Jumping up on people is one of the most common dog training complaints I hear from people. Virtually all dogs jump on people, their owners and strangers alike. Jumping is really an issue with impulse control, arousal, and calmness.

WHY DOGS JUMP

1. As a friendly greeting.

2. To get attention.

3. To get closer to your hands or treat pouch.

4. They’re overly excited.

HOW TO WORK ON JUMPING ON OTHER PEOPLE

I break this down into 3 distinct steps:

1. Calmness around people.

2. Calmness approaching people.

3. Calmness during the greeting.  

Calmness around people

Where most people get it wrong is starting with step 3 - launching directly into the greeting. This isn’t going to go well if your dog can’t even handle being in the vicinity of another person without losing their mind. So, start by building calmness around new people. Can your dog be calm on a leash with a friendly person standing nearby? If not, they aren’t ready for pets.

I see many dogs who lose their minds at the mere sight of a person - pulling toward them, whining, crying, jumping in the air. I call this the curse of the friendly dog. Everyone is a friend and they KNOW they’re going to get attention from them, so they start ramping up very early. They expect to greet every person they see, and this quickly becomes problematic because these overly friendly dogs simply cannot be calm around people - and this wild behavior has always been rewarded!

During this step, don’t let people pet your dog. He should learn that he doesn’t get to greet everyone, especially when he’s wild and out of control. Being able to calmly pass by a person is an important life skill.

Calmness approaching people

Now that your dog can be calm in the presence of other people, you can work on the approach. They should approach calmly, on a loose leash, and without pulling or vocalizing. Many dogs will ramp up quickly once they realize they finally get to say hi. This is normal, but keep in mind that if they come in hot they’re more likely to jump up. A calm approach is likely to lead to calm greetings.

Calm greeting

You’ve finally made it to the greeting, and if your dog has been relatively calm up until now, your chances of a calm, polite greeting are good. I use 2 methods to help teach calm greetings:

1. Removal method - removing the dog from the person petting them if they jump. As soon as paws leave the ground, “Too bad!” and walk them away for a few seconds before returning to try again.

2. Treat down - scatter treats, drop treats, or otherwise treat downward toward the floor. This keeps your dog’s attention down rather than up, which makes it less likely they’ll jump.

“JUST IGNORE HIM IF HE JUMPS!”

Don’t expect others to train your dog for you by asking them to ignore your dog while they’re being clobbered. This is never helpful, it’s not fair to them, and many people won’t care if your dog jumps and will pet them anyway, undoing some of your work. Step in and remove your jumping dog. Don’t let them practice bad behavior.

If you’re expecting company at home, have your dog leashed or put away, so they can’t practice jumping up as they come into your home. You can either practice your training or simply leave your dog put away if you don’t want to train. What’s important is that they don’t strengthen their jumping habit.

JUMPING ON YOU

The best option for teaching your dog not to jump on you is to not engage. Often people will push the dog down or yell at them to get off. Some will start asking for a sit, possibly even rewarding the sit. The problem with these methods is that they give the dog what he wants - attention. When he gets what he wants, he’s going to keep jumping because IT WORKS.

Instead, disengage. This can look like a variety of things, depending on your dog. For some dogs simply turning your back is enough. For other dogs who are more persistent, you may need to walk away or even walk away and close a door behind you so they can’t follow. You can also simply put your dog outside, in a crate, or behind a baby gate if needed. Jumping up should not work to get them attention.

There are several training games I play to work on jumping up and impulse control.

CONSISTENCY

Consistency is key. You can’t sometimes pet your dog when he jumps and then other times be upset that he jumps, nor can you sometimes allow people to pet him while jumping up. If jumping works, even some of the time, your dog will continue jumping.