Stop your Dog Jumping on People

Before you work on how to stop your dog jumping on people, you need to know the reason why they are doing it. There are several possible reasons:

Dominance

By jumping up on you or other people a dog could be trying to assert its dominance. It could believe it is the alpha dog. If this is the case you will need to work on teaching the dog that you are the pack leader.

Excitement

A dog may jump up in an excited greeting to you or visitors.

Attention

A dog may jump up in order to get your attention. If you shout at it or even push it away it may see this as part of a game and jump up even more. Try some of the techniques below to stop your dog jumping on people.

How to stop your dog jumping on people

There are several options to deal with this. If for example your dog becomes excited and starts jumping up when you return home, try completely ignoring the dog for the first 5 or 10 minutes when you get home. If the dog jumps up stand still, don’t react at all and try to ignore it or turn and try walking away, At first the jumping might get worse as the dog continues to try and get your attention, but eventually it will stop and the jumping up should lessen each time you try it. Make yourself a cup of coffee or anything just to stop yourself from paying attention to the dog. Once the dog is calm, then is the time to say hello and offer praise, but in a casual manner so as not to get the dog too excited.

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If your dog is jumping on visitors you can try asking them to ignore the dog when they first arrive. Most people will find this incredibly difficult and you will need to brief them beforehand as to exactly what you want them to do – ie, they shouldn’t look at, talk or touch the dog until it is calm. Tell them if the dog does jump up then they should stand still or turn and walk away saying nothing and ignoring the dog.

Teach your dog the “Off” command to stop your dog jumping on people

As described above, when your dog jumps up ignore it, try standing still or if the dog is persistent turn and walk the other way. When your dog stops jumping and gets down say the word “off” and praise and treat. Eventually the dog will work out that jumping does not get it what it wants and will stop.

Create a diversion to stop your dog jumping on people

You can also try diversionary techniques to stop your dog jumping up – try asking the dog to sit when it is jumping up, reward and praise when it sits. You can also try catching the dog just before it is about to jump by throwing a treat or favourite toy on the floor, ask the dog to find it thereby diverting its attention to the treat/toy. Eventually the dog will be waiting for the treat or toy rather than jumping up.

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