How to Stop Your Dog Jumping Up on People
Jumping up is a normal doggy behaviour. It’s their way of greeting us, asking for help when they are anxious and outlet for their emotions such as excitement.
However, jumping up is not a good way for dogs to interact with us. Although we pawrents might not mind it, we don’t want our dogs to learn to jump up on strangers, guests or children.
Why is Your Dog Jumping Up?
Take a moment to think about the reasons behind your dog’s jumping up.
- Are they anxious?
- Are they excited?
- Is it just to people they know? Or to everyone they meet?
- Do they only do it in your home or do they do it on walks too?
- Are there certain times of day when they are worse?
Once you know why your dog is jumping up, you can put a plan in place to help them stop.
Preventing Your Dog Jumping Up
The first step is to plan ahead so your dog doesn’t jump up in the first place.
Lots of people wait for their dog to jump, then take action, however it is much more effective to prevent your dog jumping up in the first place.
Some ideas for preventing jumping up:
- Have a lickimat ready for when guests arrive at your home.
- Put your dog on a lead when you see people in the park they might jump at.
- Scatter some treats on the ground while people say hello to your dog.
- Practise your dog’s recall so you can call them back before they jump up at people on walks.
- Ask for an incompatible behaviour before your dog jumps up (e.g. sit, hand touch)
What To Do If Your Dog Does Jump Up
Prevention is the best strategy because your dog is not repeating the undesirable behaviour (jumping up). However, sometimes we don’t manage to prevent our dog jumping up.
If your dog jumps up, avoid saying ‘no’ ‘off’ ‘down’ etc. as your dog will not understand what these mean and might even see this attention as a means of encouragement!
Instead, stay calm and either ignore your dog until they stop jumping up, or ask for an incompatible behaviour- e.g. sit, hand touch, find a treat on the ground.
Once your dog has stopped jumping up, think back on the situation. How could you have planned ahead to stop your dog jumping? Could you have done anything differently?
References
Dogs Trust: Teach your dog to not jump up | Dogs Trust
Kennel Club: Stop your dog from jumping up | The Kennel Club
Rezac, P., Koru, E., Havlicek, Z. and Pospisilova, D., 2017. Factors affecting dog jumping on people. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 197, pp.40-44.
Shabelansky, A. and Dowling-Guyer, S., 2016. Characteristics of excitable dog behavior based on owners’ report from a self-selected study. Animals, 6(3), p.22.
