Puppy Excitement... Entertaining or Frustrating?

I have a client whose dog is roughly 7 months old. I have been working with this pup since he was 3 months. We do training sessions, daycare and boarding. Every time I see the pup he jumps on me. Now I don't find that behavior acceptable under any circumstances. Their nails hurt and depending on their size...they can knock you over. While I don't find the jumping acceptable, I do understand it.

Think about it from a human perspective. Think of that one time that you got extremely excited over something. Did you kind of hop around? Did you let out a little squeal without meaning to? Well puppies are the same way and depending on the circumstance adult dogs are too. There are time that you should correct the behavior and times that you just need to let them get it out.

What I do with my dogs and my client dogs is very simple. I pause for a second and determine what kind of behavior I'm seeing. For instance, I just walked in the house and my dog is bouncing around ready to play with me and go outside. While he is jumping, I choose to ignore it and walk towards the door so I can take him out. Once he is out he bursts out running and gets some of that energy out. We play for a bit and I pet him ONLY if he is not jumping. Ignoring the behavior shows them that they will not get attention until they are under control better.

With the puppies, I do things a little different because they lack the self control an older dog has. I try to keep my energy level calm and I will pet them before they have time to jump. (I only do this if I haven't seen the pup in more than a week.) I do this while trying to physically keep the dog on the ground, if he jumps, I become a wall he jumps into. After the introduction, I speak with the owner. Usually when I do this the puppy starts jumping again and at this point I ignore it or I just look at him and wait. I don't touch him unless he sits. Once he is in the seated position, I pet him and if he gets up, I stop. If I see the pup more often I do not give him any positive attention until I see he is behaved.

Some dogs urinate when they are excited, especially if they receive attention during that time. Most dogs will out grow this, some never do. When I have a dog like that, I do not give any attention until the dog is totally calm. I keep my energy level calm, give a small pet, say good dog and then walk away. If the dog gets overly excited doing this and urinates I calmly say "no" and walk away. If the dog isn't appearing excited and urinates, I firmly say "no" and take them outside to urinate there.