The Dog Training POV Series: Dog Jumping | Pupford
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Jumping. On counters, on people, on other dogs, you name it. Jumping can be a very difficult thing to get your dog to stop doing.
We’ll cover more on counter-surfing in a later video in this Dog Training POV Series, but right now we will talk about greeting behaviors and jumping. In the video, Trevor will cover topics like:
Why dogs jump
When to work on this behavior
What you can do about jumping
How to get your dog to stop jumping during greetings
A game you can play to get your dog to stop jumping
Wondering why dogs jump on you? Well, dogs can jump for a variety of reasons. It’s a way of getting attention from us, and it is a way to get attention and play with other dogs.
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT DOG JUMPING?
If possible, it is good to work on this behavior while your dog is a puppy (especially larger breeds of dogs), so they don’t jump up and knock someone over as they get older. But you can work on this with older dogs as well!
One thing you can do to increase the chances of them not jumping on you, is increase the sit behavior. Teach your dog to sit while greeting you, and have them sit when you pet them during a greeting.
Whether it’s you or a friend/family member coming through the door, here are some tips and games to try to get your dog to stop jumping.
1. DRIVE-BY SITS
When you walk by your puppy, instead of just walking by, stop and approach your dog. Ask them to sit, then give them a treat. Then repeat the next time you walk by them.
BONUS TIP: Work on this game near the front door. When your dog starts to learn, that when they sit they get reinforcements, it can make them more likely to sit than to jump up on you.
2. REINFORCE YOUR DOG WHEN THEY DON’T JUMP UP ON YOU
Encourage and praise your dog anytime you catch them in the act of sitting instead of jumping. It’s so important to reinforce the behavior that you want to see. So this is key!
If your dog jumps up on the counter… and maybe steals a treat or two (or full meal 😬) the next video is for you! Make sure to follow along on YouTube, to watch every week.
Have any other questions/comments about dog jumping? Let us know in the comments!
Do you have any suggestions for what to do when the people aren’t listening? Our dog does not jump up on us, but she will jump up on guests. We have been trying to train her out of this behavior using these techniques for nearly a year at this point, but nearly all of our guests won’t listen to us and ignore our instructions to only give pets, attention, or treats to her when she is sitting and being ‘polite’ as we call it.
They keep telling us, “Oh, it’s fine. It [her jumping] doesn’t bother me.”, even after we explicitly tell them that although THEY may not mind, we have eldery relatives and family members with small children who can’t physically handle our goofy, excited muscular pitbull’s 50lbs jumping on them as a greeting, and so, their encouragement of her jumping behavior is just sending her mixed signals and confusing her every time they do this.
It’s gotten to the point where we essentially have ‘approved’ guests (ie – guests who follow our instructions) that she gets free reign around when they visit because she won’t jump on them due to them following our training instructions. Unfortunately, however, these ‘approved’ guests only make up about 20% of our visitors, meaning the other 80% are ‘unapproved’ guests. When they visit, we feel like we are left with no other option besides keeping her leashed next to me or crated because otherwise she will jump on them. She is very well leash trained and crate trained, but I would love for her to not have to be confined or restricted for the majority of our guests because said guests ignore our instructions.
Please help a frustrated dog momma train her human guests! Thank you!
C
Christianne01/26/2025
Great article. Our big (85lbs!) dog is good with not jumping on us, but we’re having a heck of a time teaching her not to jump on guests.
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Leave a CommentDo you have any suggestions for what to do when the people aren’t listening? Our dog does not jump up on us, but she will jump up on guests. We have been trying to train her out of this behavior using these techniques for nearly a year at this point, but nearly all of our guests won’t listen to us and ignore our instructions to only give pets, attention, or treats to her when she is sitting and being ‘polite’ as we call it.
They keep telling us, “Oh, it’s fine. It [her jumping] doesn’t bother me.”, even after we explicitly tell them that although THEY may not mind, we have eldery relatives and family members with small children who can’t physically handle our goofy, excited muscular pitbull’s 50lbs jumping on them as a greeting, and so, their encouragement of her jumping behavior is just sending her mixed signals and confusing her every time they do this.
It’s gotten to the point where we essentially have ‘approved’ guests (ie – guests who follow our instructions) that she gets free reign around when they visit because she won’t jump on them due to them following our training instructions. Unfortunately, however, these ‘approved’ guests only make up about 20% of our visitors, meaning the other 80% are ‘unapproved’ guests. When they visit, we feel like we are left with no other option besides keeping her leashed next to me or crated because otherwise she will jump on them. She is very well leash trained and crate trained, but I would love for her to not have to be confined or restricted for the majority of our guests because said guests ignore our instructions.
Please help a frustrated dog momma train her human guests! Thank you!
Great article. Our big (85lbs!) dog is good with not jumping on us, but we’re having a heck of a time teaching her not to jump on guests.