How to stop your dog’s rude jumping behaviors

Dogs jump for a variety of reasons. Regardless of why, a jumping dog can be not only rude or annoying but potentially dangerous.

Jumping is an attention seeking behavior, a behavior that’s easily rewarded by negative attention like lifting a knee or pushing the dog away. Negative attention is still attention.

While there are many ways to supposedly stop a dog’s jumping, no method is as successful and humane as this: Ignore your dog!

1. Turn away and ignore your dog. Stand up if you are sitting down and walk away. Do not look at, speak to or touch your dog.

2. Once your dog is able to settle down, relax and remain still, reward them by greeting them calmly.

Repeat these two steps as needed. With patience and consistency, you will condition your dog’s behavior each time to become less frequent until it extinguishes. Your goal is to send a clear message that jumping does not get attention and being calm does.

If new people coming into the house are exciting to your dog, I recommend putting a sign on your door as a reminder to your guests and yourself. I provide every new client (or encourage them to put up their own) with a sign that reads:

“Welcome to our home!
We are currently in the process of training our dog(s).
Please ignore the dog(s) for 5 minutes after entering.
DO NOT make eye contact, touch them, or talk to them.
Please only pet when the dog(s) are sitting or lying down calmly.
If a dog jumps on you, turn away, walk away & ignore.
This will help minimize unwanted behavior. Thank you for your participation!”