Ask the Frenchie Trainer - Jumping Bean French Bulldog!
admin June 24th, 2008
We have a very loving frenchie named Roxanne. She is one year old and loves
everyone.The problem is her jumping. Especially on guests. I try to hold her down by
her collar and tell her “down” repeatedly and praise her when she’s calm
(which is not often) but then she just pops up again like a spring. She is
incredibly strong and knocks over children and sometimes frightens adults or
gets them dirty!Walks are getting embarrassing!
Any ideas?
Hope writes -
Frenchies just love to jump, don’t they? It can be an annoying and possibly dangerous habit, as you’ve discovered. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy habit to break.
As with any training, stopping the jumping will take a bit of time and patience. Understanding why Roxanne is jumping puts the behavior in perspective. She’s a friendly, happy, loving girl who thrives on attention and wants to share her joy with everyone. It’s essentially saying “Hi! Look at me! Pay attention to me!” and it’s working. The attention she’s getting may be negative - you’re trying to stop the behavior, but it’s reenforcing the act.
Rather than trying to “correct” her for jumping - deprive her of the reward she’s after. Set up a situation with a family member or friend. Have that person approach Roxanne. As soon as she starts jumping, have the person fold her arms and turn her back on Roxanne. When Roxanne follows and tries it again, have your friend keep turning away, arms folded, ignoring the jumping. As soon as Roxanne tries something else to get attention (most dogs will sit and try to figure out what’s going wrong) have the person praise her, reward her and tell her how wonderful she is. When she gets up, or tries to jump, go right back to the “fold arms and turn away.”
For a while, until she “gets it,” everyone is going to have to treat Roxanne’s jumping the same way. Reward her for behavior you want and ignore the behavior you don’t. Deprive her of the attention she craves when she’s misbehaving. Frenchies are pretty smart - she’ll figure out pretty quickly that being a “good girl” gets her what she wants.
Good luck!
Hope
