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[alkalinesky]

It's great to have a community to talk about our gorgeous, and far-too-intelligent dogs. Our Ridgeback is named Tsavo. She's about 3 years old. We got her from the RR Rescue, and she was found with her brother as a stray in Nebraska. She came to us with some bad habits, but she's grown into a wonderful and amazing member of the family. This is not

Comments

[auryn24]

Nicky was BAD at that. However, he got older (and bigger) and stopped. I'm not sure if he stopped because he is just too heavy to jump.

RR's need LOTS of outside time and walks. Wear her out...maybe she won't jump?

[alkalinesky]

We are hoping that she will get better as she gets older. It's gotten better over the past couple of years, so we are holding out for more improvement.

She doesn't get nearly the outside time that we'd like, but that should change as the weather gets warmer here. She's outside A LOT in the summer, which helps.

[chaos_unspoken]

Hmm... if its just guests and not family members that she jumps on you might try something a bit different than the typical training. If you have friends and/or neighbors that are used to dealing with dogs and you know will be firm, have them drop by every once in a while, just like a guest would. Equip them with a small baggie of dog cookies beforehand, then they can each drop by over time.

When they come, have them ring the doorbell like any visitor would, then come in. Let them correct Tsavo, not you, then let them reward her for keeping all paws on the floor. The more people you have that will help, the better, because then she gets used to visitors not accepting the jumping. It takes more effort, but if you're recruiting friends its usually much less expensive than obediance training, so worth a try. :)

[alkalinesky]

That's a really good idea. She's relatively treat-oriented, though not as much as our other dog. We'll recruit friends and give that a try!

[jenty_star]

i don't know if i would recommend trying to get your dog to stop this behavior, because it is in their nature and keeps them as the fantastic guard dogs that they are.

Jumping on guests

[butterme]

I had this trouble with both my girls until I hit upon an idea. When I see a guest come up the path, I race to the kitchen and give each dog a rawhide chew square. When the visitor arrives at the door, the girls have their mouths full, so they don't want to risk losing their chewies by jumping up or barking. By the time they have finished chewing, I have the guest comfortably seated and relaxed, so the introductions are very low key and gentle.