# Jumping and lunging



## carmine34 (Jun 7, 2013)

Hello,
Lucky me I rescued a black lab mix and did the wisdom DNA test and found out I am the proud and stressed out owner of a black Visla. She is special but I really didnt sign up for all that extra energy. One problem im having is she jumps and somtimes lunges at peoples faces. Does anyone have a good solution to this problem? I am stubborn and like to train my dog myself but will try obedience school as a last resort. Thanks
Carmen


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Carmen - welcome! How about a pic of her for our viewing pleasure?

Water bottle spray her from behind when she does to someone. 

Keep a leash on her and step on it so she has only so much room to jump and it corrects her. 

Firm no. Turn away so she is not rewarded with bad attention. Love her to pieces when her butt is on the floor. 

Lots and lots and lots of exercise. Tired pup is a good pup.


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## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

Oops. Carmine, not Carmen. So sorry.


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## MilesMom (Jun 21, 2012)

Hi! Welcome! I know everyone is different, but we didn't have much luck with the group obedience classes. Miles is great at basic command, it's the more advanced topics like recall/ jumping/ heel that we needed work on that's difficult in a group setting. Private worked better for us. You can contact your local Vizsla club for trainer recommendations for people who have worked with Vizslas. 

It will be a bit harder since you didn't get to start training the dog as a puppy. Along with the advice already given make sure that other people in your life are consistent with whatever training path you choose. They are smart and will figure out who they can get away with jumping on! Miles does not jump on my husband ever, needs reinforcement to not jump on me because I'm not as assertive with him, and he had a field day jumping on my parents because they never tell him no.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

People, dogs, children passing by cannot be controlled and they may look at the dog, smile, move as though they are interested and the dog will interpret this as an invitation to interact.

You can set up situations where the dog is walked at heel around people (friends, family members, initially) who are not allowed to interact with the dog. That means no touch, eye contact, everyone is ignoring the dog except you. You attract the dog's attention with praise and food lures. With enough repetition, the dog will understand that what you want.

In addition, obedience training is advisable, most of all, the dog needs to know how to properly walk alongside you (heel).
In general, all training starts in environments that are free of distractions...a big room, back yard.
The dog must know sit, stand, wait, stop (whoa), down, down at distance, etc...
Other important commands a dog must know are drop and leave it.

Only takes about 10 minutes a training session with high motivation food items, initially.

This is what a trainer would do with you, but if you are highly motivated DIY type and the dog is hard enough (GSD hard)... http://leerburg.com/articles.htm#obed otherwise... http://www.dogwhispererdvd.com/dog_whisperer_paul_owens.shtml

My dog, Sam knew not to jump at people at 7 months. I taught him, as strangers approach, he shouldn't stare and focus too much at them... but never in a million years did I think the dog would jump after the person passed us... He figured it out somehow ... I had to go back to more training and take this new wrinkle into consideration.


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## carmine34 (Jun 7, 2013)

Thank you all very much! I will try your suggestions. Here is a picture of the crazy little 5 month old black vizsla.


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## carmine34 (Jun 7, 2013)

Here is a better pic


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## TAIsMom (Mar 7, 2013)

She looks beautiful!  

I'd like to hear about how much she loves the water! A great way for getting her tired!!!


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Beautiful girl love how shiny her coat is :-*


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## carmine34 (Jun 7, 2013)

Unfortunately she is not taking to the water as well as I hoped, she just kind of goes in about up to her belly. I have not tried to swim with her yet, perhaps she will following me into the water and swim I hope. I have a life jacket for her when we float my raft down the river and she fell out a couple of times but then swam right back to the boat and does not care to stay in the water. No, I do not take her in whitewater in case anyone was wondering. My Golden/Collie would swim in cold water but the little black vizsla princess gets cold so I have to be careful. She is a summertime swimming doggie only.


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## mlwindc (Feb 8, 2013)

No advice except consistency. We saw a huge improvement from 5-7 months. At nearly 8 months, Wilson has pretty good manners now with some reminders necessary. 

She's beautiful, btw!


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## lonestar (Jun 2, 2013)

Awwww.....! What a cutie. Hang in there, it'll be worth it. There's really nothing like Vizsla...

OK, jumping is a natural reaction, it's a greeting. What you're doing here is working against instinct which is always hard, so you have to be patient.

Work at home, first, where you have control over the environment. Walk in excitedly to elicit the response. Bend down to her level BEFORE she gets to jump, greet her at eye level, using your hands to gently keep her (somewhat!) controlled and away from your face. Praise a lot, kisses, and repeat the phrase "Good off, good girl". Leave the room and repeat a few times. You want her to associate the words "Off"" and "Wow, I'm being really good!" with the behavior of staying on the floor.

In the event that you cannot bend down in time, turn away. I do not use a spray bottle, you want to avoid punishing something that's basically instinctual, they dont understand it and it sets up the potential for them fearing you. Rather, you want to side step the instinct thing and have them see this as a learning experience. I know a lot of people disagree with this, but it works. What they want is your face, and if you deny them this, they stop sooner. Walk out of the room, and try again..what you want is for the greeting to end on your terms, which is at eye level.

When youre out in the world and have less control over the environment and the actions of others, keep her on a short leash to minimize the likelihood of her jumping. When people want to pet the dog...certainly understandable given how irresistible she is!....you might tell them what you're trying to do, I have found most people to be really accommodating.

Stay with it, be patient, and work with her natural instinct to please you and youll be fine. Just avoid communicating your frustration or making this a control struggle.


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## WillowyndRanch (Apr 3, 2012)

deleted response - what happened to the delete function?


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