1 1/2 yr old German Shepard

Hi there and thanks for the question.

How are you fixing his jumping? I have a few methods and will run through them and you can choose the one that best fits.

Firstly, how obedient is he? Obedience is crucial no matter what the problem. You should be able to control him whenever, where ever. Practice his sit, stay and come for 15 minutes twice a day in a quiet secluded area. After a few days he will start to show an improvement.

I usually advise people to try the turn and ignore. When you ignore him i mean no eye contact, no talking to him and turning away. This will give him a telling off in a way. When his front feet hit the floor turn back to him and praise him. Pet him, praise him and let him know he is doing great.

If you have found this isn't working there are another couple of methods to try.

1) When he jumps up lift your knee up into his chest and push him away as you tell him off. A loud Grrrr or AHHHH plus or minus a squirt with a water pistol usually does the trick

2) Step gently on his toes until she stops.

With both methods make sure to praise him when he isn't jumping up
Remember everyone coming to your house and in your house must do the same. Sending him mixed messages is worse than not training him so let people know whats going on

As for the jumping on the door this may be partly a boredom issue. Make sure that he gets lots of toys as well as a 30 minutes brisk walk or run once or twice a day. The more tired he is the less energy he will have to cause problems.

Part of this may be an anxiety issue from you going away. The way to deal with this is to train him to be used to you being there or not.
Here is a few tips that can help greatly -

1) When you arrive home completely ignore him no matter how cute or well behaved he is. Give him 15 minutes and then call him to you when you are ready.

2) When you give him attention make sure to keep it low key and not to get him over excited

3) If he gets overexcited don't be tempted to give him attention as this will only serve to make things worse. Ignore him until he has calmed down and then give him some quiet attention.

4) Your dog is probably having difficulty accepting that sometimes it is going to get all the attention and other times none (like when you are at work). You can help this problem by ignoring your dog for 6 hours a day on the weekends. You can feed your dog but that's it. The idea is that your dog will think “What's the big deal when my owners are gone, even when they are home, they still ignore me”

5) You may want to consult your vet about drug therapy. I would recommend that you ask about Dog Appeasing Pheromone (DAP) treatment. This pheromone calms dogs nerves. DAP comes as a vaporizer that you plug into a wall socket, the vaporizer then releases small amounts of DAP into the room. You can buy DAP from a well-stocked pet store or several on-line pet stores.


Good luck with him. Give him a go with these and if they don't help post again and i will go through some more ideas. Separation anxiety can be very frustrating so be patient.

Todd