her problem is not learning what she should do. She's smart. But she is not good at doing the things she knows unless she sees there is something in it for her. Anyway, after she sat and I gave her a treat and praised her, then she would start jumping again. She had gotten what she wanted, so she didn't see the need to keep being calm. I would turn and walk away from her when she did this. Any other tips on helping with this? Jumping on you and biting at hands and feet are her two main ways she wants to interact. I really want to get that under control so that I can teach her other things, spend more time with her, and interact and play with her off of her line. She does have a large pen where she can run, so she's not on the line all the time, but I want to get to where we can go for walks too and just have normal doggy play.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Carolyn, welcome to the forums!

I am glad to hear your dog has made some progress when entering the pen, this is a good start. Now, we need to apply the same in other settings, which requires us to be very consistent and careful in what consequences we set for when the dog jumps. 

 Back in the day, people thought dog training was all about getting dogs to please us humans. Turns out, dogs are more like us than we realized—they're wondering, "What's in it for me?" Just like we expect a paycheck for our hard work, dogs aren't just motivated by a mere pat on the head or a "good boy." They want real rewards, like treats, toys, or playtime/attention. So, we must think of dog training as a job with a fair salary—so let's make sure we're paying our "furry employees" well!

What you are describing when your dog sat and you gave her a treat, and then started jumping again sounds like classical example of a potential behavior chain. Your smart pup has figured out that sitting gets a treat, and then she immediately thought, "Great! Now, let's try to add some jumps to the routine and see what happens!" 

What needs to be done in these cases is to break the chain. There are several ways to do this, one of my favorite is playing the "kibble toss game." This is putting your dog's kibble to good work instead of sitting in a bowl and being wolfed down in seconds. Kibble is easy to carry in your treat bag or pockets, and by playing this game you give your dog a little workout.

The game goes like this: every time you notice your dog is approaching you with an intent to jump, toss a kibble at a distance. Once your dog eats the kibble, she'll likely come back to you for more. As soon as she is close enough, but not close enough to jump on you, toss another kibble at a distance. You want her yo-yo-ing back and forth between catching the kibble and coming back to you for more). At some point, you can start asking for a sit when she approaches you. Keep repeating this exercise several times. With time, she should understand that approaching you without jumping is worth it. 

If she happens to jump, make sure to turn your back to her immediately and even leave the room if she persists in jumping. This consequence should help make it clear in her mind that sitting leads to treats, and jumping makes you  stop interacting with her and makes you (and the kibble) go away. 

In the background, make sure to provide exercise and  fun mental stimulation (brain games!) Also, don't forget to encourage some independent play from you by giving her food puzzles and organizing treasure hunts. 

If the biting and jumping happens on walks, you can try to preempt it by playing the "find it game" and scattering several treats to the ground in a rainfall fashion. This helps keep the dog focused on something and can drain some energy as the dog goes on a hunt for the treats. It also helps bring down a dog's arousal levels. On walks, you may need to invest in treats that are high-value enough to compete and win over the reinforcement gained by engaging in the undesirable behavior.

You will likely need to practice this game first outside of the jumping and biting triggering context so that your dog knows what to expect and so as to give the game the opportunity to gain a strong reinforcement history before being offered around more and more arousal-inducing situations.

When working on preempting behaviors and shifting attention, it's best to intervene before the behavior happens or, at the very least, at the earliest signs. This requires becoming a pro in reading a dog's pre-biting and pre-jumping cues. One common denominator often witnessed in dogs engaging in this behavior is the dog getting a certain " gleam in his/her eyes." Intervening at the early signs allows room for intervention. Once a dog is actively jumping, biting and tugging, she is often past the point of redirection.

I hope this helps, keep us posted on how things go!