Jumping Dogs

Many dogs greet us by jumping up and trying very hard to lick our faces. While the dog seems to be having a great time during this, it is not always so much fun for us. A jumping dog can scratch us, knock us over, rip our clothing and sometimes cover us in muddy pawprints. The dog is simply trying to gain the maximum level of social contact with us that they can get. This stems back to an instinctive behavior where puppies will jump up and lick at the muzzles of adults returning to the pack in hopes that they might be bringing them food.

To stop this inappropriate greeting, you must be very consistent with your dog and what signals you send them. Your dog does not know, or care that today you have on "good' clothes and that you do not want them soiled with mud, hair and doggie drool.... but yesterday it was OK to leap all over you. To even begin to expect that rationalization from them is truly unfair.

First you will need to have a family meeting to ensure that all members of the household are on the same page when it comes to deterring your jumping canine greeter. You will all need to make sure that this behavior is not a rewarding one. I DO NOT mean punish the dog. You need to understand that if your dog jumps on you and they get petted, spoken to or hugged, they are being rewarded. To make this unrewarding, you need to ignore the behavior.

The easiest suggestion I have is to physically and verbally ignore the dog. Offer no positive reason for the jump. Turn away from your dog so as to offer them your back and not their goal, which is your face. Do not speak to, look at, hug or reach out to touch your dog while they have two ( or less ) feet on the ground.

Once your dog has offered you an alternate greeting, one with all four feet on the ground, you can then pet and gently praise them. Do not become overly boisterous with the praise as more than likely, your dog will start jumping all over again in excitement and you will be back to square one.

Another suggestion is to take your dog's collar when you first come home and hold the dog, not allowing them to jump. Praise this and make sure they know how good they are for having all four feet on the floor.

Remember, the most important part of this training is to be consistent. The dog cannot understand when they are allowed to jump on you and when they are not. Once you have your dog greeting you in an acceptable manner, you may want to teach them to gently jump up on you as a command. Then this action is your choice, not theirs. This way, you can control when those feet hit you and when they do not.

Remember, have fun and teach with patience.