How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping On People
by mylifewithpets | Last updated on October 26, 2021
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Most people view dog jumping as something completely natural.
Like it’s just the way it is and nothing can be done to change it.
We disagree.
Dogs jumping on people will often hurt them or knock them down, particularly if it’s a larger dog.
Or, at least, get dirt on their clothes.
Before we taught our dogs how to stop jumping on people, some of our friends were afraid to visit, because they didn’t feel safe with the greeting our dogs would give them when they arrived.
Dogs jump on people because they’re excited and there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s only a matter of channeling that excitement to other options that aren’t so inconvenient.
The Reason Dogs Jump on People
In order to change this behavior, you must first understand why dogs do it.
The first and main reason why dogs jump on people is excitement.
He’s just so happy to see you!!
Even if you’ve only been gone an hour or less, he’s just a happy boy because you’re home.
Also, dogs may jump on you when they want your undivided attention.
He wants you to focus on him, to interact with him and, preferably, never leave his side ever.
He also wants to sniff every inch of you to know where you’ve been, so he needs to jump on you to get to the higher places, right?
Maybe he just wants to give you sloppy kisses because he loves you and you’re the center of his life.
Overall, his intentions are very good and noble, it’s just the action itself that needs correcting.
You Need the Right Equipment
At first, we knew we wanted to train our dogs to stop jumping, but we had no idea how to actually do it.
Everything we tried failed and both we and our dogs were getting seriously frustrated.
And that’s when a friend told us about Adrienne and her online dog training course.
We are firm believers ins positive reinforcement-based dog training, we don’t believe punishment or fear will help a dog understand what you want from him in any way. And we think that’s why we loved Adrienne’s online course so much!
Plus, ours dogs responded very well to training after we started following her tips.
But we still needed something to mark the behavior, to make our dogs know when to pay attention to our commands.
And nothing does that job as perfectly as a clicker.
We are big fans of the clicker.
Clicker training is very efficient and having your dog associate the action you’re training him to perform to the click sound only makes is simpler for him to understand.
When training your dog to stop jumping on people, you’ll want to use the clicker every time your dogs does what he’s suppose to.
Each time he stops jumping, sits or ignores the person he’s training with, you’ll want to use the clicker so he’ll associate that behavior with the sound.
If the clicker is not your thing, you can always use treats to reward your dog’s good behavior.
Each time he obeys or as soon as he stops jumping, reward him with a tasty treat and make sure he’ll want to do it again and again.
How to Train a Dog to Stop Jumping on You
Well, by now you’ve probably realized that yelling, punishing or pulling the dog isn’t the way to teach your dog to stop jumping on you.
It’s actually much simpler than that.
While the steps are simple enough, consistency is the key for success.
So, if you’re ready for it, let’s do this!
Step 1 – Just Ignore Your Dog
It’s really this simple.
He’s jumping to get your attention so, if that doesn’t happen, he’ll realize that jumping just doesn’t work.
By ignoring we mean, no talking, no petting, no eye contact, nothing.
Ideally you can even turn your back on him for full effect.
And, if he tries to go around you, just turn again and walk away.
Do this for as long and as often as it takes for him to give up and stay still, ideally sit. Once he does, greet him, rewarding the intended behavior.
After a few days of consistently doing this, he’ll learn what you expect him to do and start doing it by himself.
But remember! If at some point he decides to bend the rules and try his luck by jumping again, start all over!
Step 2 – Teach your dog to sit
Now that your dog knows how to stay still, you’ll want him to sit and wait.
Again, remember to reward your dog each time he does sit, even if it’s for a short while. Pick his favorite reward and use it.
Repeat it as often as you can to make sure he learns what’s expected of him.
This will make a huge difference on your daily routine because, from now on, each time you know someone is coming to visit, get your dog to sit before they even enter the house.
Also, get your dog to sit as soon as you walk in the door from now on.
Only after he does this will you greet him and reward his behavior.
Step 3 – Stop your dog from jumping on people
This is the real test to your training, getting your dog not to jump on guests.
Get a volunteer from your family or group or friends to go in and out of your home a few times, always going by your dog closely.
If your dog jumps on the volunteer, get him or her to try the first step we mentioned and ignore him.
Also, as you’ve done in Step 1, he should reward him each time your dog doesn’t jump, even if he just hesitates, it still shows improvement and rewarding him will let him know that’s what’s expected of him.
Repeat this exercise for as many times as it takes for your dog to do it on his own.
Only then will you take him outside to practice.
Ask your volunteer to walk up to you from a place your dog won’t see him or her at a distance.
Watch how your dog behaves and reinforce the exercise if necessary, repeating it as much as necessary.
Once he behaves according to your goal by not jumping on your volunteer whenever he sees them, it’s time to start doing it with other people, in different locations.
It’s a win win situation, your dog will love the socializing and you’re doing a great job at training him not to jump.
How Can You Teach Your Dog ANYTHING!
Training dogs is all about understanding how their minds work and how they learn, once you understand that, you’ll be able to teach your dog anything you want.
But even though we love our dogs, we’re not dog trainers so naturally, most of the times, we don’t know what to do to get the results we need.
And, for most people (us included) getting an expensive dog trainer to work with us just isn’t an option and the bottom line is: trainers don’t teach the dog, they show you how to work with your dog for results.
And that’s exactly what Adrienne, as a certified trainer, did for us with her online training course.
Needless to say, we strongly recommend this online training course. It’s easy enough to follow and it really changed our relationship with our dogs. It also allowed us to help so many people who, like us, struggle to train their dogs in order to live a happier life with their pets…
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