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Imcompatible commands- How to avoid a puppy jumping up around the kitchen table

4 month old puppy

...we are using the "naah aah" recommended in CC rather than "NO" or "DOWN" when Molly jumps on us while we are sitting at the dinner table.

I am also trying to do this when she curiously tries to sniff the good-smelling food on the kitchen counter.

After our "naah aah" I gently move her front paws down to the floor and give her a calm "good girl" and a quick pat.

You are not having complete success for several reasons.

First, the "naah aah" followed by removing her from the table and saying "Good girl" with a pat dies not complete the training activity as Donaldson explains it in CC. The part you are leaving out is training and then commanding an alternate and incompatible behavior, such as a Sit Stay at a particular location in the kitchen or dining room. Reread those pages about Jumping Up and Food Stealing, and I think you will see what I mean. Without expecting the alternate behavior, you are really only training Molly to get down off the table or counter, not to *stay down*!

Second, the reinforcement you are providing is too weak. You are asking Molly to leave the pot roast alone and not climb onto your lap, and the reward for this is "Good girl." Would you buy that? (:-)

Third, at 4 months, you are dealing with a young pup, so you are not going to get instant results even if you train it perfectly. Remember, Pup and Patience both start with a P.

Finally, I personally do not use NRM (No Reward Marks) such as ""naah aah." The use of NRM's is a relatively recent addition to Clicker Training. It was not part of the original and traditional Karen Pryor brand of CT. One danger in using a NRM rather than simply ignoring the unwanted behavior is that your marker phrase may on one hand act as an unexpected reinforcer, while on the other hand it may be spoken in a tone that actually makes it a conditioned punishment. I'll leave you and others who may reply on the forum to hash that out. Use the NRM if you feel comfortable with it, or maybe try without it for a while. Your choice.

So, here are the steps you are performing now:

1. Dog jumps up
2. "naah aah"
3. Remove her from the table
4. Say "Good girl" with a pat

Here is what I would say is a more complete and promising series of steps:

1. Try to intercept the pup BEFORE she's up! Skip step 2.
2. Dog jumps up
3. "naah aah" (I would just remove paws from table with no comment.)
4. Remove her from the table AND LEAD HER TO HER SPOT.
5. Command a Sit Stay (or a Down Stay is even better!) in a particular predetermined spot. (Placing a small throw rug on the floor makes an identifiable and comfortable Stay location.)
6. Reward with a tasty treat.

You could try one of these to start:
A) Deliver several treats in a row, spaced 15 seconds apart, to keep her in the Stay for a moment or two before you return to the table.
B) Once she is Sitting, go back to the table and start tossing small treats to her--combine with A if you wish and give repeated treats for a moment or so. (This second choice requires a real good aim, though, or you will be drawing her out of the Sit Stay as she goes running to catch the treats that went over her head!)

7. Return to your dinner or cooking.

-If she comes toward the table, start back at #1 and repeat as often as necessary.

--If she stays in the Sit Stay, periodically toss or deliver a treat, and then return to what you were doing. The time between treats will be small at first

--whatever it takes to keep her there. It may be once every ten seconds! After weeks of practice, you start spreading the treats farther apart, until eventually, you are down to just a few, and finally just one big JackPot at the end of the long Sit Stay.

--If she gets up and wanders away (not approaching the food, table, you, etc.) just ignore.

Here are a few prerequisites and techniques that will help this go more smoothly. Work on these separately before you put it all together in the steps above.

A. Before you try the above, make sure you have trained a good Sit Stay (or Down Stay is even better) separately--not in the real situation, but in multiple training sessions. Try to work up to a 1-2 minute Stay/Down before you integrate this into the dinner-time routine.

B. Remember the throw rug--the place she will Sit or Down while you eat? Get that in place, and start feeding her her meals on that rug. If you treat her in or near the kitchen/dining area at any time, call her to that rug first. Make the rug a special place where she expects rewards.

C. You can work on desensitizing the dinner table or counter! For example, when it is not meal time, sit at the table with nothing on it. Completely ignore the pup when it comes to you. Wiggle around if necessary so she cannot climb up on you.

(Read a book or something while you're passing this time.) Sooner or later, she should get the idea that when you sit at that table and do not look at her, she is gong to get nothing--nada--zilch! And she will probably wander away, or go sit or lie somewhere close by--which is exactly what you will be trainer her to do later! Once you get this response, do your next few table sitting sessions with a can of Pepsi (or pick your poison) and a glass in front of you. Enjoy the beverage while you read or listen to music and ignore the pup. When that seems to be working, try the Pepsi and a bag of corn chips. After that, a pepsi and a sandwich.

You get the idea. Gradually load the table up with more food. Your ultimate goal--eat a hamburger without her approaching! The idea here is to make the table seem like an awfully boring place, and then to s-l-o-w-l-y add more and more food to it, while maintaining the matter-of-fact attitude that the table is nothing special. A variation of this would be to have your husband in another room while you are at the table, and he would reward her when she goes to him and far from you.

D. Finally, you might try some short "set-ups" where you sit at the table and eat a short snack at some time other than your regular meal times. Make it a five minute meal, but practice all the steps of the meal-time strategy I listed above. It is good if the pup comes to learn that when you sit to eat it is sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes foe a half hour, etc. The variable lengths will encourage compliance.

E. Finally, use management techniques to prevent the pup from getting to the table or counter when you are not watching. Keep all food items out of reach. Block off the kitchen if you have to. As with the jumping up when greeting, we don't want the dog to be on the table so we can teach it to get off, we want the dog to NEVER be climbing toward the table or counter tops in the first place.