How To Stop Dogs Jumping Up
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Learn How To Stop Dogs from Jumping Up Using Positive Pet Behaviour Training Techniques.
Another pair of stockings ruined, another jacket with muddy paw prints, or the worst of all, Grandma injured – and all because your dog insists on jumping up.
So how do we cure the habitual jumper?
Firstly, I always like to try to understand why an animal is behaving in the way that they do, what is the motivation behind the behaviour and how do we curb that motivation to allow us to train the behaviour into something more socially acceptable?
When a dog jumps up at a human, they are trying to do one of a few things. They are either so excited and exuberant that they have absolutely no control of themselves in that moment and just want to be as close to you as they can, they are trying to get to a higher elevation – which is common for smaller dog breeds, or they are trying to get closer to the face of whoever they are jumping up to. Now worded like that, it sounds a little scary that dogs are trying to get closer to your face, but if we look at that from the dogs perspective we may begin to understand their motivations a little better.
So why does your dog want to be closer to your face? It could be for the simple reason that they can read your facial expressions more clearly when they are closer to your face, and that, tied with the fact that the majority of mammals – humans included – release scent molecules from glands around and underneath the chin, they can also use those scent molecules to better understand your mood. Another likely explanation is that within dog to dog communication, nuzzling and licking underneath the chin is a subordinance gesture which is known to calm the more uptight dog in the scenario, so your fur baby may be picking up on your mood and be trying to calm you or sooth you if they perceive that you are upset or angry.
So how do we prevent our dogs from jumping up? This really is one of the easiest behaviours to cure. If your dog is trying to get closer to your face, each time they jump up, we should turn around and give them our backs. If they continue to stand up against you – just step forward. I know that this sounds almost too simple, but if every time the dog jumps up, we turn and step away, they will quickly learn that they will not get the ‘reward’ of being closer to our face, and therefore the behaviour will decrease.
To further reinforce this behaviour, each time your dog jumps up and you turn and step away, you give a command such as ‘off’ or ‘down’, and reinforce that you will talk to them when all four feet are on the ground, and that when they are stood calmly they will receive a food or play reward, then your dog will very quickly become more socially well behaved.
For smaller dogs, you may need to crouch down to their level, or allow them to jump up onto a step, or the sofa, so that they can access the same level of communication that larger breeds could access at the same height, and for those very excited dogs – a level of training on impulse control may be required, but starting with the turn and step away is definitely going to help.
One final word of caution, some dogs who have either displayed the jumping up behaviour for a longer period of time, or who are particularly driven to be close to you, may start to try to ‘hold on’ as you turn and step away, either by hugging you with their front paws, or by holding you with their mouths. Both of these holding on gestures are an escalation of the behaviour and can result in you getting injured, so if your dog is displaying either of these tactics, I would recommend seeking the advice of a qualified and accredited dog trainer or pet behaviourist, but also trying to prevent them jumping up at all. To do this, as your dog approaches you, try holding out your arm with the flat of your palm towards your dog in a stop type gesture and gently but firmly using a command word such as ‘no’ or ‘wait’ to try to stop them from jumping up. This combined with the turn and step away technique above should begin to curb the behaviour.
Having a dog who is more socially appropriate when greeting family and friends, is reward in itself, but working with and training your dog in a calm and gentle way will also build a better bond, which can only ever add to the relationship between you.
BSc (Applied Animal Behaviour & Training), Post Graduate Certificate in Education.
National Diploma Animal Management.
Aset Care of Animals Award & CENTRA Award in Animal Care.
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