Tessa is going to be 8 months old next week and is still jumping on people as soon as they pay attention to her. She no longer jumps on them while we are walking as long as we keep walking, but if I stop to talk to someone, or someone comes toward us oohing and aahing it's showtime.

I enrolled her in an advanced obedience class and yesterday we did the "sit-stay-let stranger examine you" exercise, in preparation of the CGC title. Needless to say we seem light years away from it.

So, trainer makes the round and all the dogs are pretty good except for Tessa who was flopping around like a fish out of water on a leash. And a prong collar. We agreed on what to do - I had to keep her in a sit stay and correct her everytime she broke it. Tessa made me giggle though..."wrong" said the trainer while chuckling herself, so I quickly gained control  of myself but despite my patient corrections, not of Tessa, so trainer took over.

It took quite a while of correcting - she ended up just grabbing the regular collar to enforce the sit stay because we were not getting any results with the prong, and lo and behold, after a few minutes, there was my Tess sitting and letting trainer calmly examine her mouth. But man what a fight it was!

So that is the homework...the worst part will be to tell people (and during our nightwalk there will always be lots of people) to stay the hell away from my dog unless she sits, and stays in the sit. People are impossible to train

I am sure a big part of the problem was/is that I was already envisioning the spectacle and the dog picked up on it. Although I doubt the trainer was, and she struggled as well.

My plan now is to keep at it while teaching her the "still" command. My previous Therapy Dog learned it, it means hold still so someone can touch/pet you without you moving. Came in handy at the vet and for grooming. Maybe if I chain sit-stay-still it will work better. Or would that be redundant?

Also need another command for "place" (= go to your place) because unlike my previous dog, she is confusing it with "platz" (down).

Our Kira, also 8 months,  was doing the same thing untill this week when she was started on e-collar.  We have done 1 or 2 sessions a day for about 10 minutes at a time.  She has responded to lite stimulus and few corrections on to of that.  All of basic obedience was tought from 8 weeks on up.  We have worked on sit, come, and heel so far with the e-collar.  She is a completely different dog.  I can now have her at sit and walk across the street and play with the neighbors dog who is her best friend.  She will not break untill I tell her to come.  This was accomplished after the first session.  An added plus is that she will now not jump up on people because all I have to do is say sit and her butt is on the ground.  When our kids friends come over she doesn't knock them down anymore.  She goes to the bus stop with me every morning with 15 kids and doesn't jump up once!  I have always trained for "Off", weather it be furniture or people, but this was the first way she has ever listened to the command on the first time.  I haven't even used the e-collar for the off command.  Her obedience has been fantastic.  Some people do not like the e-collar, and I wasn't sure about it myself untill last week, but I will never question it again.         

Used correctly the ecollar can be a very effective tool for training.  I typically do not use the collar unless I need, preferring instead to use positive reinforcement first.  So far the only command I have needed the collar for with my dogs is the recall. 

With regard to jumping I start teaching  "four on the floor" from the moment I get them at 8 weeks old.  My mother is older and I do not want any of my dogs jumping as she could get hurt.  So, by the time they are old enough to knock someone down and hurt them they have learned not to jump.  After they learn not to jump, I teach them to jump on command.  My jump command is "Hugs & Kisses."  I don't do anything special to teach no jumping, I just use consistency and firmness and then reward.  The consistency is the most important as it is very rewarding for a dog to jump and be close to your face.

Just keep working at it and make the reward for not jumping so much better than the reward they get when they jump. I would also not allow any jumping until they get it as you just make your job harder in the long run.

Tessa -  I would just find ways to get your dog around more people. Right now that is exciting to her and she responds.  Once the people become less interesting then she should get better.  It is all about exposure.  Start out by taking her to businesses like Petco, PetSmart, Lowes or others that allow dogs.  Just walk her around and make her mind.  If someone asks to pet your dog tell them you are training her and explain what you want them to do.  Explain that if the dog does not mind then they won't be able to pet her as that would reinforce what you are correcting.  In fact, at first you may just want to walk around and not let anyone pet her until she starts getting used to the more chaotic environment. Also, continue working with your trainer in your obedience class as that will also help allot. The real test comes when you can go to a dog show and walk around and your dog doesn't pay attention to anyone.  You can get there with GSPs as exposure means it is not so interesting anymore, and you can do it without the ecollar.  It is going to be a bit harder though because your dog is a bit older.

Bev, I live on campus, so our walks, except the pre-dawn ones, have always involved people, from the day I got her (11 weeks old). The morning walks are great for quiet time and training with very few distractions, but in the evening the place is swarming with people. Walking her through a crowd is now fine, she used to jump on people while walking, I fixed that by just continuing walking, and she got it. I can also put her in a sit-stay with people passing by, but the minute someone stops, looks or talks it's over.

A typical p.m. walk goes across campus (some quiet areas, some busy areas) to downtown Athens, to the store where I once worked and where we hang out some, which she finds very exciting. Here she is shopping for records:

(I know, I should have corrected her rather than taking a photo but sometimes I just can't resist  I also always take her on errands, and she's been exposed to shopping centers. laundromats and the pet store many times. Even when she was little and couldn't walk that far, I drove her downtown, to expose her to city life - traffic, noises, elevators, smells and all kinds of people.

We've been to a couple of dog shows, same thing. Friends with all people and all dogs. I was worried she would mess up another dog's hairdo

Thankfully, she is not timid or fearful, she is very outgoing, which is really what I wanted, and well, I got it LOL!

I agree, I think eventually the training in general will improve the areas still lacking, but with that particular problem, it's very hard right now to get the foot in the door so there is something to reinforce and reward.

This is just an idea, but it might work.  The only problem is people might think you are rude. Anyway, you could set this up with friends and see if it works.  When you are out walking have someone start toward you like they want to pet and talk to Tessa, as soon as she reacts (and timing would be important here) you turn and start walking away from the person.  That way she doesn't get what she wants.  If she stays calm and nice you continue to walk toward the person, but as soon as she starts acting up turn and walk away.  Don't say anything to her or specifically jerk her.  She will get a jerk at first as she will still try to get to the person, but after awhile I suspect she will catch on.  This may take allot of reps, but keep doing this until she starts behaving. Remember the reward for her is the other person and you are removing that reward until she behaves. This exercise also builds focus as she will never know when you might turn and walk the other way.  You can actually do this exercise anytime she quits paying attention to you.  Just turn and go another direction suddenly.  I use this to build focus with my dogs.

Just an idea.

By the way I love the record shopping picture.  My girl, Halo, loves to shop too.  I have to watch her when we go into a pet store as she loves to grab the stuffed animals and carry one as we shop.

Let me know if it works.