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Help with excited behaviour please


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The impulse control is considerably better since my last post but one behavior remains and it is extremely annoying so I would really appreciate any ideas you can suggest.

A large running dog enthusiastically leaping into the air and sailing past the back of my head or my shoulder isn't my idea of fun and this happens most time we walk outside. 

Seeing as the dog stays outside during the day he can get very excited when we walk outside to do something and then the behavior surfaces. 

It's not that he is separated for long periods as we are home most of the day and he has a bed on the verandah right next to the back screen door. 

I train him every day but obviously me issuing verbal correction when he does this behaviour isn't enough.

He is also over affectionate....I am not a fan of being licked to death.  Big dogs certainly learn early what they can get away with as I have no answer for this.

Can anyone help?

 

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With my last pup, she would jump all over me as I was trying to get out the laundry door with a basket of washing.  The puppy school trainer told me to put a dog bed near the door and drop a handful of treats on to the bed just as I was about to step out.  The idea was to get the pup (and older dog) to jump into the bed as I was stepping out the door, in readiness for treats.  It worked!  Maybe you could adapt that idea and making sure there is no interaction with the dog unless he/she is sitting quietly.  Hope that helps.

 

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Is this at the start of the walk?

 

Try tossing your rewards on to the ground in the direction you are going - get him thinking “downwards” type behaviours as well as trick him into more appropriate behaviour of sniffing which will help calm him down and build a new environment excitement habit. 

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He is not jumping up whilst I am facing him so I don't know if the solution would be the same as in the videos Pap.K.   

I am talking a dog that on his hind legs is over 5ft tall so almost as tall as I am.  He never tries to jump up when facing me.  He waits until I am walking away from him and then he will criss-cross behind me whilst leaping in the air so that his tongue can get my ear, shoulder or head.  It is VERY annoying.

However on a more positive note I have trained him to go 'on the bed' before he gets fed so I don't get mugged.  eg.  he hears me making his food and immediately sits on his bed waiting for me to come out the back door and won't leave the bed until I release him (perfect).  That's for his food BUT the 'on the bed' doesn't work well for me to put his lead on before a walk TBD as he gets very excited.  He keeps doing circuits which include the bed but he doesn't remain on it.  Getting him to stay still to put a lead on him is very difficult as he wants to lick me and not in a gentle way but rather pushing himself onto me.  

Now I could go back inside if he doesn't stay on his bed and wait until I get the still behaviour and then come out again,  until I get what I want but quite frankly that is going to take ages to get through to him as he just can't contain his excitement.    I am hoping that there is a better fix for this over excitement problem. 

It is very sad as I can't pat him except when he is on a walk, because when I do he just goes overboard in his response wanting to lick me and generally overwhelm me with enthusiasm.

He is however very calm on his walks as I have put a lot of work into this area of training.

He is a dog of extremes and I have only half the answers at the moment.

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What do you want your dog to DO?
 

Stopping a behaviour is much more difficult than training an incompatible one.

 

I love my dogs when they are high as a kite. I just channel that energy into something productive. 

Train the dog in front of you. There aren’t any shortcuts, sorry to say. 
 

Finally, positive is NOT permissive. And once is always. Reflect objectively and allow your dog to be your best trainer :) And enjoy the journey :heart:

Edited by The Spotted Devil
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Perhaps as a go between - teach him to nose touch your hand for this walk bouncing challenge?
 

Once understood as a trick. Hold your hand out low to the side when he gets the bounces and encourage him to burn his energy on high fiving your hand with his nose, versus your face. 
 

Not really a solution so much as a way to angle his enthusiasm into less hazardous movement for you.
 

He does sound very passionate so stationary and calm will be harder for him - Thyme has this challenge except I am in favour of his demented pogo stick behaviour. So lots of redirections and showing him appropriate bouncing as stationary behaviours will never be his strong skill. Even when stationary I can see him vibrating and ready to explode :laugh:

 

For the lead situation - perhaps teach him how to put his head through a collar already attached to a lead. That will likely be easier for him (movement/action) over holding himself stationary. 
 

For calm cuddles - I have no real advice. Thyme decided in his second year they are “okay”. But most of our physical bonding is a bit of nightly wrestling which ends up with a rigorous butt rub (his one true weakness). Perhaps experiment with different ways to touch him? Will he slow down for a butt rub? For some lazy bitey face bitey hands?

 

i would be cautious on using the absence of your presence to correct him, because it sounds like he is very frustrated in his enthusiasm of you. Better to find ways for you two to meet in the middle to get some success and negotiate (lol!) where you can both get some relief in your relationship.

 

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I agree about the thinking what you would like/need him to do.    ISTM that he is more "dangerous"  when he's behind you, so I would be taking every opportunity to rget him looking and going forward ahead of you, probably starting with treat scatters ahead - visible high value treats , combined with permission to pick up the treats from the ground.  I'm thinking .. time your scatter before he has time to get behind you, then as he finishes, do another scatter ahead of you...  The sniffing for treats is somewhat calming in itself, and at least it has the benefit of keeping his feet on the floor and his attention down.    He seems like a quick learner from this sort of repetition, so I would predict that fairly soon he would start to anticipate you coming out the door meaning good stuff for dogs on the ground.  

 

I'd be trying to keep the whole thing pretty quiet and low key ..if he's anything like my cray-cray girl, quiet, slow voices and movement do help to bring some calmness .. to both of us.

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If the behaviour is annoying to you just imagine how the dog is thinking .
Sounds like a dog that lacks a certain degree off confidence in what is expected & time to think outside the boring box of "you will" & go with the "lets do it"

I groom a dog whose owner has complained non stop about there dogs behavior (dog has amazing nature just no boundries & lots of excuses).
They sort the help off a trainer & honestly the advice the trainer gave made me left scratching my head .

So i gave my advice which obviously started with the dog is only as good as the human given direction & by this i mean you can stand there a prepare for battle or you can be open minded & be creative ,
This dog is a body slammer & something i dont accept what so ever but the boring line of training the trainer gave i could see a dog even more frustrated & them getting no where .
This dog is bright ,the dog has no attention span as it has switched off from the same old same (10 months old) so i suggested some fun things that can happen in the moment ,this dog was just super in grasping the interesting options but more importantly started to "want" to see what that human had  to offer .
Spin,high five ,get back ,dance yes on its back legs (suggested this as it was already doing it but to control the end result & modify over the next few weeks .
Be creative the dog will get it quickly but just remember the dog is most likely more annoyed than you
The dog has embraced the out of the box fun & started to settle into a more acceptable normal
 

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Thank you all for your responses.  Diva, I do try not to interact with him when I go out the back door during the day but it can still bring on the air leaps, etc. so I am gathering this would not be the best way for him.  I will try the food scatter and see if the leaps improve but you are right when you say his current behaviour is dangerous.  I have to find something that works for him.  The leaping and jumping behaviour started at his breeders, so he came to me like this and even though I have improved some aspects, this leaping behaviour remains.    I will look at that Fenzi Dog Training site.

Spotted Devil,  What I want him to DO is to keep his feet on the ground.  I would be immensely happy if he would just do that!  I have him heeling well & calmly on lead, sitting on command, standing, dropping, staying...all on lead....but all I really want/need is for him to keep his feet on the ground!

Pers, I will have a look at that link to Steve's website....thank you.

Tassie, I have learnt over the months that I can't talk to him in anything other than a very calm voice.  Even that sometimes winds him up.  So yes, will remember that one.

Dogsfevr, I will try to make things a bit more fun but fun usually means over the top behaviour so we will see.

 

.....and I will be starting things off with the food scatter.   Cheers,

 

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oh I didn’t mean ignore him now. That example was a comment on the importance of the timing and placement of reinforcement, and human attention as a reinforcer. I’ll delete it all. 

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I love that you’ve identified what you want. Four on the floor. Now you need to reinforce the daylights out of it every single day. When you are walking is NOT the time to be training this - your dog is waaay too over aroused. In that state he simply cannot think and process information. So take a step back and reinforce it in other environments around the house. Use food, pats, play, permissions, leash on, leash off etc. Add excitement as he gets the game. You also want a few failures so he can see he is a CHOICE and there is a consequence - ie THE FUN STOPS. Try not to lure or bribe. Reinforcement is not the same.

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Does anyone have anecdotal evidence that these kind of excitable dogs get over it?  I have never had a dog that I couldn't talk to or pat and it's hard.  I guess I am asking for a light at the end of the tunnel.  It has been good discussing this as I have clarified things in my mind.  I can now say that  (1)  I want the feet on the ground  and (2)  I really want to be able to pat him and talk to him without him turning into a complete idiot.  

 

 

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16 minutes ago, Stitch said:

Does anyone have anecdotal evidence that these kind of excitable dogs get over it?  I have never had a dog that I couldn't talk to or pat and it's hard.  I guess I am asking for a light at the end of the tunnel.  It has been good discussing this as I have clarified things in my mind.  I can now say that  (1)  I want the feet on the ground  and (2)  I really want to be able to pat him and talk to him without him turning into a complete idiot.  

 

 

Absolutely plenty off evidence of success but the results are more based on the owners prepared to think outside the box and not be so regimental it’s this way only .

 

The dog I mentioned was a nightmare to pat (also a show dog)and whilst the method to modify the behaviour seems odd to many it has worked the best to break down the steps for that dog .

His brain at greeting is like he’s on speed, teaching him to slow down isn’t easy but teaching him to focus at that time has made a massive difference .

He know does cafe visits 2 months later amongst people and is super ,he has just turned 1 yrs .

 

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