Jumping Boston Terrier

by Jon
(SF, CA)

We adopted a five year old BT who jumps up and down, in front of me, typically about 5 ft high, when I am about to leave the house. We've tried scolding him, ignoring him, flipping him on his back, to no effect. If I turn my back on him, he continues to hop up and down, bumping into my butt in the process. Its so bad I have to sneak out. Any advice?

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Jumping Boston Terrier

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Sep 23, 2011

NO SCOLDING AT ALL
by: Anonymous

I am a boston mom as well. I know the amount of energy they can build if they dont get enough exercise. Here is what I do with my 18 months old pup which has probably more energy than your 5 yrs old but it perfectly works. If I need to leave the house for several hours. I take her for a 30-40 min walk. I would run with her for the first 10 min because it releases her energy. Then we walk normally. ( Because of short nose bostons cant run more than 10 min, they will get horrible shortness of breath so make sure you are mindful of it). By the time we come back home, she is ready to eat and rest. I would get ready to leave meanwhile I put her food and water as well as few kong toys filled with some kibbles and as she is eating I leave quietly. Of course I do this in the morning and evening when I go out. If it is in the middle of the day, I fill her kong toys with treats and kibbles and the minute before I am leaving I leave them on the floor. She wouldnt pay any attention to anything except eating those treats!
You can also put few kibbles on the floor in the area she is supposed to stay so that distracts her from following you and getting overly excited. Bostons and dogs in general would not come down quickly when they become excited, it takes time. SO do not expect your boston comes down with your command quickly. The dog sees you are leaving and the degree of excitement goes up gradually. So it takes some other ways to incorporate in order to prevent that out of control energy level. Hope it helps.

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