Stop Dog Jumping
Dogs jumping up on people is one of the things that owners complain about most often. It’s sometimes part of a pattern of undisciplined juvenile behavior that can end with a young dog being turned in to an animal shelter.
However, it’s not hard to stop dog jumping with a few simple lessons.
Training Your Dog To Stop Jumping
Before you start training your dog to stop jumping your dog needs to know at least one important obedience command. He needs to know how to sit when you tell him to do so. Practice this lesson on leash at first. Then, once your dog is obeying you consistently on leash, start practicing the sit command with your dog off-leash. At first you should practice in small areas without distractions and later you can practice in larger areas with some distractions added to test your dog. If your dog will sit reliably for you when you tell him to then you have a good chance of maintaining control of him when he starts to jump up on you or someone else.
The stay command will also help you keep your dog in place once you have taught him to sit.
Teaching your dog to sit and sit-stay is sometimes enough to discourage the jumping behavior. After practicing the sit off-leash, try giving your dog the sit command when he tries to jump up on you. You may find that your dog immediately goes into the sit and behaves himself.
If the sit command by itself is not enough to stop your dog’s jumping, there are some other ways to stop dog jumping.
Ignoring Your Dog
One of the easiest ways to stop your dog’s jumping is by ignoring him when he does it. This means that you don’t speak to your dog, don’t touch him, don’t even push him away. Just ignore him and walk away. Many dogs jump on people to demand attention. When you refuse to give them any they will give up this attempt to mug you since they’re not getting what they want. If you yell at your dog or push him away, you are giving your dog attention, even if it’s negative attention, and your dog will continue to jump on you.
In order for this method to work you have to make sure that everyone in your household is following it. If someone in your family is still interacting with your dog when he jumps on them, this approach won’t work.
Hold Your Dog’s Paws
If you have a large dog who jumps on you, you can try this method. When your dog jumps up on you, grab his paws and hold them. Just hold them. Don’t do anything else. Being kept in this position will quickly become uncomfortable for your dog and he will want down. Hold your dog’s paws longer than he likes so this is a unpleasant experience for him. Then let him go. If you do this whenever your big dog jumps up on you, your dog should quickly decide that he doesn’t enjoy jumping up anymore.
This method doesn’t really work with small dogs since their paws won’t reach up to your arms and chest for you to hold them.
Door Training
You can also teach your dog to have good manners at your door. Have a friend help you with this training. Put your dog on his leash to help you with the training. Your friend should ring your doorbell or knock on the door. When this happens your dog will probably have some reaction. He may get excited and run for the door. You should give your dog a command at this point. It’s up to you what command you choose. You can tell your dog to sit at a spot a few feet away from the door. You can tell your dog to “go to his place” such as his dog bed. You can tell your dog to come and sit by your side. The choice is yours. Choose where you would like your dog to go when someone comes to the door. Then work on training your dog to go to this place.
When your friend rings the bell, give your dog the command you have chosen: sit, come, heel, go to your place — whatever command is appropriate. If the command is “go to your place” you’ll need to walk your dog to his place (such as his dog bed) and reward him for being there. He will need to learn the stay command to stay there until you release him. If the command is sit, then you can work on teaching your dog to sit calmly by the door or by your side. With enough practice your dog will learn where to go when the bell rings or there is a knock on the door and he should keep his place when people enter the house without jumping on them.