Jumping on Guests or People on Walks

Whether it’s you coming home, a guest walking through the door, or someone your dog wants to greet while you’re out on a walk, jumping on people is one of those behaviors that can range from encouraged or cute, to annoying, or even a legitimate problem.

A 10-pound puppy jumping on your leg may be encouraged or not seem like a big deal. However, two years later, that same 70-pound dog launching themselves at your grandmother, a child, or somebody carrying a hot cup of coffee is a very different story.

Regardless of the dog’s size, age, or temperament, the reason they jump is usually pretty simple.

Like most unwanted behaviors, at some point, that behavior worked because it was reinforced.

Why Is Your Dog Jumping?

Dogs don’t come into our lives or homes knowing the rules of human etiquette. Many times we expect them to, but that’s just not the case.

They have no idea that four paws belong on the floor when somebody walks through the door. They don’t know that muddy paws on someone’s clothes are rude or inappropriate. And they certainly don’t understand why jumping on you yesterday was funny, but jumping on somebody else today-inside or outside-is very inappropriate.

They simply repeat behaviors that have worked for them in the past and have a history of being reinforced.

A dog jumps and somebody:

• looks at them
• talks to them
• touches them
• pets them
• laughs
• gets excited
• says their name
• pushes them down
• tells them “No!”

Any of those things can give them exactly the interaction they were looking for.

From the dog’s perspective, all of those responses may have value.

So yes, even pushing a dog away can become part of what they perceive as a game. And maybe once upon a time, before you ever got them, that was a game somebody played with them.

Jump -> human interacts with me.

Do that enough times, and you’ve created a pretty reliable, reinforced behavior.

The dog isn’t breaking a rule they understand. They’re repeating a behavior that, from their experience, has worked extremely well.

Very Often, We Unknowingly Teach Jumping

One of the most common problems with jumping is that we don’t always have the same rules.

You come home from work. Your dog is very excited to see you. They put their paws on you or jump on you, and there’s a good chance you pet them.

No big deal.

Your friend comes over wearing nice clothes, and suddenly the exact same behavior is frowned upon or not allowed.

The dog doesn’t know the difference.

From a dog’s perspective, the rules are gray. And dogs almost always do much better when we make things black and white.

This doesn’t necessarily mean your dog can never put their paws on you or even jump on you.

If you enjoy that interaction, we can teach it as an invited behavior-after they understand that if it’s not invited, it’s not allowed.

There’s a very big difference between the two.

Excitement Isn’t the Problem

We often hear clients say:

“He’s just too excited.”

That may be completely true.

However, excitement explains the behavior. It definitely does not mean the dog can’t learn how to behave while also being excited.

We would hope you would never want to train away your dog’s excitement, and we definitely don’t. We want your dog to be happy and excited to see the people they love.

We don’t necessarily need your dog to stop being happy when somebody comes through the door. We just need them to learn what they’re supposed to do with that excitement.

That’s where Impulse Control becomes extremely important.

Your dog can desperately want to greet someone and still learn that jumping isn’t how they get access to them.

In fact, the thing your dog wants most-the person-can often become part of the training.

Jumping makes the greeting go away.

Calm behavior makes the greeting available.

Now your dog begins to learn:

“What I do affects whether I get what I want.”

That’s an incredibly valuable lesson that goes far beyond jumping.

What Should Your Dog Do Instead?

Telling a dog what not to do is only part of the conversation in training.

We also want to give them something they can do-in many cases, to get what they desire.

Depending on the dog, the household, and the situation, that might mean Sit, go to Place, four paws on the floor, wait calmly, etc.

There isn’t one universal answer for every dog.

For some homes, having the dog go to Place when somebody enters makes perfect sense.

For another dog, simply learning that four paws on the floor earns attention may be perfectly sufficient and effective.

For a highly excited dog, we may initially need more structure and distance before expecting them to calmly greet somebody.

That’s why we don’t just look at the jumping.

We look at when it happens, why it’s happening, what the dog is actually looking for, how intense the excitement is, and what behavior would realistically work in your home or in that situation.

Then we build the training around that.

Your Guests Are Part of the Equation

This is where jumping can get frustrating.

You can do everything right, and then somebody walks through your door saying:

“It’s okay! I love dogs!”

while petting your dog as they’re jumping all over them.

It may be okay with that specific person, but that person is teaching your dog something you may spend the rest of the week trying to undo.

If we’re teaching the dog that jumping doesn’t earn attention, we can’t have five people following the rule while the sixth person rewards the jumping.

Everybody has to be on the same page, especially during the learning process.

Everyone needs to help make the answer very clear-black and white.

Sometimes that means telling your guests what you need them to do before they ever walk through the door. The same applies to somebody who wants to greet your dog while you’re out on a walk.

They’re not training their dog.

You’re training yours.

Management Isn’t the Same as Training

Putting your dog behind a gate, holding the leash tightly, putting them in another room, or crating them every time somebody visits can prevent jumping.

And sometimes management is absolutely appropriate.

What it doesn’t do is teach your dog how to make good decisions.

If the only reason your dog doesn’t jump on guests is because they physically can’t reach them, we haven’t necessarily taught them how to behave when they can.

Management prevents the rehearsal of unwanted behavior while we’re teaching something better.

Eventually, the goal is for your dog to understand the expectation and learn to make good decisions-not simply be physically prevented from making the wrong choice.

Practice Before You Need It

The worst time to begin teaching your dog how to greet somebody calmly is when twelve people are arriving for Thanksgiving dinner.

Real-life situations can be difficult because there’s simply too much excitement.

The doorbell rings. People are talking. Someone’s carrying food. Kids are running all over the place. And your dog hasn’t seen Auntie Nicole in months and apparently believes she’s the greatest thing with two legs.

That’s not where we start.

We start in a controlled environment with controlled repetitions, usually with one person, where we control the doorway, the distance from the doorway, and the greeting-and allow the dog’s choices to determine what happens next.

This whole process should be a game.

Once your dog understands the rules of the game, we gradually make the picture-and the game-more difficult and realistic.

That’s Proofing.

We teach first. Then we gradually make the game a little harder by adding more distractions, more excitement, and eventually more people.

Consistency Matters

Jumping is another perfect example of why consistency matters so much in dog training.

From a dog’s perspective, if jumping works sometimes, there’s still a reason to try it.

We’ll teach your dog not only what not to do, but what they’re supposed to do instead. But for sure, you’ll need to maintain those expectations when we’re not there.

That doesn’t mean every interaction with everyone they meet has to become a formal training session.

It simply means the rules need to be-and stay-clear.

If four paws on the floor earns them attention today, the same rule should apply tomorrow and beyond.

The clearer and more predictable we make the consequences of your dog’s behavior and choices, the easier it becomes for them to make the right ones.

The Good News

Jumping is usually a very workable problem.

In many cases, we’re not dealing with a dog who can’t control themselves.

We’re dealing with a dog who has practiced a successful strategy hundreds-or thousands-of times.

They jump because jumping has historically gotten them something they wanted.

Once we change that equation and teach them a better way to get the same thing, their behavior can change.

Your dog doesn’t have to stop being excited to see you.

They don’t have to stop loving your guests.

They simply need to learn that excitement doesn’t eliminate expectations.

And when those expectations are clear, consistent, and fair, your dog can learn that keeping four paws on the floor may actually give them the opportunity to meet more people than ever before-and be just as excited to do it.