Do You Think:

• Dog jumping up can be – Annoying?
• Dog jumping up can be – Dangerous?

A dog that jumps on you to greet you is a nuisance at best, and can cause injury to you or a guest at worst. Jumping can also be seen as an act of aggression by your guest, who may then react as if they are going to be attacked. Depending upon the size of your dog, injury or damage to clothing may occur by your dog just trying to welcome you home.

Why Do Dogs Jump On People – Roots Of The Problem

The best way to get a handle on this behavior is to stop it while the dog is a puppy. What is cuter than your sweet little puppy greeting your return back to the pack with exuberance? He is so glad to see you; he can’t contain his joy. You are so glad to see him too! So, he is jumping to greet you because he is small and you are so big, he wants to reach your face, lick you, smell you, just in general give you a great big dog greeting.

Cute as this is when your dog is just a puppy; the behavior will be unwelcomed as he grows. So the best plan is to stop the jumping right now. To be successful, you need to train your puppy and everyone else in the house. If you are being good, and training the puppy not to jump, but someone else in the house allows the joyful jumping at homecoming time, your success will be limited. It is essential that everyone is on board. In the initial training stages, you will need to reinforce appropriate greeting behaviors to any guests visiting your home. While this sounds like a lot of work, the reward will be a well behaved dog for the rest of his life.

How To Avoid and Correct Dog Jumping

One easy way to help stop the jumping is to greet the dog on their level. Bending down to greet them will give you a head start on helping your dog greet you eye to eye.  If he still decides to jump, you must stop the behavior with a firm “off” and then reward him when he complies.

This might be an appropriate time to take about rewards for your dog. While food treats are an option, I am more in favor of positive reinforcement in the form of keeping the dog in the pack. Unless you are going to keep treats in your pocket at all times, you will want to save those for special times. You are the alpha of the pack, and therefore can banish the dog from the pack for wrong doing.

Dogs love to be part of the pack, so when your dog is showing the appropriate behavior, speak to him with a gentle, higher pitched voice, pet him and let him know he is loved. When he is showing an inappropriate behavior, speak to him in a harsh voice, turn your back on him, and send him from the pack. Do not use his crate as a punishment, if that is going to be his place to sleep or stay when you are away.

Puppies have little short attention spans, so patience and consistence is the key to any training that you do.  You are actually going to work on two different commands. Your puppy will need to learn “sit” and “off”.

Sit is probably the most useful command your dog of any age can learn.  It is much easier to teach this to a puppy, but any age dog can learn. The easiest way is to teach your dog both a verbal and a visual clue for these commands. Our dogs sit to the visual clue of the “loser” L sign. That was not my idea I assure you, but once the clue was learned we have continued to use it. So while you will read about the appropriate hand cues to use, any cue will do.

How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping

Everyone in the house will need to know both the verbal and visual cue. You may need to help your pup or dog into the sitting position for the first time or two, so they know what you want. Gentle pressure on the hind quarter is the way to go. In a firm voice (so your dog knows this is not to be ignored) tell your dog to sit while giving the visual cue. When he sits lavish him with praise, pet him, and talk to him in a “happy” voice. He has pleased the alpha member of the pack. His life is good at this point, and he will be encouraged to repeat the behavior. Some folks use food as a positive reward, and then back off on the treats as the behavior is learned and becomes ingrained in the dog

The other command to teach is “off”. While you might be tempt to say “down” you might want that command later as you teach your new best friend some tricks. When your dog is jumping, say in a firm voice, “down,” and give a hand cue such as putting your hand out palm down at about waist level. Never make a threatening gesture toward the dog, or move your hand in such a way that the dog will perceive it as a threat. This cue is only to give an additional sign to the dog that you want his attention. When he stops jumping, it is time for praise. Initially, your gentle voice may give the dog the signal that he is back in the pack, and it is okay to jump again. Just repeat the steps and he will get the message.

Training your dog to have acceptable house and guest manners takes time and patience. The end reward is so worth all the effort! A great loyal friend that is a joy to be around and will behave when guests are around is a true gift!

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