How to Teach your Dog to Stop Jumping – And Fast!

When asked what is one of the most unpleasant habits of their dogs, most owners will say jumping. Dogs love to do it, and people do not find it so amusing. During the puppy and training phase, it is easy to encourage jumping when you might not even be aware you are doing it. We are so excited when we bring our puppies home and see them interacting with us and showing affection, that it is hard to scold them for jumping.

The problem is that the dog does not understand a little puppy jump and a big adult dog jump. They think they are simply greeting you in a way that you used to love, but now all of a sudden are scolding them for. Dogs think of jumping as a way to express their love and excitement when you come home or when strangers come to visit, but there is rarely a person who enjoys being jumped on, especially by a large dog.

Teaching your dog the no jumping command, or the off command is essential. Big dogs can grow to be even taller than their owners and can pack quite a bit of force into their jumps without meaning too. As part of your training, it is important to teach them that jumping is not acceptable and to become familiar with the no jumping and off commands early on.

Some dogs by nature are not prone to jumping very much. For some dogs, the only time they do jump is to greet you from a long day at work and show how excited they are to see you. But there are instances when dogs jump to try to show some kind of dominance over you, and this is where it might become a big problem. By nature, dogs are innately equipped to run in packs and show their dominance by overpowering the other dogs and jumping to increase their size, which means that there is a bigger problem involved that simple jumping.

Make sure you are consistent when reacting to your dog jumping up. Don’t act upset about it one day, and then show praise for it another. Dogs need to see consistent action from you to learn if a behavior is right or wrong. The best thing to do is teach your dog early on that jumping behavior is not acceptable and that you will not tolerate it. If your dog can learn this right away, he will be less apt to jump at all on you or strangers, even when he is just excited.

When your dog does jump up, the best thing to do is ignore the behavior. If you do not show any reaction toward what your dog is doing, he will be less likely to do it over and over because they do not get any kind of reaction from you, and that is what they are really looking for is your reaction and approval.