How to Prevent a Dog From Jumping

A jumping dog can startle guests and be embarrassing for you as a dog owner. Teaching your dog how to properly greet people prevents them from feeling wary of your dog and helps to eliminate nervousness of any guests who may not feel comfortable with dogs. Follow these steps to prevent your dog from jumping on people who come to see you.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Treats

1. Make sure your dog understands how to sit on command. Use treats as a reward and put your dog into the sitting position while you say "sit" if he is not doing it as well as you would like. Practice this periodically as a refresher.
2. Understand why your dog is jumping so you know what the trigger is and can be sure to not accidentally reinforce it. This includes petting or pushing the dog away when he jumps as often dogs interpret this as play. Instead you must not react in any way--even looking at your dog--when he jumps and specifically reward him when he doesn't jump. When using a leash to help you train your dog not to jump, having tension in the leash or pulling backward in an attempt to restrain can just make him pull harder.
3. Teach your dog to sit when people come into your home or up to you outside. Begin by holding your dog by the collar or have her on a leash to assist in getting her to sit when you know someone is coming or you see them approaching. Tell your dog to "sit" as you open the door and have a treat ready to use as a reward. Keep your hand down so your dog is not tempted to jump up for it and continue to say "sit" or use a hand signal you worked on during your previous training to prevent her from jumping while you greet your guest.
4. Correct your dog when he jumps on guests. When using a collar and leash, quickly release tension, or interrupt the behavior with a loud noise, such as shaking a can of coins. When your dog hesitates, give the "sit" command and as soon as he sits, reward him, whether it's a treat or praise.

Tips & Warnings

• If the jumping continues pay close attention to how you're reacting. You may not be showing consistency, such as allowing your dog to jump on you, but not guests.
• Yelling "no" is not enough to prevent a dog from jumping. This can even increase the problem by causing your dog to be more anxious or fearful.