Sexier Than A Squirrel: Dog Training That Gets Real Life Results
In Sexier Than a Squirrel, the Official AbsoluteDogs Podcast, join us here at Absolute Dogs as we talk training your dog, transforming your dog training struggles and getting real-life results through GAMES!
Sexier Than A Squirrel: Dog Training That Gets Real Life Results
Stop Jumping! Top Tips To Combat Your Dog's Bounce ft. Dave Hibbert
Tired of your dog jumping all over you and your guests? You're not alone. In this dynamic episode, dog training experts Lauren Langman and Dave tackle one of the most common yet frustrating canine behaviors - jumping up.
We explore why jumping becomes problematic and why it's worth addressing beyond just keeping your clothes clean. Lauren shares a poignant personal story about her father's battle with cancer, highlighting how jumping dogs can pose genuine safety risks for vulnerable individuals. The conversation delves into legal considerations too - most dog owners don't realize that if your dog merely scares someone by jumping, it could potentially be considered dangerous under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
The magic of this episode lies in the practical solutions. You'll discover how incredibly adept dogs are at reading context and cues, allowing them to understand when jumping might be acceptable versus inappropriate. We introduce boundary games as a powerful training tool, explain the importance of household consistency, and share management strategies using crates, puppy pens, and gates to prevent jumping while training progresses.
Dave reveals his simple rule: dogs can only jump when they have a Kong in their mouth, demonstrating how clear criteria help dogs understand expectations. Lauren explains how putting jumping on cue creates clarity, while managing access to reinforcers prevents dogs from being rewarded for unwanted behavior.
Ready to transform your jumping dog? Take advantage of our special offer for listeners - our comprehensive "10 Days to Stop Jumping" course for just £27 (normally £97) with lifetime access.
Whether you have a bouncy spaniel or an enthusiastic shepherd or any other breed, you'll gain the tools to create clear boundaries while maintaining a loving relationship with your dog. Visit absolute-dogs.com to start your journey.
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Welcome to the Absolute Dog Sex in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world.
Speaker 1:Oh, my goodness, jumping dogs. Like jumping dogs. It's one of my pet hates. I really don't enjoy a jumping dog. Now, from a little dog's point of view, I used to think it was cute, but then I've watched my spaniels jump up and flatten themselves on their back and realize that that's not something I like. And big dogs jumping you know what? I quite like my clothes staying clean and I quite like my clothes staying like mud and dog free, and so, the more you have a dog that jumps up at you. And of course, there are times in your training that jumping up can be appropriate on cue or when you get them to come back at you with a toy, but actually, when it's inappropriate or the timing is not now, oh, I don't like jumping up. What about you, dave?
Speaker 2:Well, you know my aversion to mud, dog hair and dirt. I saw what was coming there with that little comment. So, yeah, and anyone who's seen me train will know I've always got a set of overalls or something on to keep me, to keep me clean. So, yeah, dogs, dogs, jumping up is definitely not something I like, albeit, again, those are people who have seen me train with Biscuit know that she is very good at jumping into my arms and having a cuddle. So it's really difficult, isn't it? Because it's nice and cute when it's like on your terms, but then when she jumps up and headbutts you in the nose at three o'clock in the morning, when you're working and in the freezing cold, it's not so, not so fun. So, yeah, definitely, if you've, if you've got one of those dogs that's jumping up and you don't like it, the uh, the stop jumping up course is definitely the one for you yeah.
Speaker 1:So 10 days to stop jumping. I think would be a mega course for anybody listening today. 10 days to stop jumping. It's reduced from from £97 to £27. To all of our listeners today go and check it out. Lifetime access. 10 days to stop jumping is a problem Now. I know for me, and you can get it at the Absolute Dogs store. So it's wwwabsolute-dogscom. So go and grab it. 10 days to stop jumping right now. Or if you're a member of Games Club, you've got access already, which is really, really cool. And if you're, not a member of Games Club.
Speaker 1:Go and get Games Club wherever you've been. Games Club, immense library of learning. So jumping up, Dave. If we think about jumping up, I would say my number one rule with jumping up is actually decide what is and what isn't appropriate. So you're clear on it. In training, when I'm training my dogs and I encourage them, I might pat my body or might clap my hands. I'm instigating and I do instigate it, and those are people that are listening, who've got pet dogs, who are thinking why would you instigate it? In the working dog world? I think jumping up can have a place. It can have a place for confidence. It can have a place for bringing a toy back. It can have a place for celebration. It can have a place for reinforcement. I don't mind it in a working space where it's queued. What about you?
Speaker 2:yeah, I totally agree. So. So for me, the the rule is if you've got the kong in your mouth, you can jump up and we can play and interact and engage.
Speaker 1:If you haven't got a kong in your mouth, um, don't jump up so for you, it's a celebration as well, now listening and thinking this through. So how does a dog know differently, or the difference? And this is where, guys, we don't give our dogs enough credit. Our dogs are genius at reading cues. Our dogs are genius at reading body language. Our dogs are genius at reading other dogs, if we allow them the opportunity and I'm thinking here, dave, that my little sheep dog. Now she can read which sheep on a herd needs pulling off because it's lame or because it's got a lamb that's in trouble. And she can read those subtleties, alongside, of course, some training and alongside, of course, some cues. She knows which one Dogs can read a weak animal. Dogs can read a human that's off. Dogs can read our body language way better than we give them credit for.
Speaker 1:And so I believe that your cues, as long as they're clear and as long as they're consistent, I think you can have a dog that jumps up and doesn't jump up. So my dogs jump up in certain places. So they'll often jump up in the arena or they'll often jump up in work, but in the house, unless I cue, I want you up on me. Then there is no jumping up on me. Now some of my tips for keeping dogs on the floor and you feel free to share some of yours, dave. One of my favourite ones is actually boundary games, because I will put my dog on a boundary and say there's your boundary, and this is where Skittles is really funny, like she's desperately trying to jump up but there's nowhere to jump up to because the boundary is in the middle of the room sometimes or in the corner of the room where she cannot get access to you. So I personally think boundary games are fantastic for helping to solve jumping up and I know they're part of our 10 days to stop course. Like I said, if you haven't grabbed it, 27 pound bargain, bargain, bargain for our listeners today. If you want to go over and grab it, lifetime access.
Speaker 1:But I love boundary games for stopping a dog jumping. I think that boundary games are massive and I think there's also a place, dave, and I don't know what you think about this, but jumping up can be problematic because my dad, when he was in, he was sick like he was. He was poorly, he was losing his mobility, he had end stage cancer and when he was losing his mobility is actually actively dangerous to have a dog that jumps at him because if he does break his leg there's no chance it's recovering. He's he's got bone cancer, metastatic, metastatic bone cancer. So he's not going to walk again and I think this is really important that we consider people will be fragile. Your dog cannot jump at certain people and actively like I'm thinking of Arthur I don't know if you want to explain like the size of Arthur, maybe Dave, and how like Arthur's jumping would would realistically always be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think Arthur was a big police dog, but I think you've raised a really good point. And I've seen a dog in my local park, a big Malamute that basically runs around the park and one morning he was jumping up this young girl who was going to school and the dog probably weighed as much as as the girl he was jumping up and you know it's those sorts of things that you know spill over from allowing your dog to do it kind of at home because it's funny, or when they're a puppy because they're cute, but but actually the knock-on effects to that is, yes, jumping up is is annoying, but actually you know, spilling over to that where which is kind of run after somebody in the park and it's jumping up a girl going to school, um is where it really starts to cause you problems and I think that's the the effect of not having real clear boundaries and real clear you know rules around jumping or not jumping up people yeah, massive, absolutely massive.
Speaker 1:And I think we raise another really good point there, dave, that if someone doesn't like a dog, a dog jumping up, or is scared of dogs, a dog jumping up is actually quite um scary and I think, that as dog lovers, both you and I it would take a lot for you and I to be really scared, like typically we're not um going to be scared of dogs, like there's not a moment where you're really, really um likely to be to be worried by a dog.
Speaker 1:However, for someone who is scared of dogs particularly children and particularly anyone with any level of fragile absolutely there becomes a safety issue with jumping up and actually it can become quite a scary space to be, and I think we also.
Speaker 1:I don't want to hop on about the law too much here, but the law does state that if a dog does as much as scares someone, that is enough to be considered dangerous under the Dangerous Dogs Act, and I think we do need to consider that dogs are not always looked upon favourably in the law and that we really need to consider that if you do have a chihuahua and it jumps up at someone, you're probably going to get away with it not that that's right or wrong, but you probably are. You have a malamute that starts jumping at someone, a german shepherd dog that's jumping at someone, a neapolitan mastiff, a dog de bordeaux, a staffy, a bulldog, a? Um malinois, um a belgian shepherd, the bigger dogs right, the bigger dogs. When they start doing it, not only can they call cause harm by just being goofy they're just big maybe but they actually can worry people more because of the size of them. What do you think?
Speaker 2:yeah, and I think that's the concern, isn't it? And I think that's why it's really important when you've got a dog, you really set those rules and you consider the bigger picture. And, like I say, I think the problem is very often in a household is that you know the bigger people in the house will maybe tolerate jumping, whereas the littler people don't quite like it as much, although in my house it's the other way around. So I don't like jumping up, but my nine-year-old actively encourages the dogs to jump up and bounce around and all the other stuff that you know they shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 2:But again, it goes back to your point. You know they're very clear like when they see my son walking that they know what they can get away with, in the same way that when I walk in, they know what they they can't get away with. And dogs are very, very good at quite quickly manipulating the situation to to benefit themselves. And that's why it's important when you, when you kind of go through the, the course is that everybody needs to be on the same page in the household, because it's no good one person trying to train the dog something and ultimately somebody else in the house untraining everything you've done the the day before which, which my son is really good at, and you raise a really good point because, eliza, for example, we had a movie last night and we didn't have a Saturday movie night because we were watching a lecture.
Speaker 1:So she was livid. She was like you're watching a lecture on a Saturday night, but we were as a live lecture, and so instead we did a Sunday movie night and Skittle and a couple of the other dogs were on the beds Brave classic and as Eliza walked past she went and I was like, absolutely not, you go and sit on the sofa. And they're sitting on the sofa. We're all on boundaries tonight and I think it's important because, as much as she was happy to have Skittle and Classic in her arms, I really wanted to have everyone settled and the rules of the room are we're having a calm settled, we're watching TV, we're not having dogs jumping over the sofas and all of the other fun things that the dogs do and rolling around and whizzing around and potentially playing zoomies, and I think it is important that everyone is on board on whatever the new household sort of energy is and if we're saying, look, no, jumping up, we're working really hard on jumping up, let's make sure that jumping up really is four on the floor.
Speaker 1:So I like to reward four on the floor. So I'm like, right, whenever the dog's four on the floor you can reinforce down on the floor and go down to the dog, so you can go down to the dog rather than have the dog need to bounce at you. And I think you do see it a lot particularly. I mean you see it a lot with your Spaniels and you've trained hundreds and hundreds of Spaniels, I know, in your career, dave. But the little dogs, you do get a lot of bounce with the energy, don't you? Whereas actually, if you either go to their level or give them a boundary, that can certainly help with minimising that potentially dangerous bounce as well, because I know, like you said, they do give you a black eye or a nosebleed at times when they just ping up excitedly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've got a scar kind of just below my nose and above my lip, literally from a dog, a German Shepherd kind of jumping up albeit I did have his kind of ball over my shoulder, but it is a really good example. You know, I ended up splitting my lip and now I've got a scar, um, because the dog jumped up and and it's little things like that that can cause, you know, big problems. So it's really important, when we're talking about jumping up, really we, we want to set those rules really clear so that there is real consistency, because it's just problematic behaviour that you don't necessarily need.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and it's problematic behavior that's unnecessary. You don't need to live with it. So one of my tips would be actually do put it on cue if you want it part time. So some people quite like it. I know that Tokyo.
Speaker 1:I would allow him to jump up at me and stretch out. He actually had a psoas injury and so because he had the psoas injury, one of the stretches that was good for him was that and I ended up letting him him. He was such a gentle dog I didn't really mind him doing it, so I just put it on cue. So my cue was like a pat of the chest and if I'm patting the chest, that's your cue, that you can do it, and if I've got anything that's really problematic, sometimes putting on a cue isn't a bad idea either, because you're saying this is when you do it and this is how you do it, and at least then I was in appropriate clothing or didn't mind him doing it. It was invited, and so I think jumping up can be invited. I also think and you'll know this, dave, with the Spaniels, because they've got the unpredictable bounce and they really do fling themselves, I think at least make it invited, because, biscuit, if you ask her to jump in your arms, she will right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I think it's a really good point goes back to that clarity cues, um. But then also it's really important you manage and control access to reinforcers. So you know things like being if you're cooking or you've got stuff out on the work surface, you know if the dog's able to jump up and nick something very quickly. The dogs get reinforced for that behavior, and so it's really important. I'm forever telling my son to move things and stop leaving things out, because the dogs will get their own reinforcers if you're not careful and all of a sudden it becomes a problem, especially when the the reinforcers then become like on a variable schedule. Sometimes they're not there, sometimes they're there and you very quickly get into this behaviour loop where you're trying to work on something but you've left something on the work surface or you've left something on the table and the dog's jumped up, got it and now all of a sudden they've been reinforced. So yeah, I think controlling the cue and then also controlling those access to reinforcers is really, really important.
Speaker 1:The access to reinforcers there is really funny because I I remember a time when Matt was cooking steak and he was turning around. He had three steaks and he was doing this and three steaks. And he was doing that and he was getting the prep he's doing sweet potatoes and he was getting his sort of um, herbs and spices and everything else. He turned back around and there were two steaks and I remember him looking like at I remember him looking around and I remember this moment of bought some nice steaks, had three on the side Steaks no steaks what the hell. And one of the dogs had just had it, like that it had gone and there was not a single part of that steak left. There was nothing, there was no evidence of it. It was gone and all he'd been doing is that that right, like that, that like nothing else had happened. And it's those moments that if you don't catch, those moments like you couldn't even tell which dog it was, like there were five dogs in the kitchen, he couldn't tell which dog it was. There was no indication, there was nothing left, there was nothing on a bed, there was nothing on lips, there was nothing like no one was licking their lips, no one acted like they were hungry or not hungry. There was no indication.
Speaker 1:And I think you're right understanding reinforcement.
Speaker 1:And if you don't understand what's reinforcing, well, if the dog is continuing to do something and it's happening over and over and over again, then something is driving that behavior.
Speaker 1:And so, for me, those little moments of whether it was jumping up to steal or jumping up at a person, or jumping up for attention, or jumping up because they're maybe even slightly nervous, some dogs jump up in a real nervous sort of, um, passive sort of way. They don't really know how to handle a situation, um, and so I think understanding what's driving it's quite important, and understanding the reinforcement behind it and then stopping that reinforcement. So I like I don't know about you, but I like either stair gates or crates or pens or something that doesn't even allow the dog to have access to jump up. So, actually, how you set up and we talk about this with with a stop jumping um course, 10 days, 27 pound, lifetime access, we talk about it there where actually stairs, gates and crates and gardens even help. I'm sure you do that with your pup at times, dave, pop him behind something so that you don't have him getting first greeting at a door yeah, 100, it's.
Speaker 2:It's. You know, like you say, it's a really key part and a really useful part of the course is is that management of the dog? Um, so yeah, I'm a big advocate of crates, puppy pens, um, and similarly, you know, if, if someone comes to the door and I know they're coming into the house, I'm just going to avoid the situation and pop the, pop the dogs into the crate or pop them in the puppy pen until we can very often it's more so so we can brief the people coming into the house to say, please don't stroke the dog, whatever it might be, because that's the other thing. Sometimes you might have to do something with the dog, but ultimately it's because you need to control the people either coming into your house or coming into your environment. So, yeah, the management sometimes is more around managing the whole situation as opposed to, you know, just putting the dog in the crate to to avoid it you can say.
Speaker 1:You can say a million times, can't, you don't touch the dog, or don't like grab at the dog, or don't do this the dog, or don't do that to the dog, but the people still want to do that's the dog. So sometimes just having that five minutes with someone, making them a couple of tea and even grounding, or putting your person on a boundary and you sit there, I'll let the dogs out. And I think it's a really important point of um like no jumping up and stopping jumping up, I think that's like it's.
Speaker 2:It's a real, it's, it's impactful right yeah, definitely, and your job, as you know the owner of the dog and you know your job, is to to protect them as much as it is to, you know, protect the people coming into your house. Because if you're working really hard on stopping your dog jumping up and all of a sudden they get access to jumping up and they're fussed and you know all this other stuff that goes with it, then you end up undoing all your work but, more importantly, you end up confusing the dog because the dog's like oh, can I jump up or am I not allowed to jump up? And it just becomes a problem when you're trying to work through a situation with your dog. So, yeah, you know crates, puppy pens, management of the dog is really, really important.
Speaker 1:So that was this episode of the Sex and Squirrel podcast. I hope you've enjoyed it. Thank you, Dave, as always, for your enlightening responses. I love, love, love chatting dog training with you. Remember, guys, if you do have a dog that's jumping up or maybe you've got a friend with a dog that's jumping up please, please, please, do go and grab that course. It's a steal at £27, 10 days. To success with jumping dogs and we'll see you next week for more dog training adventures.