# Jumping on visitors



## madaboutvizslas (Nov 12, 2008)

My V is getting very excited when new visitors arrive on the property. Even though we have religiously tried to get her not to jump up on people since she was 8 weeks old. We have always tried to get her to sit in front of you to say hello or when she wants attention. Even so, sometimes she just can't help herself.

My wife has come up with a neat solution. She has just taught her the command "Where's your toy" and uses this whenever someone arrives at the house (including when I arrive home after work). A V with something in its mouth doesn't jump up! It just runs and shakes around your feet (well our one does). It is now becoming a habit for the dog. Someones arrives, V gets excited, V just can't resist going to get the toy and then come over to say hello. Problem solved!

Interestingly, the other thing it does when it is greeting someone with something in its mouth is make a sound like someone yodelling. This goes on for a minute or so and is quite funny. I would be interested to know if anyone elses V does this and if it is something peculiar to them.


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## 1notenough (Sep 6, 2008)

this is the jumpiest dog i have ever had.I have two and they are eight months old.every time anyone comes home they have to be reminded to stay down.I just came home after being away for three nights.There was nothing I could do to stop the jumping and the licking.On the other hand when everything is normal they do listen.a very energetic breed of dog and with all the affection that seems to be a part of there nature it is hard to controll.It seems that your wife has come up with a good idea.I believe i will try to implement this into there training


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## MuzOtto (Dec 18, 2008)

Best solution we've found for the over-exuberant Vizsla greeting is to ignore the dogs for the first ten minutes after your arrival at home, and ask your visitors to do the same. Our two quickly calm down and then get pats for being polite and calm. We think that people pushing at the dogs to get them off just made the dogs more excited and essentially rewarded the behaviour. I'm not saying it's easy to ignore your Vizslas but it does seem to work!


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## Vizlacated (Feb 9, 2009)

Yes I strongly back up the ignoring. For yourself, when you come home and your V jumps say "off" once and keep it moving. Make your greetng afterwards and keep it to a simple couple of pets, of course treats help. Another suggestion is to walk directly to the treats demanding a sit-stay. I trained mine to stand first by holding a treat at my chest. Say "good stand" and reward. Next push off saying "off" say "good off!" and reward. I keep a container filled with my Veez kibble, broken pieces of treats and cheerios for training. For visitors you can leave this outside. when they Are trained enough your guest can walk in and do the sit stay command with your V for a treat. Jasper is 7 months and barely jumps up anymore unless invited too.


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## Snowblsm (Feb 23, 2009)

Hello there... This is actually my first post here, and I just HAD to say something... 

Our Vizsla Vera is MY first dog, and I have definitely done a LOT of research before we adopted her. When we first went to observe her I was extremely wary of adopting her- mainly because of the jumping. Her front feet RARELY touched he floor. Her previous owners were rarely home and she was kept in a crate most of the day, so she had a lot of pent up energy. We still decided to do a trial weekend with her...

Thankfully, our first stop with her before taking her home was to Petsmart to pick up some treats. We ran into Nicole, the trainer at Petsmart who noticed our constant apologies for Vera's continuous jumping on everyone she came in contact with: people AND other dogs. Nicole brought us over to the training area where some other dogs and their owners were gathering for class that evening. There she showed us a little trick: an empty pop can filled with a few coins and a taped opening. She encouraged another pet mom to "meet" Vera. Vera did her typical jump greeting, but as soon as her front feet left the floor, the trainer gave the pop can an abrupt shake. Vera instantly lowered herself to the floor... Magic!

Nicole told us the "evil can" can be used for counters too. Once they recognize the noise from you shaking it when they jump on people and things you can just place it on the counters and surfaces you don't want them jumping on, or prop it just on the edge, so if they DO decide to jump up, it falls down and has the same effect as if you were there shaking it. The BEST thing thing about the evil can is, you're not the bad guy: the can is.

So... We started our trial weekend with Vera Friday the 20th of February. It's Monday the 23rd. We had decided by Saturday that we were for sure going to adopt her. The jumping has reduced by 85%-90%. We don't even really have to use the can as much anymore. A simple "no" is working now, where before, you had to HOLD HER DOWN. She was nothing short of a wild animal. Like a puppy...

Give it a try. I love to hear how it works for you!

Now... If we could just get her to poop outside...


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