Part I

On Thursday afternoons I stop by the Heartland Cafe in Rodgers Park to pick up a Reader newspaper. When I did so a few weeks ago, there was no where to park so I pulled into the space beside a fire hydrant, figuring on a quick in-and-out and on-my-way maneuver. As I walked east along the sidewalk toward the Heartland's entrance, I encountered a fellow walking a young, sizeable American Pit Bull Terrier which exhibited all the things I admire in the bull and terrier breeds: a broad skull, bright eyes, keen bearing and intelligence, athleticism and joyful gregariousness.

When he jumped at me, I said "Great looking dog!" to his human companion in a friendly tone, while turning to my right so that the dog didn't make physical contact with me. My intention in doing this was to let the person know that I had no problem with his dog, and to avoid reinforcing the dog's jumping for attention. To an experienced dog caretaker, this sequence would have been immediately understood; however, this person was not an experienced caretaker. He jerked and collar -corrected his dog several times while verbally chastising him. He continued even when the dog crouched by his side, ears flat to his head.

Here we have a classic example of unintentional training. Assuming the caretaker wants the dog to be friendly towards people, he punishes his dog's efforts to do that. Then when the caretaker's punishment of friendly behavior returns the attention to himself, he then punishes the dog's attention (and in the process makes himself not very much fun for the dog to be with). If the caretaker now imagines that the dog will persist in jumping on people and he continues his current approach, he may create serious aggression problems in his dog. This illustrates how simply these things can begin.

Normally I would have engaged the caretaker in conversation, complimenting his choice of dog, and building rapport until I could discuss jumping and ways of dealing with it through positive and nonviolent techniques. I might even have purchased a burger at the Heartland and shown how easily food reinforcement can replace jerks on a choke chain and verbal abuse. If any of you readers are weird about giving dogs "human" food, let me remind you that, in this, country, what it means to be cat or dog food is that it's not fit for human consumption. But I digress.

That day I was parked illegally so I ran inside, grabbed the Reader and returned to my ticket-free car. I didn't see the dog and caretaker, and I drove around the block hoping to spot them. I concluded they probably lived in the apartments near the Heartland. So, this article is for them and for any of you who want to modify your dog's jumping behavior.

Why Dogs jump

Before changing your dog's behavior, you want to have some understanding of that behavior. Jumping up is a very important behavior in domestic dogs and in wild canines around the world-wolves, coyotes, dingoes, African Cape Hunting dogs, etc. If you watch animal programs on PBS or cable TV, sooner or later you'll see an episode where the senior pack members go off on a hunt, leaving the pups behind under the watchful care ofjuvenile pack members (aunts and uncles in human society).

Hopefully the hunt is successul; when the senior pack members return, the puppies run to,them and jump on them and lick the corners of their mouths. You may have seen something similar in your own home-this is the source of that behavior. When the pups lick the senior animals' mouths, a regurgitation reflex is stimulated in the adults and they cough up the food they have been carrying back to the pups. The pups eat this food, this is what keeps them alive through this very crucial period in their development.

So you can see that jumping up is a behavior that's related to survival-it's that important. It's also an attention-seeking behavior and a very important part of their social greeting rituals. When you introduce a group of humans, they smile and extend their hands to shake and pass out business cards. Dogs don't do this-instead, they lick, sniff and jump. And these behaviors are just as important to them as our greeting rituals are to us.

The Dog Trainer

Enter the dog trainer. If you tell a traditional dog trainer, "This dog jumps on me and everyone else!" He'll advise you to knee or kick the dog in the chest, step on the dog's hind feet or cut off the dog's air supply with a strangle collar. While these things might work, you want to consider whether this is really something you want to do to a creature that's supposed to be your best friend. In human terms, it would go like this: I introduce you to someone, you smile and extend your hand, and the other person punches you in the nose. How would you feel about that? Yet that's precisely what we do to dogs by punishing them for jumping up.

Additionally, we don't want to punish jumping because in the future you may want your dog to jump for activities like agility, flyball or obedience competition. It's bad economy of energy to punish a dog's behavior to the point of extinction and subsequently try to reinstall it. Instead, we'll strongly reward an alternative behavior that is incompatible with jumping. Reinforcing the behavior of sitting would be my choice. In our obedience classes, we usually deal with jumping during the third session. During the first session (humans only), we discuss operant conditioning and are briefly introduced to shaping, lure-reward, targeting and clicker training. We also receive homework assignments for sitting, attention on name, and going to place. The second session adds the exercises of down and stay. All of these activities prepare us to deal with jumping by providing the dog with some basic experience in sitting and sit-stay for f6od, treats. If you haven't trained your dog to this point, consult any of the books listed at the end of this article. For the rest of you, here are some procedures:

Homework - Part I

Homework-meaning work at home first! If you can't gain control of your dog's jumping up in your dull, boring house or apartment, you don't stand a chance outside where Mr. Squirrel, the Skateboarding Kid and Mrs. Walking Her Dog lurk.

For dogs that jump on you or other family members, use an attention/no attention model, meaning, when the dog comes to jump, check out on him (fold your arms, turn away, look off in the distance and ignore him). You left-brained types will probably keep records of the number of jumps per trial and graph the reduction of jump repetitions over x number of trials and all that. When you don't feel or hear jumping and the wind stops moving behind you, look over shoulder. If your dog is standing, sitting, or lying down (behaviors not compatible with jumping) that would be the time to say "Yes!" or "Good!" and give the dog a food treat from your pocket. If you use a clicker as a conditioned reinforcer, click and treat. If everyone in the family does this zombie routine whenever the dog starts to jump, jumping will decrease and sitting will increase. I suggest folding your arms and turning away so that you won't reinforce the jumping behavior.

I suggest folding your arms and turning away so that you won't reinforce the jumping behavior, which previously provided the dog with the multiple rewards of attention, excitement and physical contact. If you yell at the dog and push him away for jumping, you continue to reward the behavior. The antidote is not to reinforce. When the dog sits, that behavior is the magnet that attracts your attention, food treats, pats, etc. Folding your arms first becomes a secondary cue for your dog to sit rather than jump; soon, you won't even have to turn away. Pretty neat, huh? Remember-dogs don't generalize well, so conduct frequent sessions in all of the areas of your home where your dog has jumped or is still jumping.

You can perform an additional exercise if your dog responds really well to the cue of "Sit!" Give that cue before the dog jumps and when he sits, instantly say "Yes!" and give him a food treat from your pocket. By all means, teach other people who frequently visit your place to train your dog this same way.

Homework - Part 2

For other visitors you may receive who won't know the previous drills, you can use a leash technique. By far the best way to do this is to have people treats occur only in the sitting position. After a few repetitions, the dog will sit without jumping, but be sure to complete all ten repetitions anyway. When Bob has finished, Person #2 completes ten repetitions; then Person #3 completes ten repetitions, etc. Even though the dog isn't jumping, the reinforcement for sitting grows. Wait a day or two, and schedule another Guest Arrival. Test with different people. Because dogs are slow to generalize, the jumping up will have recovered; at first the dog will regress horribly, but then his rate of learning will quicken. Wait another day or two and rehearse again. Do this until you obtain an instant sit-for-greeting with no jumping every time.

Homework - Part 3

Now we want to relax the restriction of the short leash to obtain the same result at six feet (full leash length). You will hold the handle of your leash as your helper (distractor) approaches your dog with a food treat (or a bucket or bag of treats) held high against his/her chest. As, your helper approaches, watch your dog. If he starts to jump, your helper says "Too bad!" and immediately turns and walks away; he then returns and if the dog sits, the helper says "Yes!" and feeds the dog a treat. I recommend throwing the treat a short distance away so the dog gets up to get it; this permits easy preparation for the helper's next approach. Our tests show it usually takes six or fewer reps for the dog to sit tight in order to get the person to approach and treat, rather than jumping up.

Have lots of fun with your dog during these exercises, and in the next issue we'll took at taking this on the road with jumping parties, etc. If you have any concerns, please write to Chipawgo! And we will try to respond to them.

Bibliography & Helpful Books

Donaldson, Jean: ne Culture Clash (Berkeley, CA, James & Kenneth Publishers), 1996.

Dunbar, Ian (I 996). How To Teach A New Dog Old Tricks. James & Kenneth Publishers.

Jones, Deborah (1997). The Clicker Workbook: A Beginners Guide. Akron, OH: 15eborah Jones Publishing.

Mitchell, Lana (I 997). Click For Success: Basic Clicker Training Guide. Hillsboro, OR: Lana Mitchell Publishing.

Owens, Paul (1999). The Dog Whisperet: A Compassionate, Nonviolent Approach To Dog Training. Holbrook, MA: Adams Media Publishing.

Pryor, Karen (1999). Getting Started: Clicker Training For Dogs. Waltham, MA: Sunshine Books, Inc.

Training & Behavior questions? Send them to Trainer/Chlpawgo! P.O. Box 408320, Chicago, IL 60640 email: chipawgo@xsite.net or fax: 773-769-1594