No jumping for old dogs.

Tell me if this sounds familiar, you're sitting on your couch. Someone knocks, your dog hears this and is immediately triggered. Your dog sits at the door waiting to pounce. You scramble to take control of the situation but your guest is bombarded by paws in their mid section or knees. You try and play it off like “ohh sorry my dogs just excited to see you” as you try to get ahold of your dog's collar. You know your dog takes any chance it can get to jump on whoever comes through the door. So after you control your dog your guest now has an awkward dose of your relationship with your furry friend. Sound familiar? So in your frustration towards your dog's need to jump you turned to the internet which of course brings you here. But worry not this is an issue that I deal with most commonly and have a very reliable method to help with.

First off we have to analyse why our furry friends insist on jumping on any unexpecting person to walk through your door. To do this we have to know what dogs think is an appropriate greeting. Dogs greet each other by sniffing or licking each others faces. (Odd I know) The reason that our dogs lick each others faces is a greeting that can be compared to a human handshake. What happens is one dog will lower its head and lick or sniff the other dogs face to signify that it comes in peace. Then the other dog with duplicate this action saying that it also means no harm. So when our dogs jump up on us they are simply trying to greet us the only way they know how, by licking our face. All we have to do is teach them how to properly greet humans in ways that humans like.

Now that we've covered why our dogs jump, we can move onto teaching them not to jump. Getting a dog to stop jumping can’t be fixed in a day, or even two. It takes patience and consistency to adjust your dogs greeting. The most effective method that is non aversive is by not giving any attention to your dog when it jumps up on you. When your dog jumps no matter what the circumstance or how “good” they've been do not let them jump. What you need to start teaching is that there are no exceptions to the rule and the rule is NO JUMPING. Even if there is a time bomb strapped to your chest and the off switch can only be triggered by your dog jumping. DON'T LET THEM JUMP Now if they do jump don't yell or push them off, simply roll your hips to where your dog will fall off not making any eye contact or saying anything. I know how difficult it is to not shower your adorable dog with affection the second it tells you how excited it is that you're home. But stay vigilant, remember “CONTROL IS KINDNESS” the reason your dog is jumping is because you are home and it wants to greet you in the only way it knows how.

Then it's good to affiliate a command with your dog not jumping. Typically off is the command most used when training your canine buddy to not jump. Then when all four paws are on the floor you reward your dog with praise and a nice training treat. It's important to note that you should only do this when your dog jumps of its own accord. Baiting your dog into a jump and then telling it to sit will send mixed signals and will only confuse you and Fido.