Wrigley is a perfect one-year old golden retriever, except for one very bad habit. You see, he's the kind of dog that loves people and interacting with them. He gets so excited that he jumps on the person and at 80 pounds, that can actually be dangerous...not just annoying. If he doesn't get a massive amount of attention from this person, he will lunge at them again.
My dog trainer told us how to turn around and ignore him, which actually works, but unfortunately, strangers and guests are not aware of this tactic. I've also tried distracting him with treats, but friendship trumps treats at this puppy age.
The other day, we were walking on the golf course behind our house and an innocent woman was taking her morning walk. Wrigley was off leash (shhh! don't tell!) and he spotted the woman and before I could say, "come Wrigley" he was tromping towards her. Then he proceeded to try to get her undivided attention by jumping up on her again. Apparently, she was having a bad day, and she barked at me! "Get a leash!"
I need each and everyone of you to give me their best advise because I cannot afford more dog training at this time and don't want to lose friends with this bad habit. To a golden retriever, everyone is either a friend or someone who is going to be a friend. I cannot change this part of his nature, nor do I wish to try. In fact, I wish more humans had this personality trait. But, it's time to stop this jumping ASAP.
6 comments:
When you find a way to get a Golden Retriever to stop doing this please (beg of you) pass it on. Our 1 year old Goldendoodle does this same thing. Only if I turn my back on her she just jumps on my back. Or shoulders as the case may be.
Someone told me once in regards to dog barking (which could also apply to dog jumping on others), "You need to teach your dog when it's ok to bark, in order to teach your dog when it is not to ok bark"?????
Whatever that means
I wish I had advice - our dog (though not a golden) is exactly the same. It's hard to teach people not to interact with her.
Um, my best advice is to let Wrigley get really fat. It calmed our dog down a little, lol.
KIDDING.
There are no magic answers with a Golden...they are just simply lovers. Just keep encouraging him to do the right thing and eventually he will learn.
In the meantime, just watch out for the "unsuspecting" when he's running free...quite frankly, the lady needs an enema, what type of person could be incensed by such joy...
We've always kneed our goldendoodle or grabbed her by the collar and pulled her to a down position. Harder to do when your dog is almost as large as you though. Good Luck! I'm sure your holiday guests will help you with this issue!!
Not sure how to help you- but I had to comment to tell you that is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL dog I have seen. Every 'good looker' needs a litle attention
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