Isla my 7 month old sheltie is full of beans and loves everyone.  However I do have a problem with her at the moment when she is off lead.  She does seem to need  a lot of exercise and often runs on ahead.  When someone is walking towards her she seem to make a beeline for them and if they bend down to say hello she then leaps up.  It is very embarrassing and certainly too much for small children so I have now started putting her back on the lead when I seem somebody approaching (if I can but she is very quick).  I seem to remember having this problem years ago with a border collie we had.  When I say leap I mean huge leap and boy can she jump.

Isla goes to obedience classes and I practise with her most days and she is quite responsive but it all seems to go to pot when she is off her lead and charging about.  She also has a habit of "herding" my other two dogs and yapping all the time but I suppose that is a trait of the breed (sheepdogs)!  So our walks are not the most relaxing at present.  Any advice anyone?  I seem to have to keep her on her lead a lot - maybe she will grow out of this jumping up?

Snowflake

It's a bit tricky if she's offlead and jumps at the people before you can talk to them. I would try setting her up with friends / people you meet often. Tell them to ignore her or even turn their backs while she is jumping, and as soon as she puts her feet back on the ground, they should give her a treat and gently stroke her. If she jumps up again, they should straighten back up and ignore her again. The trick is for her to work out on her own that she doesn't get the food and attention unless all 4 feet are on the ground. Being a pretty intelligent breed she shouldn't take too long to work it out! :-)

Have you tried to teach her to jump up on command? It's not as daft as it sounds, honest ;-) My dog is the size of a setter and he used to jump up I taught him to only come up when allowed and he hasn't jumped up on anyone since (I don't think :-) ) Even when extremely excited (when oldest children visit) he will keep all 4 feet on the ground. Avoiding his tail is another matter :-D

Makes sense - like teaching your dog to bark on command so you can stop him doing it too. :-)