BehavioRx Case of the Month
for November 2001

A 4 month old female Labrador Retriever was, as the owners described her, "uncontrollable" whenever she met people. The puppy, "Sparkle," would yelp and jump on visitors to the home or people she met during walks. When they came home from work Sparkle jumped wildly at them, too. The couple were expecting their first child in two months and felt the dog would be dangerous to have around the new mother and baby if they couldn't stop her unbridled enthusiasm.

Their veterinarian reported that Sparkle was in excellent health. She was fed a popular premium puppy food twice a day.

When we met Sparkle, she was in rare form, straining on her leash and jumping at me with such force I suggested that Geoff drop the leash, lest she injure her neck or throat. He did, and Sparkle came running toward me. I quickly tossed one of my Bio-Sonic Beanbags down in front of her. She stopped, looked down at it, and I told Geoff to tell her "Good Dog." He did; and she turned to look at him, then spun around to face me again. I tossed another beanbag at her feet, and told her "Good dog" when she looked down again at it. I crouched down and petted her on the throat while picking up the beanbag. Sparkle stayed down. I stood up and Sparkle again looked like she was plotting another jump, so I tossed the beanbag down again and praised her when she looked down. She stayed down, and actually calmed down noticeably. I crouched and petted her again, She sniffed my face and gave me a puppy lick. We were friends, it seemed.

Lillian had been watching all this and asked, "What on earth is in the red bag?" As soon as she spoke, Sparkle ran toward her, obviously planning another jump. Before she got to Lillian, I tossed a beanbag down at Sparkle's rear feet. She spun and looked at it. I told Lillian to praise her, which she did. Sparkle, to our surprise, sat down and looked at Lillian. Lillian again praised and petted her. Sparkle, for the moment, was de-jumped.

We all sat down on our patio chairs and discussed Sparkle's daily routine and the steps they had taken to try to stop the jumping, which had been just about everything ever printed in any book, from kneeing Sparkle in the chest, stepping on her rear paws, even bribing her to sit with a treat. As we conversed, Sparkle ambled about the area to sniff it out, then lay down next to Geoff for a nap. She was certainly not hyper-kinetic, but certainly was hyper-social, when it came to meeting new people or greeting her owners. We explained the principles of the ultrasound produced by the high-brass links in the beanbag; i.e., when it lands on the ground, or is given a quick shake in the hand, its noise triggers an 'investigatory reflex,' causing an interruption in whatever the dog is thinking about, such as jumping up.

Lillian and Geoff seemed anxious to try it themselves, so we left Sparkle outside and went into the training studio out of earshot so they could practice handling the beanbags properly. We then went out to join Sparkle, who was in fine form again, running toward Geoff, who greeted her with a beanbag tossed at her front feet. She stopped, Geoff praised, and she then ran toward Lillian, who tossed her beanbag, whereupon Sparkle stopped and picked up the Bio-Sonic beanbag and ran away with it. "Praise her," I said. Both Geoff and Lillian shouted "Good dog," and Sparkle dropped the beanbag and rushed back to Lillian, but just stood in front of her. I then suggested we all sit down to develop a total program to help Sparkle control her enthusiasm.

They were anxious to learn to teach commands with the Bio-Sonic beanbags, as well as stop the jumping and unruliness. However, we explained they would need to practice the technique without Sparkle when they got home, then use it to teach her to come to the panic command "Koy." In the meantime, we noticed that Sparkle tended to overreact whenever we so much as looked as if we were going to get up. She had been well socialized. They took her out almost daily, where she met and jumped on nearly everyone, non-stop. Sparkle just didn't seem to lose her enthusiasm about meeting people.

Since her current diet was high in carbohydrates, we suggested they investigate one of the high protein diets, such as Wysong's canine/feline canned raw meat, Steve's Real Food for Dogs or Natura Pet's California Natural Canned.

Sparkle was also spending most of her days and nights in a crate, which denied her any opportunity for spontaneous physical activity, even a good stretch after sleeping, which puppies crave. During the following week they brought her crate into their bedroom and left the door open, after following our "puppy proofing the house" instructions. To their surprise (and relief) Sparkle didn't do any destructive chewing or make a single mess. Further, her excitement when they came home diminished dramatically by the fifth day after they followed the BehavioRx instructions for Separation Anxiety. Using the Bio-Sonic Beanbags during their outings to correct the jumping on people was successful within a week. When last we heard, Mother, Father, their six-month old daughter Laura, and Sparkle were getting along happily.

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