Reasons For Jumping
Dogs jump on people as a way of showing excitement, affection, and a desire for attention. This behaviour can be cute and endearing, but it can also cause physical pain and injuries. To prevent jumping, it’s essential to train your dog and provide positive reinforcement for alternative behaviours. Understanding the reasons why dogs like to jump on people can help you create a safe and comfortable environment for both you and your furry friend.
Puppy Behavior
Dogs jumping up is a common behaviour that most dogs start with as puppies. As small puppies with their mother, they learn to jump up whenever their mom comes by. This is a natural, instinctual behaviour and is the puppy’s attempt to get closer to his mom.
Greeting Behavior
When dogs approach each other, they often make direct nose-to-nose contact. Once they’re comfortable, they begin circling and smelling each other all over. It’s a naturally engrained behaviour for a dog to jump up in an attempt to greet and make contact.
New Strangers
When dogs meet new people for the first time, they may be even more prone to jump up. This could be influenced by a couple of factors in particular. A dog greeting a new person may be extremely excited. Dogs naturally jump up and down when excited. On the other hand, a dog could be fearful or anxious, which could actually cause them to jump up. Jumping up and down is an attempt to exert some of their nervous energy.
Boredom
Just like with people, dogs need to get daily exercise. When they don’t get exercise, they end up getting bored and having pent-up energy. If a dog hasn’t had adequate exercise, he may be more likely to jump up as a way to burn up that energy.
Don’t Encourage the Behavior
There is a saying in dog training that “what gets reinforced gets repeated.” This simply means that any behaviour that gets reinforced is more likely to be repeated. The last thing we want to do when we’re dealing with a jumping dog is to reinforce the behaviour. Unfortunately, many people may inadvertently be reinforcing the jumping when they don’t even realize it.
If a dog jumps up on you and you’re petting him or talking to him, that reinforces the jumping behaviour. In most cases, dogs see any kind of attention as good, reinforcing attention. Even if you are telling your dog to get down, your dog may not understand those words. Your dog can’t differentiate, so he just thinks that you are talking to him like any other time. This means that the behaviour is getting reinforced, which will make him more likely to jump up in the future.
What to Do When You Come Home
It’s a common occurrence that after a long day away at work, your dog will jump on you when you get home. He’s simply excited to see you! Even if you’ve missed your dog and are happy to see him, it’s important that you don’t let him jump up on you.
When you get home, you should only talk to and pet your dog once he calms down and has all four feet on the floor. This will teach him that he only gets your attention when his feet are on the floor, which means that he will be less likely to jump on you in the future.
Alternatively, you could keep treats in a container near the door. When you come into the door, grab a handful of treats. Once your dog runs up to you, throw the treats to scatter them on the ground. This will keep your dog busy and keep his feet on the ground. The less often that he has the opportunity to jump on you, the more likely it is that the behaviour of jumping on you will disappear.
When your dog does jump on you when you don’t want him to, instead of giving him any sort of attention, you should simply turn your back and ignore him completely. Even though it’s not positive attention, pushing him off is still attention, which could accidentally encourage the behaviour. Simply remaining quiet and turning around is the best way to get your dog to stop jumping. Once he puts all four of his feet on the floor, you should pet him and talk to him.
Going For Walks and Having Guests Over
Besides our dogs wanting to jump on us when we return home from work, it’s a common occurrence that dogs will want to jump on guests or on friendly strangers while out on a walk.
Teach your dog a “place” command. Similar to when you come home from work, instruct your guests to ignore your dog and only pet him or give him attention once he calms down and all four of his feet are on the floor. Make sure they know not to encourage or give attention to your dog if he is jumping.
If your dog really struggles with guests entering the house, you can teach him a “place” command. This is done by establishing a safe space, such as a raised dog bed, and rewarding your dog for going to that place instead of jumping up on the guest. This will teach your dog to remain calm on his bed.
Teach your dog to “go say hi.” We don’t want to deprive our dogs of saying hi, but we only want them to stop jumping. When you’re out on walks or your dog has calmed down after a guest has entered, teach your dog a verbal cue of “go say hi.” This can help your dog stay calm, and remember to keep all four of his feet on the ground. The other person can then pet your dog safely and calmly while he remains on the floor and not jumping.
Conclusion
Jumping is a natural behaviour that most dogs do, so it’s important to train them with positive reinforcement techniques to keep all four of their feet on the floor while saying hi. You should never use aversive or punishment methods, such as forcing your dog into a down with your hands or by yanking on a leash. When your dog does jump, you should simply ignore him completely and turn your back. Once he is calm, you can talk to him and pet him. It’s important that you only interact with your dog when all four of his feet are on the ground.
