Tips to Stop Your Dog From Jumping on People

Unfortunately, jumping is a natural behavior when it comes to dogs. They love to jump on people to say hello. They love the attention that they get by jumping on people, and love greeting people face to face.

However, for most people, this behavior needs to stop. Though it may be cute with puppies, it isn’t going to be so cute when your hundred pound dog pushes you over in his or her excitement! Even a smaller dog could knock over a child or an elderly person, even hurting them in the process. You also don’t want to deal with muddy paws when you are trying to get ready to go out. Others may not want to come to your home because they don’t want to deal with your dog jumping on them!

So, what can you do to stop your puppy and dog from jumping on you (and your guests)?

The first thing that you need to do is stop rewarding the behavior. Puppies and dogs continue jumping on people because they like the attention that they get. They know if they jump up, they will get petted or even yelled at (which is still attention).

Instead, you need to ignore your dog when he or she jumps on you. You also need to let everyone else know that they can’t do anything when your dog tries to get their attention. They simply need to ignore the dog and move on.

The goal is that your dog will eventually get tired of jumping on your because he or she doesn’t get anything in return.

Teach them what to do instead. You may want to teach your dog to sit when greeting people. Only when your dog is calmly sitting, he or she will get attention.

This may take a while to teach your dog to do, so it is important to show patience throughout the whole process. You are also going to need to keep him or her on a leash whenever greeting anyone. This will give you the control that you need during training.

When you enter the room, you will want to ask your dog to sit. When he or she does, you can approach your dog. Anytime that he or she stops sitting, you should walk away and start over.

If this is too difficult, you may need to start slower. You may want to sit with your dog and give treats as an incentive. Still have the person tell your dog to sit, but you can reward the sits with treats. Eventually, they will learn to sit when someone comes into the room.

As your dog learns, you will be able to walk over and greet him or her enthusiastically. In your first few tries, you are just going to want to tip-toe over so that you don’t get your puppy too excited, but over time, your dog will learn that, as long as he or she sits, you will come over and give them plenty of attention.

Then, you can introduce new people and have them do the same thing. Every new person is going to have to make sure that your dog sits before giving him or her any attention. Soon, your dog will automatically sit when he or she wants attention!

This might work well in your home, but it can be hard when you are out and about with your dog. Not everyone is going to stay away from your dog while you are training. For this reason, you may want to have something to say to your dog to distract him or her from others. This may be “pay attention” or “watch me.”

As you are out with your dog, you are going to want to practice greeting others by sitting. Make sure that others know that they should ignore your dog when he or she is trying to jump on them. Once your dog sits nicely, they should give him or her plenty of attention.

With some serious training, you may be amazed at how quickly your dog stops jumping on others. However, you need to stick to it. If you don’t always make your dog sit to greet others, before you know it, he or she will be back to jumping on people! Every time, you need to make sure that your dog sits instead of jumping on people. You can’t slack off.

Previously published on Medium and/or Newsbreak.