Stop Your Dog from Jumping Up

Remember that it is natural for the dog to want to lick our faces as proper greeting behavior & as a way of showing respect. So getting mad at the dog for jumping up will only make it worse as he will work harder to show his submission to you!

A large part of the reward for the dog when jumping up is the attention he receives from the person. Just about ANY reaction (shoving, yelling, pushing, etc.) is attention and therefore reinforcing. It is best to ignore the behavior as much as possible - make it STOP WORKING as an attention getter!

Also, realize that the excitement of the greeting is what sets off many dogs. So, do your best to keep your greeting behavior as low key & quiet as possible!

1. First, until your dog is reliably sitting or standing when greeting people, tell everyone to just turn aside when he jumps up, and then to walk away. They must be sure to give the dog NO ATTENTION for that behavior any more.

2. Have as many people as you can help out by coming in the door to greet him (with treats if you like).

3. You should kneel on the floor next to him at first, helping him to hold his sit (or stand).

4. The people (coming in only one at a time) should quietly greet him, and gently pet/give treats as long as he remains sitting. If he jumps up, then they should turn away, ignoring him until you let them know that he has all four paws back on the ground & has settled. Having the people crouch to greet him will help a lot!

5. The more people you can get to help, and the more times you can practice it, the better. You want your dog to learn that jumping up no longer works to get attention. Rather, keeping his paws on the ground now does work!

6. You can also try the "Door Trick" (Thanks to trainer Leslie Nelson for sharing this!)

• Have your dog on a 4 - 6' leash.
• Have a friend knock & come through a door (inside or outside). Let your dog jump up if he wants to.
• If he does, then the friend should yelp and turn away (removing her attention), while you very matter-of-factly shove your dog out the door, keeping hold of the leash so the door shuts on the leash (your dog should have some slack in the leash on the other side of the door).
• Count to 5.
• Open the door up & try again, repeating as many times as needed.
• Remember that you may need to repeat this with quite a few different people until he really gets the point!
• If and when your dog doesn't jump up, then your friend should greet & briefly & quietly pet him!

Be sure that your dog's buckle collar is on snugly so he doesn't slip out of it when he's on the other side of the door! Don't do this with the leash attached to a choke collar!

7. The key to all this is really consistency. If sometimes the dog jumps up & is allowed then he will learn that is okay to do so and will only be confused. Remember, ANY response other than ignoring him is attention, which is reinforcing even if negative. The hard part is usually getting all family members to play along. Good luck!