How to Teach Your Dog to Stop Jumping on People

Nobody likes to have their belongings fall to the ground or end up with dog paw prints on their new pants when walking through their own door—or someone else's. Jumping could be your dog's way of greeting you or others, especially for puppies or small dogs. However, over time, it can become annoying to you and your guests. Teaching your dog to greet you and visitors calmly, without jumping, will create a much more pleasant environment when you return home after a long day at work or when guests arrive.

Understand Your Dog's Behavior. In the canine world, greeting each other by touching noses is an instinctual action. This allows dogs to sniff each other's faces and get to know the scent of another dog. Naturally, since your face is a bit higher, your dog jumping up to be closer to yours is a natural behavior. While this can be annoying and unnecessary, the good news is this habit can be broken.

Start preventing the behavior early. You might think it's sweet when your dog jumps up to greet you. Most puppies think that when they jump on someone, they will be picked up and petted right away.

• It's best to start stopping this greeting behavior as early as possible. You'll be excited to see your puppy, but if your dog tends to jump, you can use the 'no touch, no talk, no eye contact' rule when meeting it.
• Avoid looking at or talking to your puppy until it sits down. This will send calming signals to the dog and prevent it from getting too excited or anxious when you approach.
• Puppies are quick learners, so the smaller the dog, the easier it is to teach them to greet you calmly and as desired.
• While there’s no issue with this when the dog is small, you may inadvertently encourage bad habits that are harder to break when the dog grows up. A 7 kg puppy jumping on you is one thing, but a full-grown 45 kg Labrador might knock you over and even cause harm to you or your guests.

Ignore when it jumps. One way to teach your dog, regardless of age, that jumping up is an unacceptable greeting is to ignore the behavior. This involves turning your back and not giving it any attention, whether physical, verbal, or eye contact.

• As soon as your dog is calm and all four paws are on the ground, praise it and reward with a treat or a gentle pet on the head.
• Make sure to speak in a calm voice and pet gently to avoid getting your dog too excited again. If it jumps up, turn your back and ignore it.
• During the initial stages of training, you might need to repeat this many times, but your dog will soon link jumping with your indifference and stop.
• As with any training, consistency is key. This means everyone in the household and all visitors need to know that training is in progress and be ready to participate. Even accidental attention when the dog jumps could encourage it and undo the training.

Redirect with the 'sit' command. The simple 'sit' command can be very helpful in many situations. Most importantly, it’s a great distraction method to redirect your dog's attention away from unwanted behaviors like jumping. When your dog jumps on you, turn your back but keep it in your peripheral vision. Ask your dog to sit and reward it as soon as it obeys.

• If your dog is too excited to pay attention to the sit command, ignore its excited behavior until it calms down, and then repeat the command. Again, when the dog obeys, praise or reward it to let the dog know that this behavior gets attention, but jumping does not.
• The goal with this simple command is to redirect the dog's jumping behavior toward an easier task that results in a reward. Your dog will quickly learn which greetings earn your attention and which do not.
• If your dog doesn't know the sit command yet, begin by teaching it first and then apply this method.

Use special toys. Some dogs get overly excited when greeting others, making it difficult and time-consuming to wait for them to calm down before giving the 'sit' command. If your dog is like this, it might grab a toy and shake or hold it.

• Place a special toy by the door to throw or give it when you arrive home. This will redirect its energy toward the toy instead of jumping on you or your guests.

Stay calm. The key to keeping your dog calm and, in turn, displaying calm behavior is for you to remain calm when you come home. Try not to yell or raise your voice at the dog. This includes scolding it when it starts jumping. Such tones can excite the dog and make it jump even more.

• Instead of using physical punishment to stop bad behavior, teach your dog behaviors that will earn them the most rewards. You'll need to repeat this action many times during training so the dog becomes familiar with it.
• Don’t get discouraged or angry, as that will only make the dog worse. Be consistent, and eventually, the dog will catch on.