Jumping                                                                         

Dogs jump for two reasons in my opinion:  

The first reason is to get attention and affection.
Dogs learn early on that jumping gets attention.  Most people make eye contact, push, talk to and back away from a dog who is jumping on them.  All of these things are attention to a dog so the dog jumps over and over again.  

The second reason is more out of control and dominance.
Some dogs jump more for control.  Coming into your space with excited or intense energy followed by jumping on the human reinforces to the dog that the human “belongs” to them.  

Tips to stop or prevent jumping on you:

  • If you think your dog is about to jump you should step forward into the dog.  
  • If your dog is a jumper you should have them drag a leash around.  When they jump you grab the leash and give a correction to the side and then gently apply pressure with the leash in the up direction until the dog sits and settles.  Then walk away.
  • Have your dog sit before you pet them.  
  • Never give affection to a jumping dog.  This means no touch, no talk and no eye contact.  
  • Always claim your space.  Your dog should only be allowed in your space when you invite them.
  • Never move backwards when a dog jumps on you. 
  • Make sure your dog is exercised daily
  • Turning away may work on dogs jumping with low excitement or dogs just looking for attention.  
  • Turning away when the dog is intense, excited or controlling will make it worse.
  • You must be calm and confident when practicing these tips
  • Be consistent  

Tips to stop and prevent jumping on others:

  1. Walk up to a person with your dog on a leash.
  2. Have the person ignore the dog and wait for the dog to calm. 
  3. Put the dog in a sit or down.
  4. Now you and the person can interact with the dog but if he gets up from his sit you are to stop touching him, put him back in a sit and ignore him until he calms. 
  5. Repeat until the dog stays seated through an entire greeting.

Consistency is the key to this exercise as dogs learn and unlearn patterns very quickly.  The more you repeat it the quicker your dog will understand.