The jumping has got to Stop…Here’s how to do it.

Excited jumping is a major problem, but it starts out innocently enough. Dogs like attention and eye contact - it’s actually ingrained into their DNA. Fun fact, there’s actually been studies that show dogs actually know the difference between humans who are blindfolded versus not blindfolded(1). Eye contact is the most basic social cue, so early on, puppies know you can’t resist their puppy dog eyes and they will reach up towards us to get attention and eye contact. Yeah, they’re totally manipulating you, btw. That then develops into jumping – as young puppies its not a big deal and we may even find it cute, but as they get bigger, it becomes a problem. Suddenly Fluffy is 85lbs and that’s a lot of floof to be hurdling towards you. By giving puppies attention when they reach for us, we have actually rewarded what is probably the most common ‘bad’ behavior I see come to my facility. 

At the end of the day, jumping is all about attention! And even negative attention counts – such as yelling, correcting them and even pushing them off (some dogs may interpret pushing as getting petted). So the best way to remedy this is to redirect their behavior into something positive. 

For your dog Jumping = attention. So we will make a better behavior = attention.

My go-to is Sit! Most dogs know sit, and it’s the first thing I train in my basic obedience, so we can start using it immediately as a redirected behavior. 

Jumping is our unwanted behavior.

Ah! Ah! Is our correction word.

 Yes!/Click! (with a clicker) is our Marker word = Good Dog!

 Sit! is our redirected behavior.

If your dog jumps on you, say Ah! Ah! And step back, (don’t push them, just make it to where they’re not having contact with you), and then when all their feet are all on the floor Click!/Yes to mark that you want them on the ground. Then ask for Sit! to redirect them from jumping. Mark and reward for the sit. Then (this is important) pet and love on your dog, give them the attention they want – ask long as they’re sitting or all paws on the ground! 

If you want this to work, you have to be consistent and everyone in the household must do this. It’s also important that you teach your dog – and visitors – that your dog must be sitting before they get attention. This is also when you are walking your dog outside and meeting new people. 

You’ll know its working when your dog does a “kangaroo” jump, where they get excited, go to jump and then stop themselves and sit down instead. Always reward the auto sit with pets & love. 

If you need help with these behaviors - please feel free to book an appointment for an in person training session at Gotta Love Dog Training. Until then Happy Training! - KB

References:

(1)Persson, M. E., Roth, L. S., Johnsson, M., Wright, D., & Jensen, P. (2015). Human-directed social behaviour in dogs shows significant heritability. Genes, Brain, and Behavior, 14(4), 337–44. https://doi.org/10.1111/gbb.12194