Stop your dog from jumping up

This is such a simple fix, I imagine this blog will be one of my shortest!

You know why our dogs jump up on us…..? Because we have inadvertantly taught them to.

Think what we do when we come home after being away for a few hours, and our dog greets us at the door. The dog is excited to see us and we are standing there with outstretched arms and a high pitched “helllooooo buddy!’ The dog jumps up towards our inviting arms and then we give him a good old cuddle. The jump has been reinforced by our stroking and loving him all over. He reads our reaction as approval of his behaviour, so he will do it again next time, perhaps with even more vigour. This behaviour becomes conditioned with every new person that walks in the door.

If your dog is small and cute its even more likely that he will be greeted by over enthisiastic humans. You won’t mind him jumping up because he is not big enough to do any serious damage like knocking someone over. So small dogs tend to be the worst jumpers because they have never been asked not to. The owners of big dogs tend to take a little more responsibility, since someone could end up getting hurt if they are knocked down. However it is just as important to teach your dog some manners, whatever their size. Having some rules and boundaries will make him calmer and more obedient.

How to stop it

I find aversive tactics the most effective. Some trainers will train the dog with only positive reinforcement methods: rewards for ‘4 paws on the floor’ and not jumping up. I find this laborious, and the dogs, slow to learn. Jumping up is simply unacceptable behaviour that should not be allowed. Disagree with it. (Read my blog ‘Is Positive Reinforcement the Best Way to Train Your Dog’) You don’t want your dog figuring out that to get a treat all he has to do it jump on you and then get down again!

1. Walk into the dog to put him off balance. Make it uncomfortable for him. If everybody did the same, the dog would soon learn that there is no benefit .

2. Put your hands below your waist in a ‘stop’ position. The dog may think twice about jumping up if you are blocking the space it wants to jump into.

3. Put a lead on the dog when you are expecting guests and give a little tug if your dog motions to jump up on them.

Demonstrating how to walk into the dog to put it off balance

It is usually an overexcited dog who jumps up, and although there are many of you out there who enjoy it, the reason I say teach him not to jump is so it doesn’t get you into trouble with other people. Say the dog knocked them over and caused injury, or dirtied their white jeans? And as i mentioned before, its also good for the dog to respect some boundaries (personal space). If he jumped on another dog in this fashion, he might well end up getting bitten. By letting them jump on us we are saying, ‘you dont’t have to respect me’.

The only time I would advocate (and even encourage) a dog to jump up on me is if he is by nature shy or scared. The jumping up in this case would signal that he was confident and trusting enough to come greet you. The jumping would be gentle and polite. Entirely different from an overstimulated dog with high energy.

And if you are having a bout of play with your dog, you can most certainly invite him to jump up. But only when YOU have initiated it.

 

 

 

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