# Gak! New bad habit - any suggestions?



## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

Fezzik has started jumping on legs and even grabbing at hands. I think it is to get our attention. I don't care if he is little and adorably cute, jumping on people isn't acceptable. How do you react to this? 

Off?
ignore?
puppy timeout?

He usually does the cute puppy wriggle and waits for pats but now he is demanding.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

morriscsps said:


> Fezzik has started jumping on legs and even grabbing at hands. I think it is to get our attention. I don't care if he is little and adorably cute, jumping on people isn't acceptable. How do you react to this?
> 
> Off?
> ignore?
> ...



Need a little more information. Is this family members? Guests coming into the house? When family members first come in or random? All of these situations would suggest different approaches.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

Perry's gotten bad about this as well - luckily (?) for us he's mostly afraid of people so it's just me, our housemate/ friend, and every once in a while my sisters. We're working on no attention / off but it's a long process


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Melissa Brill said:


> Perry's gotten bad about this as well - luckily (?) for us he's mostly afraid of people so it's just me, our housemate/ friend, and every once in a while my sisters. We're working on no attention / off but it's a long process


Honestly, I don't mind my dogs jumping on me when I come in the house. And Dave is MUCH worse! He actively encourages them carrying on. So if we are having people over that MIGHT mind, (like pre-Covid, when he had clients occasionally come to his office in the house) I just put them up in our bedroom before they came. If they WANTED to meet the dogs, we let them come down after business was concluded. But for REAL guests, mine want to say "hi" and then get on with life. Come to my house and live by my rules. It's their house too. 

HOWEVER, they NEVER put their mouths on people... Panda does with ME, but it is a special game between the two offs. She doesn't do it with anyone else.


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

krandall said:


> Honestly, I don't mind my dogs jumping on me when I come in the house. And Dave is MUCH worse! He actively encourages them carrying on. So if we are having people over that MIGHT mind, (like pre-Covid, when he had clients occasionally come to his office in the house) I just put them up in our bedroom before they came. If they WANTED to meet the dogs, we let them come down after business was concluded. But for REAL guests, mine want to say "hi" and then get on with life. Come to my house and live by my rules. It's their house too.


That's part of our "problem"- Chastity (our housemate) and I never really mind - and it's been Perry's signal that he's had enough of cousin Finley's playing (when he's done with Fin, Perry comes over and puts his front feet up on either of us, so we can remove him from the "play")... but Chastity just had knee replacement surgery and so she doesn't need him, even only being 11 pounds, jumping up on her... we can't work on it too much though because she's been staying at her parents (where she can stay on one floor and not have to deal with stairs) for the last month - and by the time she is back, we'll probably be gone (heading to Nairobi on May 8th!!! for two months. Can't wait!) so it will be a work in progress.

It's been something that I've been of two minds about "correcting" - on the one hand, I taught my last dog that she needed to wait for an invitation to jump up on people... on the other hand, Perry's always been so hesitant to approach anyone, that seeing him willing and excited to be around anyone has been good to see so I've hesitated to "correct" it... but he's getting a little too enthusiastic about it, so we're slowly working on it. 



krandall said:


> HOWEVER, they NEVER put their mouths on people... Panda does with ME, but it is a special game between the two offs. She doesn't do it with anyone else.


Perry would never even think about doing that! He won't even give kisses (except to lick fingers - but only mine and Chastity's)  

Perry does, however, really really need to sniff your breath if you're someone he likes and trusts (and the only person he ever did that to the very first time he met her was my Aunt. Otherwise, the list is very small of those whose breath he NEEDS to sniff!)


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Melissa Brill said:


> That's part of our "problem"- Chastity (our housemate) and I never really mind - and it's been Perry's signal that he's had enough of cousin Finley's playing (when he's done with Fin, Perry comes over and puts his front feet up on either of us, so we can remove him from the "play")... but Chastity just had knee replacement surgery and so she doesn't need him, even only being 11 pounds, jumping up on her... we can't work on it too much though because she's been staying at her parents (where she can stay on one floor and not have to deal with stairs) for the last month - and by the time she is back, we'll probably be gone (heading to Nairobi on May 8th!!! for two months. Can't wait!) so it will be a work in progress.
> 
> It's been something that I've been of two minds about "correcting" - on the one hand, I taught my last dog that she needed to wait for an invitation to jump up on people... on the other hand, Perry's always been so hesitant to approach anyone, that seeing him willing and excited to be around anyone has been good to see so I've hesitated to "correct" it... but he's getting a little too enthusiastic about it, so we're slowly working on it.
> 
> ...


Yeah, it's REALLY hard to get them to understand when someone is hurst and can't take it. And if it's a temporary thing, I think that usually it's better, especially in the case of a shy dog, just to use barriers to protect there injured person. A friend of mine has 3 ACD's and had knee replacement surgery. Her dogs are used to jumping all over her! They just set up baby gates around her couch for the duration! LOL!


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

He is jumping up on us and visitors he knows. Yesterday my b-i-l came over. Fezzik jumped on him and grabbed at his hands. B-i-l was surprised. It is a new thing. I hate it when Fez jumps and hits the back of my knee, causing it to flex.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

morriscsps said:


> He is jumping up on us and visitors he knows. Yesterday my b-i-l came over. Fezzik jumped on him and grabbed at his hands. B-i-l was surprised. It is a new thing. I hate it when Fez jumps and hits the back of my knee, causing it to flex.


OK, if it’s in the family, is it new? Or has it been going on all along? If it’s new, turning to him quickly, and a sharp, “OFF!!!” Should get his attention. I would just put him in another room or behind a gate when your BIL or other familiar guest first arrives. A lot of this is hormonal. He’s an adolescent boy…


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## NotAMuggle (Dec 4, 2020)

krandall said:


> Honestly, I don't mind my dogs jumping on me when I come in the house. And Dave is MUCH worse! He actively encourages them carrying on. So if we are having people over that MIGHT mind, (like pre-Covid, when he had clients occasionally come to his office in the house) I just put them up in our bedroom before they came. If they WANTED to meet the dogs, we let them come down after business was concluded. But for REAL guests, mine want to say "hi" and then get on with life. Come to my house and live by my rules. It's their house too.
> 
> HOWEVER, they NEVER put their mouths on people... Panda does with ME, but it is a special game between the two offs. She doesn't do it with anyone else.


Is it considered bad manners for a dog to kiss humans in the face? Piper does this to anyone/everyone who gives her attention/affection if they are close enough. Like random passerby who ask to pet her she will try to stand up on two legs to reach their face for a quick kiss while being pet. Should i discourage this you think? I do warn new people that she is a kisser, so don't put your face in hers if that skeeves you out!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

NotAMuggle said:


> Is it considered bad manners for a dog to kiss humans in the face? Piper does this to anyone/everyone who gives her attention/affection if they are close enough. Like random passerby who ask to pet her she will try to stand up on two legs to reach their face for a quick kiss while being pet. Should i discourage this you think? I do warn new people that she is a kisser, so don't put your face in hers if that skeeves you out!


It’s not a matter of “manners”, it’s a matter of what you and your dog like and what you allow. My trainer has a saying when it comes to household manners. It’s a matter of “mind over matter”… “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!” LOL!

I don’t care for dogs licking my face, so I don’t let them do it. Let’s face it. A Havanese can’t reach a human’s face without help. We have two that are not really face lickers (Panda and Kodi) and two who would LIKE to be (Pixel and Ducky) with the “licky“ ones, we simply limit access to our faces. If we are snuggling them in our arms, we turn their faces away from us And steoke them gently. We also encourage CALM interactions because, often, licking is an “over-excited” behavior. 

I would certainly tell people that you are trying to discourage all the face licking, and not to put their face down to her. Especially in this era of Covid! I have no idea whether it can be spread that way, but I wouldn’t want my dog’s tongue on random stranger’s faces then on mine! Just sayin’!


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

krandall said:


> It’s not a matter of “manners”, it’s a matter of what you and your dog like and what you allow. My trainer has a saying when it comes to household manners. It’s a matter of “mind over matter”… “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!” LOL!
> 
> I don’t care for dogs licking my face, so I don’t let them do it. Let’s face it. A Havanese can’t reach a human’s face without help. We have two that are not really face lickers (Panda and Kodi) and two who would LIKE to be (Pixel and Ducky) with the “licky“ ones, we simply limit access to our faces. If we are snuggling them in our arms, we turn their faces away from us And steoke them gently. We also encourage CALM interactions because, often, licking is an “over-excited” behavior.
> 
> I would certainly tell people that you are trying to discourage all the face licking, and not to put their face down to her. Especially in this era of Covid! I have no idea whether it can be spread that way, but I wouldn’t want my dog’s tongue on random stranger’s faces then on mine! Just sayin’!


For my last dog I taught her a "kiss" command - so she knew that was when she was allowed to give kisses  because even when someone likes it/ doesn't mind it, it's nice to have a warning when it's coming LOL.

For your situation I think as long as you're ok with it - and you say you warn other people - you're probably good... as Karen said, it's not like Havanese can access someone's face without help so it's up to them if they allow it or not

I do think, however, there is a difference between kisses and being mouthy/grabby - like the OP probably meant - where teeth are involved. That doesn't mean it's aggressive, but some dogs do go through that very teethy stage (and some never leave it - like Perry's scotty cousin Finley!) where they're jumping and grabbing for fingers or clothes with their teeth. THAT, in my opinion, should always be dealt with... even if just by not letting them interact with people until they're calm and puppy time outs if they get too excited and the teeth appear


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## LWalks (Feb 7, 2021)

NotAMuggle said:


> Is it considered bad manners for a dog to kiss humans in the face? Piper does this to anyone/everyone who gives her attention/affection if they are close enough. Like random passerby who ask to pet her she will try to stand up on two legs to reach their face for a quick kiss while being pet. Should i discourage this you think? I do warn new people that she is a kisser, so don't put your face in hers if that skeeves you out!


We aren’t big on face kisses either, but we’ve always had dog walkers that love making out with our dogs, and found that so many ppl we meet looooove dog kisses…. so I’ve worked on ‘no kisses’ with them. Charlie is about 95% and JoJo is prob 85% at this point. Like Karen said, it’s partially about restricting access to faces, and partially about redirecting. Jo has caught on quickly bc she loves sitting on my shoulder, and if she won’t stop kissing, I remove her. 😊 I think if you don’t mind it, it’s totally fair to just warn people that they should keep their faces away from her!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LWalks said:


> We aren’t big on face kisses either, but we’ve always had dog walkers that love making out with our dogs, and found that so many ppl we meet looooove dog kisses…. so I’ve worked on ‘no kisses’ with them. Charlie is about 95% and JoJo is prob 85% at this point. Like Karen said, it’s partially about restricting access to faces, and partially about redirecting. Jo has caught on quickly bc she loves sitting on my shoulder, and if she won’t stop kissing, I remove her. 😊 I think if you don’t mind it, it’s totally fair to just warn people that they should keep their faces away from her!


I think it’s knowing all the turkey poop they eat and all the butt licking they do that makes me less than thrilled about face kissing!


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## LWalks (Feb 7, 2021)

krandall said:


> I think it’s knowing all the turkey poop they eat and all the butt licking they do that makes me less than thrilled about face kissing!


Ohhhh yes! Honestly Charlie is about as non-disgusting as far as dogs go…. But my dainty little lady keeps herself very clean (of course with her mouth) and went through a lengthy poop-eating phase… so no thank you!


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## EvaE1izabeth (Nov 14, 2017)

When you mention jumping around your legs, is there a pattern that might be communication or just excitement? Sundance was a little younger but he would get right underfoot and nip around my pants and jump when he needed to go potty. When I figured out he did it because he needed to go, I realized he also did this other sort of sitting/leading thing right before, so I started watching for it and bypassed the nipping completely. I don’t know if it’s because I didn’t ever correct it directly, but as an adult on rare occasions he will jump up on me and “talk,” not bark, if he needs to go potty. However he does not nip at all or zoom around my feet so maybe he got the message or just outgrew that part? Usually it’s if he’s been waiting by the door and no one noticed or someone forgot to take him out.

if it’s more excitement, I can’t help. I’m not consistent about addressing excitement behaviors because I’m impulsive myself! I do believe it’s really helpful to practice skills during neutral times to specifically help in those excited moments and then practice them in situations that create excitement. I use skills Sundance already knows as redirection and I use ignoring, and Sundance mellowed between ages 2-3. Since you do a lot of training you could try some kind of replacement behavior or a skill for redirection and probably have better success than me! But I’m mostly an expert at avoiding specific situations, especially because covid isolation brought back some of his adolescent style intensity  i think it would be worse if it had brought back his more timid, hesitant puppy tendencies so I’ve been settling a bit.


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