hey, louisa! :--)

pups who jump-up are a real pain, but this is a hard-wired greeting behavior gone awry; it is not the dogs fault that we humans walk on 2 legs, and our faces + mouths are thus out of reach, LOL. if we were on all 4s it would not make the trouble it does! (and i would probably not be typing this... ;--)

i would teach him an incompatible behavior - SIT to get any atth whatever. tether him to control his ability to jump-up and touch U, then approach him and ask for a SIT - once only. if he sits, U click or say Yes! very crisply - make it different from Ur usual speech - and reward him with a small but VERY-good treat. (skinless chicken-breast in a 1/8th to 1/4th inch cube, an equiv amount of mozz-cheese or tinned/pouch tuna, etc). then walk away or step back, or turn Ur back on him out of his reach - and repeat the process, ask for SIT, mark right answer, treat... lather, rinse, repeat!

have a dozen or more tiny/super treats for each session; SHORT successful lessons are more memorable than are marathons, he will get it faster. the number of repetitions, NOT the length of time he is on his butt, are the deciding criterion to his really getting the idea - i jump-up, i get NOTHING. i SIT? i get EveryThing i Want or Need! :-)

teaching this means that EVERYbody has to refuse to give him attn until that butt is glued to the floor; if ONE person in the house thinks it does not matter, or is a cute behavior, or ignores it and gives him attn anyway, it will not change. this also incudes visitors; if anyone is coming by who says, oh i Love dogs - i don;t mind a bit!, etc, just put him up while they are there; there is absolutely no point in practicing behavior that U do not want. if they want to see the dog, they have to follow the house rules: No Paws On People!! this also means nobody LURES him into jumping-up - Not Fair! be consistent, or this will be a lifelong habit.
STANDING on the lead so that he does not have enuf leash to get his front-end off the ground is a simple means of allowing him to be around visitors, but without the ability to leap on them. if U do not want to have him umbilicaled to U while visitors are there, then tether him short, and ask ppl to Only Give Attn when he SITS - either cued once, or freely offered by the dog.


NILIF: Nothing In Life Is Free
------------------------------------------------
NILIF can greatly shorten the time this learning takes:
requiring a SIT for every single Want + Need, thru-out the day + night. Get the leash on? SIT. Get the door open to exit? SIT. Open to enter? SIT. the ball thrown? SIT. get into/out of the car? SIT. be petted? SIT. get the breakfast/dinner bowl onto the floor? SIT... Any, Every, All things - Sit, Sit, Sit...
when he GETS the concept - and he will, dogs are smart (how fast he gets it depends upon how many repetitions U give him, over what time, to get the clue that SIT is now the Coin of the Realm), he will == Offer! == an UN-cued, freely-offered SIT.
U pause at the door, he SITs without a cue - Miracle of miracles! ** Party! ** make it big and enthusiastic, What a brilliant dog! a JACK-POT (stream of small but good treats delivered in a stream, with lots of warm verbal praise poured over him) is a good marker for the watershed event.

once he has the concept SIT = the door to Every Dog Wish, he can use this to communicate with U, as a Pretty-Please? request. EX: U are in the pet-supply shop, he smells a wonderful odor from a box on a shelf, goes beside it, Looks at U (typically eye to eye contact), and SITS precisely without a cue... that is a Pretty-Please. U do not have to comply, U can say *Sorry, no - too many pigs-ears are bad, they are fat, fat, fat!...* , but having a gesture to talk TO U is a very good thing, IMO.

going to the door and glancing at U, precise SIT? *May i go out, Please? *
U can see how handy this is for the dog! ;--) and for U...

i think 2-way communication is a huge improvement over I speak, U listen
(me tarzan, U jane - ug! ;--)

he has been doing this for 90% of his lifetime, so do not expect immediate results - this is a heavily-rehearsed behavior. if he is off-leash and comes and jumps on U, turn Ur back - exaggerate it by folding Ur arms and looking up at the sky/ceiling. he is looking for ATTN, and by very-obviously cutting off all feedback (eye contact, verbal, touch...) U are telling him forget it, nothing if U jump-up.

if he is ON-leash, use the leash itself to hold him off U - holding it out to the side - and walk briskly, so that he has no time to jump-up, but must instead Keep-Up. most humans think *walking the dog* means to stroll along at One Mile An Hour, LOL, while the dog alternates sniffing, pulling, lunging and lagging... get it together, walk briskly + with intention toward a specific visual goal, and stop to give the dog time for a sniff-break When + Where >> U << decide is apropos - not allowing the dog to drag U hither + yon to various dog odor-treasures, or mark all over creation.
when he is

re dog hazards:
chocolate is bad for dogs, i would stop offering that altogether - the darker the chocolate the more dangerous it is, theobromine causes racing + irregular heart-beats in dogs (it can kill them - not enuf oxygen is transported, the heart just flutters ineffectively). just in case he has learned to Love the stuff, put ANY chocolate up in an inaccessible cabinet, and only get down what U will be using/eating immediately. i say this b/c a friend had given her dog Choc-drops (of ALL things, a choc-treat for DOGS!? dumb manufacturers!), and he developed a real fondness for them. she got a box in the mail, set it on the hall table, and went to work - her dog ripped into it, and consumed over a POUND of chocolate! he lived, but it was a near thing.

happy B-Mod, and getting the humans to be consistent will be the hard part!
ONE jump-up in a week that pays-out can keep the behavior alive - work on that.

cheers,
--- terry

terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, IPDTA, TDF

PS - i think U mean nip it in the Bud? (ie, before it blooms and goes to seed -
thus eliminating the weed from the garden, LOL)