Dealing with Jumping

A well behaved dog can be a pleasure to owners and visitors alike. However, if your dog leaps up on visitors and covers them with muddy paw prints or jumps up and topples small children, he will become a source of frustration.

There are several reasons dogs jump up. Some smaller dogs want to get closer to the people they jump on. Some are just overly friendly. Still others want to help themselves to a child’s snack. Also, some dogs have learned to jump up because they learned tricks like dancing and begging, which can be easily converted to jumping behavior. Fortunately, most dogs can be quickly cured of the annoying and messy habit of jumping on people.

If your dog is jumping up on you when you enter the house, he is doing this so that he can get close to your face to say hello. When you enter the house, kneel down and greet your dog so that he doesn’t feel the need to jump up. If you are unable to greet him immediately because you are carrying a small child or always enter the house loaded down, you may want to crate him or confine him to a part of the house away from the door so that you can go to him and greet him without encumbrances.

If your dog is just constantly jumping up throughout the day, you will have to train him not to jump up. The next time your dog starts to jump on you, pivot away and raise your knee to gently bump him away from your body. Repeat this each time he tries to jump. Since he will not be rewarded with his desired goal, which is to rest his paws on your body, he will soon stop trying to jump on you. Never reward him by patting him if he manages to jump up on you.

Finally, you will need to teach your dog not to jump on visitors. For this, you will need a leash and training collar , as well as two volunteers. Have one of your volunteers wait outside and have one volunteer inside to answer the door. Put your dog on the leash and place him in a sitting position at your side. The volunteer who is outside should knock on the door and the volunteer inside should answer the door. Your dog should remain in a sitting position. If not, gently but firmly correct him with a quick tug of the leash and return him to a sitting position and then release him. Gradually increase the amount of time the dog sits and waits to be greeted until the visitor reaches him and bends down to greet him. Make sure you have friends greet your dog soon after they arrive so he does not become uncontrollably excited from a lengthy wait. Always have the visitors stoop to his level, so he does not feel the need to jump up. If your dog occasionally forgets himself and starts to jump on visitors, he may need a quick refresher course.

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