This seems to be one of the most asked questions so I thought I would try and touch on this a little more today. Lets first understand why they jump up on people? I think there is multiple answers for this but in general it has to do with the instinctive desire to greet pack leaders by jumping on them to get food and to play.

The problem is when these dogs are cute little puppies, this behavior is usually incouraged as the owner picks up the pup and gives it all the love and attention it was looking for. We dont stop and think about the adult version of this dog and the problems that will arise if we dont start the training now. We have to remember that the dogs dont speak english, the speak dog. We need to understand how to speak dog. If we know that the dog is excited and looking for attention than what can you do to help correct it. Is yelling and scolding the dog do the trick? No, the dog just got your attention.

I suggest that you turn and walk away, completely ignoring the dog. You will be surprised how fast they get the hint. Especially with the puppies. The older dogs may be a little more of a challenge but if you stick with it and can get your guests to do the same, you will get the results you want.
If you can, get some neighbors and/or family to come over and do some practicing. You can excelerate the learning with multiple repititions. Remember to praise like crazy when your dog gets it right.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 9th, 2009 at 11:08 am and is filed under Dog Training. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.