Is your dog excited and jumping on you and other people? Dogs jumping up on guests is a very common – and frustrating – behavior. Dogs jump on you for attention and try to greet you face to face. When dogs jump, they get the attention they crave, making it super easy to accidentally reward the jump by pushing the dog down or talking to it. With consistent training, it is possible to teach your dog to stop jumping up on you or your guests.
Why do dogs jump on you?
Although we may find it rude for dogs to jump on us or our guests, it is actually a very common and natural behavior for our dogs. Even dogs with basic obedience training can have trouble controlling the impulse to jump on you. Dogs greet each other face to face, which can contribute to dogs attempting to greet us in the same way, which usually involves jumping. Although your dog is probably just trying to say hello, a jumping dog can soil your work clothes or, especially with large breed dogs, can accidentally knock someone off balance and knock someone down.
When dogs jump on you or your guests, they are looking for attention and engagement. And the engagement they get, even though we may see it as negative asking them to get off or pushing them away, can feel like play or positive attention to dogs. Therefore, even if you feel frustrated that your dog is jumping, he doesn’t understand that you want this behavior to stop. In fact, you may have accidentally rewarded the jump. Dog training can help curb your dog’s natural curious and social tendencies that lead to jumping behavior and give your dog something else to do instead of jumping.
How to Stop a Dog from Jumping
When teaching your dog not to jump up on people, have a friend or family member help you set up training opportunities so your dog can practice calm engagement. The goal is to set our dogs up for success by removing the temptation to jump. Practice greetings with your dog on a leash and have lots of high-value treats cut into small pieces.
Teach Your Dog an Alternative Jumping Behavior
The best way to prevent a dog from jumping is to teach an alternative behavior that allows you to help your dog understand what you want him to do instead of jumping. We don’t want to correct dogs for jumping. Instead, we want to proactively teach dogs an alternative behavior to jump on your guests.
Use these steps to teach your dog to stop jumping with an alternative behavior:
Step 1: Ask a friend or family member to approach you and your dog, but before he joins you, scatter a small handful of treats on the floor and encourage your dog to eat them as you briefly greet the person.
2nd step: While your dog is still eating the scattered treats, have your friend turn around and walk away without engaging with your dog. Praise your dog, and when your dog is done eating the scattered treats, get his attention with a treat in your hand, turn around, and walk the other way.
Step 3: When your dog is comfortable eating scatter treats when someone approaches and leaves, you can increase the amount of time you greet someone. To do this, repeat the steps above, then continue throwing a treat for your dog to find while you talk to the person. Then, get your dog’s attention with a treat in your hand and turn to calmly walk away.
Step 4: When your dog can comfortably eat treats thrown on the floor while you greet a person, try approaching the person by tossing treats like you have done before to calm him down. Next, if you have a social dog that likes to meet people, say, “Say hello and let your dog give the person a quick hello.” Keep the greeting short and positive, and before your dog gets too excited, toss treats again for your dog to find.
Step 5: When your dog begins to understand the game, he will watch you when you approach a person instead of jumping up. Your dog will make the connection that what is rewarded is keeping all four feet on the ground and not jumping up. As your dog improves at play, reduce the number of treats you need to throw and scatter. Eventually, start dropping treats as you greet your guests.
Time your dog’s show jumping training
The key to successfully teaching your dog not to jump is to make sure you throw treats before your dog can jump. If at any point your dog jumps on someone, don’t correct them for jumping. Instead, ask the person to ignore your dog, turn around, and walk away. Then re-engage your dog by tossing treats and have the person come closer while you continue to toss treats to reward your dog for staying down.
Although jumping is natural for dogs, it is important to teach dogs not to jump on you or your guests. A jumping dog can scare people or even knock someone down and hurt them. Jumping is rewarding for dogs, so teaching your dog not to jump on people is easier to do by giving your dog incompatible behavior to do. By throwing treats at your dog while you are talking with someone, you are rewarding your dog for keeping their feet on the ground. Over time, your dog will learn to offer to keep your feet on the ground when you greet people.