Why does a dog jump on people and its owner?
First you need to figure out why dogs jump on people. There are 3 global reasons for this:
- Demonstration of dominance. If, when meeting you, the dog pins you in a corner and also tries to bite your hands or nose, fight him. Otherwise, you may forever lose your authority and leadership position.
- Increased excitability. Most often, choleric pets suffer from this. They have trouble controlling their emotions and show them in any available way: whining, wagging their tail, licking their face, and jumping on their owner.
- Bad Education. This reason is more common than others. It arises due to permissiveness in puppyhood.
Weaning takes a lot of time and effort, so it is much easier to take care of raising a dog from the moment it is born. If the moment has already passed, be patient or find a good dog handler.
Reasons for the attack
There are not many reasons why an animal can attack. The causes of aggression in dogs can be the following:
- Protecting your own territory. As a rule, dogs guard and defend the territory, attacking potential enemies. Female dogs rarely do this. Probably, many have noticed a situation in which an animal accompanies you to a certain place, then suddenly stops and goes back. The dog considers this territory, which the dog followed the person, to be its own possession, and therefore protects it.
- Protecting your offspring. A dog will always protect its puppies, however, how it will do this depends on each individual, its breed, and so on. Some will simply growl, threaten with grins, while others bark deafeningly and even try to attack passers-by.
- An inadequate, poorly trained dog, not trained in commands. There are also owners who believe that their pet should snap at other people, thereby showing that it is protecting its owner.
Why do we need to stop this behavior?
Licking and sniffing the leader upon meeting is characteristic of all pack animals. In this way, weaker individuals express their respect to the leader. Despite the naturalness of this process, it is better to stop it at home. This is due to the following reasons:
- Neglect. Not all dog lovers like being jumped on and slobbered on, let alone others. Most people prefer to limit affection to stroking and hugging.
- Hygiene. After a walk in rainy weather, your dog's paws can get your clothes very dirty. Such a prospect will not please random passers-by at all, or even the owner himself.
- High risk of injury. A large pet can easily knock down not only a child, but also an adult. In an unsuccessful fall, the victim can receive quite serious injuries.
Please note that not only those around you can suffer, but also the dog himself. With his jump, he can very much scare a stranger, provoking a response in the form of a blow.
Inadequate conditions of detention
Many dogs that are chained or outdoors for a long time react very aggressively to strangers. The reason for this may be passers-by who take advantage of the dog's limited freedom in order to tease or threaten it. Another reason may be frustration caused by severely limited freedom of movement.
Ethologists consider one of the widespread causes of aggression to be housing conditions that do not allow the dog to implement any behavior model or achieve a desired goal. Boredom is also often cited as one of the reasons. Restriction of external information and freedom of movement leads to a decrease in the threshold of irritation, which determines the intensity of the reaction to new stimuli. As a result, the dog's reaction is more intense than it would otherwise be.
How to stop a dog from jumping on people, including its owner?
For weaning, 5 methods are used. Each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages, so dog experts recommend combining them.
Blocking
Block the jump by crossing your arms. Having encountered an obstacle on your chest, the animal will stop to consider further actions. At this point, give him a treat and praise. If the dog wants to jump on you again, just repeat the steps described.
An obstacle can be created not only with your hands, but also with your leg bent at the knee. It is important to act very carefully so as not to injure your pet. This method is effective at any age.
Paw grip
As soon as the dog jumps and touches your chest or stomach, grab and squeeze its front paws. This kind of capture is a sign of dominance. Thanks to him, you subjugate your pet and guide his further actions.
Hold your four-legged pet's paws firmly, but very gently. He should feel strength, but not pain. After the grab, slowly lean down, trying to get the dog into a sitting position. If immediately after this she calms down, reward her, and if not, repeat all the described actions again.
Ignoring
Unlike the previous two methods, ignoring is only suitable for adult animals. Kids perceive this method of weaning as a game.
If your four-legged pet jumps on you when you meet him, turn away sharply from him, fold your arms over your chest and avoid direct gaze. Repeat these steps until he calms down and sits down. At this point, you can turn your face to the dog and praise him.
Command “Sit” or any other
Switching attention only works if the animal knows the commands. When trying to jump, the owner gives the dog any command: “Sit”, “Stand” or “Lie down”. The four-legged dog is distracted by its implementation and receives a reward for it.
Ultimately, it is recommended to give the listed commands immediately upon returning home, ignoring the warm greeting of the pet. You can pet him and hug him only when you take off your street clothes and shoes. Thanks to this sequence, the dog will learn to wait and control his emotions.
Using a leash
Not suitable for puppies and suitable for outdoor training. With the help of a slight tug on the leash and the subsequent command “Fu,” the dog can be weaned from jumping on strangers and other animals.
Please note that positive reinforcement is not used here. If a command is not followed, punishment follows, and if desired behavior is demonstrated, it is not punished. This exercise should be performed no more than 5 times in 1 session.
“Feeders” – a city problem
Photo from the site sott.net
“Baby feeders” are dogs that are fed by compassionate residents of city houses. They think that this way they are helping the dogs, but in reality they are doing more harm to both dogs and people.
Such dogs develop a territorial stereotype - they begin to consider the territory where they are fed as their own, and begin to protect resources, that is, food. The city yard or part of it, favored by the “feeders”, is usually a small area, so they do not have the necessary space to warn the “invaders”; they immediately begin to protect resources. Their response may be much more aggressive than would otherwise be the case in a larger area.
How to prevent aggression from “feeders”? Ask those who feed dogs to do it not in the yard, but where people do not go. Or don't do it at all.
We must remember that dogs are predators. They have a food-procuring instinct: they can always find food in the trash heap and eat small rodents.
But if dogs live in the yard and receive food from people, then they begin to be lazy to get their own food.
At the same time, even compassionate residents are not immune from attacks from well-fed dogs. As long as people come to them with food, they can greet people normally. But if someone has already given them a ration before, and the one who regularly feeds them walks through the yard, the dogs may bark and attack him, defending what is theirs. They don’t care who is coming: their benefactor or not.
Lost pet dogs tend to target a specific person for food. But in an extreme situation, they begin to learn to get their own food.
Pariah dogs that were born and raised on the street, have not had contact with humans before, and suddenly start receiving food from people for no reason at all, will still not become their friends. Such dogs know well how to communicate with their relatives - they tolerate humans for food. You should not expect fidelity and love from them.
How to stop a puppy from jumping on people and its owner
The most important thing when training a puppy is to memorize prohibitory commands: “Ugh,” “No,” or “No.” They should be used only in certain situations when the baby violates the established rules.
The easiest way to train is in the form of a game, and the best results are achieved by reinforcement with treats. Choose the most harmless methods of weaning. When blocking, use a light release that will definitely not harm your small pet.
What to do if you couldn't avoid a bite
The most important thing to understand is that you should not hope that the dog that bit you is not contagious. If you hope for this and do not consult a doctor in time, the consequences will be extremely serious. It is important to start administering the vaccine in a timely manner to avoid the development of rabies with subsequent possible death.
If you see direct indications that the dog is inadequate or infected with rabies, it is dripping with saliva, it violently rushes at everything it sees nearby, at everything moving, and cannot control itself, be careful. In this situation, it is extremely important to prevent a bite. After all, the rabies virus is contained in saliva. And if an animal bites you, the virus can enter your body through saliva.
How effective the administered vaccine will be depends on the timeliness of care. Therefore, immediately after a bite, go to a nearby medical center. If you are seriously injured or you are far from a populated area, immediately call an ambulance.
Other control methods
It is quite easy to stop your pet from jumping on people as a puppy. Most of the problems arise from owners who have encountered the problem as adults. In this case, in addition to the methods listed, other methods may be required, used only as a last resort.
When is it appropriate to give your pet a sedative?
A sedative is used when increased excitability is confirmed or when there is pronounced dominant aggression. In both cases, the drug is prescribed by a veterinarian.
Can I use Parforce?
Parfors is a strict collar used for training large fighting dogs. Along its entire perimeter there are sharp spikes that cause pain when the leash is pulled.
The use of such a tool is extremely doubtful. Parfors leaves noticeable scars on the animal's body, so it is much more humane to use a snatch chain. She corrects behavior thanks to light suffocation, but here it is very important not to overdo it. For this reason, it is better not to risk it and make an appointment with a dog handler.
Appeal to the dog handler
The help of a dog handler will be useful if your pet is completely healthy, and all humane methods of influence do not produce results. After receiving an individual consultation, you will learn how to stop your dog from jumping on people without using brute force.
Quite often the problem lies in insufficient authority. The four-legged dog will continue to ignore commands until it is convinced of your leadership qualities. This point should be worked out in joint classes without the participation of other animals and dogs.
When to go without changing route
Photo from mirror.co.uk
It happens that it is impossible to change the route when attacked by a pack of dogs. For example, dogs bark when you walk along a path or paved path. Most likely, they are simply marking their territory and asking you to quickly get away from it.
In this case, you should continue to move forward, but with stops and conciliatory gestures. You should not leave such paths, because you may inadvertently go towards the den with puppies.
Slowly continue moving forward, observing the flock and its behavior. If aggression increases, stop for 10-15 seconds, turn your head away, do not look directly at the dogs, then continue moving.
If you are following an untrodden path, then it is worth returning to the beginning of the route and rearranging it taking into account the “wishes” of the flock.
