As a dog owner, it’s essential for you to teach your dog to stop jumping. Follow these basic steps and train your pet. It’s easy! First thing first, you need to understand why dogs jump and discover how to stop a dog from jumping.
Every dog parent looks forward to a warm, cuddly, and affectionate dog after a tired and stressful day at work. Dogs are the ultimate stress busters, and a joyful hug from a dog can work like a magic wand to keep stress away. But, sometimes it can be quite overwhelming to have a huge canine jumping away boisterously at you.
A vigorously jumping and unmanageable pet is not just embarrassing but is also a potential danger to humans. It is important to teach your dog to stop jumping, especially if you have children, guests, and seniors at home. An aggressive dog may knock down people with its enthusiastic jumping which may result in severe injury to humans.
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Why do Dogs Jump on Humans?
Jumping is an inherent part of dogs’ nature. They jump for a myriad number of different reasons:
- As little pups, they are jumping up to lick their mother’s face to let her know in a submissive manner that it needs more food.
- Puppies jump onto their mother, to lick her for security and comfort.
- Dogs lick each other’s face and nose as a part of their social behavior.
- Dogs jump up on strangers to assert their confidence and dominance over them.
- Dogs jump when excited.
- They often jump to spend pent-up energy.
- They also jump to greet you with love and affection, because they possibly can’t reach your face.
The ABC’s of How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping Up:
Most dog owners enjoy watching their furry friend jump every once in a while. The same, however, is not true when guests and strangers visit them. It is essential to learn how to stop a dog from jumping up on strangers. Dog owners who have large pets like Bernese Mountain Dog, Great Dane, Neapolitan Mastiff, and Saint Bernard are wary of their own pets jumping at them. How do you stop a big dog from jumping on you?
Basic Guidance to train a Jump-free dog:
1. Discourage bad behavior early:
The first step towards a jump-free dog begins when they are cuddlesome little pups. It is important to start discouraging the jumping habit as early as possible. Lessons learned as little pups are imbibed in your pet, even as it grows to be an adult dog.
Here are some steps to take to discourage little puppies from jumping:
- If your puppy has a habit of jumping forcefully, you need to practice the no talk, no greeting, no touch, and no eye contact exercise with it.
- Wait till your pup settles down, and communicate with it only after it calms down.
- Puppies are quick learners, and they will soon learn to remember their desirable manners.
2. Nose-to-nose:
Dog’s greet each other with a nose-to-nose contact. They naturally try to imitate this with humans, especially the ones whom they love. Since a human nose is higher to reach, they instinctively jump to reach your nose when they greet you. A very easy way of breaking its jumping habit is that you kneel down to the dog’s level. Just keep your upright and bend forward from the waist. You may also lower your hand for the dog to sniff and lick or sit in a chair so that your face is closer to the dog and it can smell you easily.
3. Ignore Your Dog When He Jumps:
As the old adage goes, “Ignorance is bliss”, this axiom also works well while training your overtly exuberant dog.
- When your dog is not jumping and has all its four paws on the floor, give it a lot of positive attention, praise, and treats.
- However, if he jumps at you, begin with the ignoring treatment.
- Stand with your arms folded across your chest and stop all interaction including eye contact till it calms down.
- Once it calms down reinforce its good behavior with positive reinforcements.
- It is essential that all members of your family consistently follow this same treatment.
- As a thumb rule, all members of your family should interact, pet, and reward treats only when the adorable goofy dog has all its four paws on the ground.
4. Distraction Training:
If your dog has something in its mouth, it will be relatively busy and easier to control when your guest arrives. Plan to give your dog something like its favorite toy, a chewable rope, or chewy bone to keep it from jumping at your guests. A lot of dog owners keep a soft toy or an interesting toy near the front door. If you have an unexpected guest, a friend, or even the postman, simply toss the toy to your pet and divert its energy and attention to the toy.
5. Regular socialization and practice:
It is important to have regular socialization sessions so that the dog can consolidate on its no-jumping training. If a dog doesn’t meet strangers often, it is highly likely that it may not remember your training after a long time. So, make sure that your pet interacts with other people after it has mastered the art of not jumping. Take it to the park, introduce it to friends, and let it meet with delivery boys to augment its no jump training.
6. Get Your Dog Moving:
A good diversion technique to avert your dog from jumping at guests is to keep it moving. You may drop treats on the floor when a guest arrives. So your pet will be busy pursuing its favorite treat as well as will lose its initial high buzz level. And it is unlikely that it will jump at your guest.
Always remember to give rewards and treats to your pet during a difficult training session. Pet training takes time and demands consistency, but with a little extra effort on your part, your dog will behave like the perfect gentleman.
