Hello everyone,

My beautiful Boxer is now 15 months and on the whole he is a good boy and great fun. The one issue I have is him jumping up when he is on the lead.

When we are at home and he tries to jump up I put my hand out palm facing the floor and tell him "down" and he knows that this means stay down. He generally listens to this and behaves . When he is off lead out on a walk and I stop to talk to someone he will run towards them but as long as I shout "down" before he gets to them he doesn't jump up (I can usually tell when he's about to and manage to pre-empt it).

The problem starts when he is back on the lead. If we're on the move it's ok as I can distract him by holding a piece of cheese infront of his nose and giving it to him once we've past the person but if we stood still he just wants to jump and it's really hard work holding him down.

He isn't food orientated at all so cheese only works occasionally and in conjuction with him moving along and lots of verbal praise. If someone is stood infront of us nothing distracts him and he is hell bent on jumping on them. I'd love to take him to watch my other half play cricket but as soon as someone comes to say hello he goes nuts trying to jump at them where as I know if he was off lead he would be fine with them (the cricket ball would be in his mouth after 2 mins though so not an option!)

Sorry for the long post but needed to explain exactly what the problem is.

Any ideas out there?

Thanks
Rosie

If he isn't food orientated would a toy work better?  At my training classes there are two springer spaniels who couldn't care less about treats if there is a distracting scent on the floor but their heads come up with one squeak of their  favourite toys.  Don't know if it would work with a boxer or not?  One of my dogs is much more settled outside on walks generally if she can carry her ball in her mouth, if she doesn't have it she is very distracted and wants to play with other people.  I think she thinks carrying the ball is her "job" and takes it very seriously.

He's jumping because he's exited, he obviously knows what 'down' means, but it has to be more rewarding to him than jumping up, for him to choose that option.
When he does 'down' on command, do you give him heaps of fuss & praise? This really needs doing, done right & consistently (and given time to learn some self-controll with maturity), he should, in time choose 'down' when he sees somebody without you needing to tell him.

Also, you need to work at a level when he isn't too exited, so you need to practice passing people at a greater distance, get him to a reliable 'down' then gradually decrease the distance you pass people.

My dog (Vic) used to do this all the time and it can be very tiring. He would get so excited about meeting a new person I might has well have been a wooden post he was tied to for all he cared, no toy or treat would get his attention.
What I did in the end was get the help of one of my friends (Bob) who he particularly liked to bounce on and set up some meeting people situations.
I would be in the lane with Vic on his lead and Bob would come around the corner, I then got Vic to sit, as soon as he started to jump up on his lead Bob would turn around and go and so would I, after a few go's Vic understood that the longer he sat nicely the closer the ultimate reward of meeting the new person got and after a couple of weeks trying with different people he came quite good.
I don't know if this will help your dog, but if he knows down and you have some people you can rope into helping it worked for me so it could be worth a try :)

Hiya,

It's great that you have a reliable cue to use to get him off when he has already jumped up but what you obviously want is to change the jumping up in the first place.  I would work on teaching him an alternative behaviour to greet people, such as a sit/stand.  Make him sitting or having all four feet on the floor be the thing that determines whether he gets to say hello to the person he has his sights set on.  He will understand it more quickly if the timing is good, so if does as you sk then he should be immediately rewarded with the hello he is after especially at first.  If he tries to jump up the person should immediately move back out of his reach for several seconds and then try again (ask the person not to focus on him look at him etc) as this will only likely make him more excited and frustrated and less able to control himself at a second attempt.

Explain to people what you want them to do and be strict with them because it's not fair to expect him to understand if everyone doesn't do the same thing.  This approach really does need consistency especailly at the beginning. It can be really difficult when you are trying to train a dog not to jump up and you get people saying, ooh I don't mind while they are fussing the dog and being all squeaky while he is in the process of doing exactly what you are trying to avoid.

Do it every time for greeting at home, if you have visitors coming over and he does it with them then pop him in another room while you let them in and explain what you are doing and then bring him into the room on a lead to start with if needed.  Until he has the hang of things with people he knows and consistently at home distract out on walks as you have been doing, maybe use something more smelly than chicken, maybe garlic sausage or liver and avoid just using it as lure, reward him with small pieces especially to start with or as someone else suggested use a special toy to get his attnetion. 

When you start feeling that he is getting the idea that all four feet have to be on the floor to be able to say hello then you could start explaining ot others that may want to say hello to him, you'll just have to remain in control of the situation as strangers won't always follow what you ask.

It may also be an idea to give him an outlet for allowed bouncing, he is a boxer after all :-D  After my Dobergirl got the hang of greeting nicely I taught her a jump up on cue so that she could get her fix of boinging!

thanks to you all for your replies.

I will have a go at your suggestions and let you know how I get on with the mad one!

It's so frustrating because when my OH or I come home and tell him to sit he does, his bottom is wiggling on the floor and I know he is soooo desperate to bounce all over us but he manages to obey the command and resist the obvious urge within him.

We're still working on him not going bananas when people come to the house so we'll have to incorporate the outside lead bit into this training.

He sometimes lures me into thinking he's got it as someone will approach and I'll tell him to sit which he does. I keep reinforcing the sit command with praise and cheese then as they get close he'll suddenly lunge and jump. Hopefully with some stooges (don't you love reliable friends!) and lots of practice we can overcome this.