Our 1 year old Mastiff will not stop jumping up on or off his lead or pulling when on his lead. We want to enroll him in to a general behaviour course. We live in South London Clapham Common.

Does any one have any tips on the above and does any one know of any training courses in that area?

Thanks

Emma + Dean

If you try the ADPT web site you might be able to find a behaviourist/trainer.

Whilst you are trying to locate professional help, start by doing some things to improve the situation.

For your walking problems, why not try out a gentle leader, I think that they come with good instructions on how to use and might make thing easier

If he is jumping up with excitement try not to reward him for doing it by showing any praise (even so much as looking at him), as soon as he calms down and stops trying to be noticed give him lots of praise and maybe a treat. Try to be consistent... it's not easy!!

Also buy a few good books start off with John Fisher, Think Dog and try and understand why he is behaving that way.

There are a lot of knowledgable dog owners/trainer/breeders on this site who would be able to give you some sound advice.

Good Luck and let us know your dogs progress.
Sally

If your Mastiff is jumping up, then, in his mind, in some way he is being rewarded for it, whether by unintentional praise or by vocal or eye contact by you, or because he knows it is exciting as he nearly knocks you over!!

My Banya used to jump up as we came downstairs in the morning, and we would turn away from her, avoiding all contact, no speaking etc, and as soon as she had 4 feet on the floor, big praise and cuddles.

It took her about a week and now she doesn't jump up, so it works but consistency is the key!!

Another way is to actually encourage the dog to jump up, with excited voice or whatever, and then as soon as it does turn away and avoid all contact so as to give no reward. As soon as all 4 feet are on the ground, give a really special titbit reserved for this occasion - no boring biccies, try sausage or a high level reward.

This last sounds a bit mean, to encourage the dog to jump up and then to ignore it, but you want the dog to get the attitude "Ah ha, yeah right, I know what you're up to, you can't fool me!!! I'm keeping 4 feet on the ground to get my treat thankyou very much!"

This works very well if your dog is inclined to jump up on strangers as you can then get friends and neighbours to do it once you are fairly confident. The dog then will realise that he gets no reward if he jumps up on anyone, but as i say you do have to put in the work and training to generalise it so the dog "gets it".

At the end of the day, the key is to make it more rewarding to have 4 feet on the ground than just 2!! :)

lots of luck
Lindsay

Thanks Sally some good tips there, we'll let you know how it goes when we try them out.

Welcome to the forum Emma and Dean :-) Leigh