# Behavior Issue



## Tinkerbell (Apr 10, 2007)

Tiki has become a little annoying with some behavior that we just don't like but don't know how to deal with. He was so "cute" when he was smaller jumping up and being so excited to see us but now it has become a bad behavior with other people. 

He jumps on everyone because he is excited to see them but they are not necessarily as excited to see him







Also he "runs" in the air when we are trying to calm him down when he is so excited and he scratches us. 

Any ideas?

Cheri


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

> Tiki has become a little annoying with some behavior that we just don't like but don't know how to deal with. He was so "cute" when he was smaller jumping up and being so excited to see us but now it has become a bad behavior with other people.
> 
> He jumps on everyone because he is excited to see them but they are not necessarily as excited to see him
> 
> ...


Oh boy, I have no idea how to help. We are in the same boat. Ollie jumps on EVERYBODY. I understand methods like turning your back on them and ignoring them are supposed to help and I do occasionally do that with Ollie myself, but really, it's impossible to tell EVERYONE that Ollie comes in contact with to do that too, you know? I'm hoping he'll mello a little as he gets older....


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## ShilohsMom (Jun 25, 2007)

Years ago when I had a cocker beagle wild child she would do the very same thing. I read in a training book that you should correct the jumping right from the start but if you didn't the next best thing to do was to retrain them to find jumping unpleasant. They suggested squeezing or applying pressure to the paw when they jump on you- not enough to get a yelp but enough so that they pull their paw away and go back down. We did this for months and my dog would do this dance on us pulling one paw away and them the other because she of course figured out what we were going to do next.







Everytime we squeezed her paw we tried to reinforce it saying "down" very calmly in a deeper voice. Needless to say it did work to a certain extent but not entirely. I have heard more recently to spray the dog with a water bottle when it is doing an undesired behavior but I don't know if that works. I would probably not let the dog have access to the visitors until he or she settled down a bit.


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## belibaby14 (Mar 21, 2007)

> Tiki has become a little annoying with some behavior that we just don't like but don't know how to deal with. He was so "cute" when he was smaller jumping up and being so excited to see us but now it has become a bad behavior with other people.
> 
> He jumps on everyone because he is excited to see them but they are not necessarily as excited to see him
> 
> ...


Wow, Belinha is the exact same way. She jumps and jumps and jumps and barks on people when someone comes to my house. Its really annoying. And when I pick her up she does what Tiki does and keep running in the air like she's trying to make me let go of her!


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

Benny and Emma do the same. Partly it's my fault b/c I let them jump on me and go bonkers when I get home. Luckily most of our visitors love them. However, I did just buy the Pet-Agree zapper thing. It makes a noise they can hear that will distract them from what they are doing. It has been working great. That may definitly help you. 

Also you can tell your guests to not make any eye or physical contact when they come over until your pup settles down. Even if it takes 5 mintues. Ignore him until he calms down and then praise him.

Good luck!


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## Ladysmom (Oct 19, 2004)

I'd recommend getting the book _The Culture Clash _ by Jean Donaldson. One of things she points out in the book is that often people with little dogs treat them like human babies, not dogs and end up with badly behaved adult dogs.

It's a great book. It explains how dogs think and how to train them using their natural instincts. We even did a book club thread on the book a few years ago.

http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/index.php?...l=culture+clash


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