Dogs love to jump up! Jumping up on us is the fastest way to get our attention, often given in multiple ways. Jumping usually gets us to look at the dog, talk to them, and physically touch them when we naturally want to push them off. The dog also gets the added benefit of being closer to our face and easy access to sniff us. All of this is to say that jumping up is a highly reinforcing action for dogs, and our own actions often, accidentally, add even more reinforcement to the behavior.
One of the hardest parts about changing a behavior is preventing it from happening in the first place. We need to give time for the dog to learn the behaviors we want (four feet on the floor and quiet) and not continue to let the dog rehearse the jumping behavior they already know will reward them. The longer history they have of a behavior being rewarded, the longer it will take to provide enough reinforcement for the new behavior to overtake the old one.
With jumping up on people, this becomes really difficult to do. We’ve probably all had dogs who learn to “punch” people first, then sit nicely for petting.
The easiest way to prevent the jumping-up behavior is to block access to the person they want to greet. This usually means tethering the dog’s leash to a surface or putting them behind a gate or xpen. A crate can also be used, but since the dog can’t really move at all, it will have less carry-over versus a gate or xpen where the dog still has to practice being calm and not jumping up on the gate.
Do this every time family members come home, and guests come over.
Ideally, you will not release the dog from behind the barrier until after the initial excitement has died down. This is usually between 5-15min after the person enters the house.
Keep in mind that with guests, you don’t even have to let the dog greet them. If the dog is too worked up and you know you can’t successfully manage the situation, leave him behind the barrier. The dog doesn’t need to learn that guests coming over are all about pets for him! Most of our dogs do great “in public” when they know they don’t get to greet people. This clear expectation can help at home too when visitors come over to your house. Once your training starts to catch up and your dog is in a more thinking state of mind, then you can reevaluate what both you and the dog are ready for.
If most of the excitement is with family members and the dog still struggles when let out of their crate/barrier even after they have demonstrated waiting calmly, then we can manage the situation even further through the use of a leash and/or cookie scatters.
Have a leash hanging up by the crate/barrier and put it on before releasing the dog out. A slip leash (goes over the dog’s head vs clipping to a collar) might be easier if your dog is too wiggly to let you put on a leash! As you release the dog, immediately cue “Find it **and scatter several cookies on the floor. Repeat this several times if you can see your dog is going to go into launch mode as soon as their head comes off the ground. You can step on the leash during this scatter if needed to further prevent a jump-up.
Some dogs may need to be redirected to grab a toy on the release so they have an outlet for their energy. Make sure you have one on the ground near the barrier so you can start attaching a cue such as “Where’s your toy?” **to redirect the dog and teach them this new sequence instead of the old sequence of jumping.
With your management in place to prevent the dog from jumping, we also need to focus on teaching the dog what behaviors get our attention. Remember the dog wants us to look at them, talk to them, and touch them.
For this training, you will want to have the dog either behind a barrier such as a gate or an xpen. Your goal is to be able to practice approaching the dog and petting them when they are behind the barrier and to also communicate that jumping up loses that reinforcement.
Approach your dog, and as long as four feet are on the floor (not on the gate), continue to walk up and start petting your dog.
As soon as your dog jumps up, stop moving forward and actually back up a step or two. There’s no need to say anything, as your retreat should provide instant communication that the jump up causes the petting to stop. Since the dog can’t follow you, they lose all reinforcement for jumping.
When this is easy, increase the difficulty by upping your excitement on your approach. Can you talk excitedly to the dog? Clap your hands? Throw your hands up high? Or increase the difficulty of the petting by really moving your hands in quick, exciting rubs.