Stop Dog From Jumping In Four Steps

If you want to stop dog from jumping on people, understand his reasons, then use these four simple guidelines for training.

You know your dog isn't jumping on people to be aggressive; he doesn't want to scare anyone or hurt them. However, it's an embarrassing situation. Also, it can be dangerous, especially if you have a large dog. His jumping habits could easily knock someone over, and it frightens people.

Your dog may respond well to almost every other aspect of training, yet he still won't listen when it comes to this issue.

To the dog, there are good reasons for this behavior, and it comes naturally to him, so it's hard for him to understand that it's upsetting you. Part of the temptation is this: When dogs greet one another, they like to be on the same level, and they may sniff one another's faces. Subordinate dogs especially want to be able to lick the face of the dominant animal.

A subordinate animal, especially, wants to show his respect for the dominant animal. Even though you're not a dog, of course, you are the most dominant animal he knows. But you're also much taller than him, thus he jumps up.

A contributing factor to this problem is your dog's excitement when you arrive home or when he meets someone new. Not only is he excited and happy to see the person, all that jumping around gets him even more excited. Just as children have a harder time listening and obeying when they're very excited, so do dogs.

The first step you should take towards properly addressing this issue is helping to lower his excitement at the arrival of a human being. If you can help him make a habit of being calmer, he'll be much better able to focus on your instructions.

To do this, don't encourage his excitement when you arrive home, yourself. Don't say greet him or pet him when you walk in the door; wait about ten minutes, and praise him for waiting.

Another thing that helps is for you to bend down to your dog when you do greet him. This shows him he doesn't have to jump up--if you want to be close to him, you can bend down. During the process of saying hello, praise him repeatedly so long as he isn't jumping.

The third step is to extend this habit of calm behavior. Keep rough-housing to a minimum. Teach him to play more gently, so he won't think there's a connection between being rough and being happy all the time. Wrestling and tug of war are over stimulating; try fetching or playing hide and seek with toys.

Most important, finally, train your dog to respond to the command to sit. Not only that, use the command every single day, whenever it is appropriate. Praise him enthusiastically when he obeys. It's easier sometimes to teach a dog to do one thing, rather than to teach him not to do something else. He might understand that "No" means you're unhappy, but remember, he's a dog: He can't figure out causes the same way a person can. But if you give him a command that he does understand, two things happen. First, the bad behavior stops, because he's sitting down. Second, he can pay attention better because he's calmer.

The key to changing a dog's behavior is to understand why he is misbehaving; along with these four techniques, you'll succeed.