Training Tips for Your Jumping Dog

Training Tip from Andrew (Andrew@dog-dayz.com: I often get asked about dogs that jump on their owners or dogs that jump on house guests or about dogs that jump on everyone. 

More often than not, dogs are jumping on people because that's what we trained them to do. Every time the dog jumps on someone and receives a pat on the head, a full-on petting, even eye contact or words, the dog MAY be receiving exactly what it was looking for - your attention.

Rather than go straight to punishing your dog if it happens to be a jumper, I usually tell people to try "unrewarding" the behavior. Fixing any dog behavior is all about getting into a dog's head and asking "is this behavior working for the dog"?

Remember, if you're talking to your dog or looking at it, the dog may still be getting the reward it's after.

There are a few basic, pain-free solutions to change this troublesome behavior:

1) When he jumps on you, turn away slowly and completely ignore the dog until it tries an alternate behavior (like standing on all fours or sitting). You can acknowledge the dog only when it is doing what you want it to do.

2) Direct the dog into an alternate behavior like sit - this can be difficult if your dog is extremely hyper.

3) Get your friends and guests in on your project. Send out an e-mail or a text message to guests letting them know not to reward this behavior on accident. If the dog finds success anywhere, it makes the habit hard to break.

4) If you must, restrain your dog with a leash when you are having guests. You want to try your best to be perfect at not allowing your dog to jump. Every time your dog jumps up, that behavior has been reinforced.

5) Stay calm and practice the "no touch, no talk, no eye contact" rule until your dog is behaving in a way you want to reward.

6) While your dog is learning, it may help to approach your dog while bringing yourself lower to the ground. . As it gets the hang of not needing to jump you can begin approaching in your normal way and rewarding the appropriate behavior

Good luck and happy training. As you probably know by now, training your dog is a life-long project that doesn't end after class. Enjoy the ride.

E-mail me at Andrew@dog-dayz.com if you have any questions or want to set up a time to work on some drills to get your pup to stop jumping.