Many people don't mind a dog jumping up at them, others do. In fact it can be
frightening for those who are not comfortable with dogs, maybe due to a
frightening experience with a dog at a younger age. It is also often quite
scary for young children.You should train your dog from when he is a puppy not to jump up at people. It
may be acceptable to you when your puppy jumps up at you when he is small and
cute, but it becomes a more serious problem as he gets bigger.A puppy jumps up as a greeting or if he wants something from you such as food
or a toy. It's quite a harmless action at this stage, but becomes associated
with dominance as he gets older.The best way to prevent your dog from jumping up at people is by teaching him
to sit. Once he has mastered this command it is best to get him to sit when
people come up to him. This will ensure that he gets the message not to jump.If you teach these basics as a puppy, jumping up should never become a problem
in your dog.However, suppose you have an older dog and as a puppy he was greeted very
enthusiastically and allowed to jump up with abandon. In this case it is quite
probable that your dog may have a jumping-up problem that you may find
difficult to remedy.
Fortunately the problem is not as difficult as it seems.The method that I will describe next will be more effective if you have first conditioned your dog as per the discussion on sound aversion therapy. Click here to read more. You should also have taught your dog how to sit.
First, get an old can, a cool-drink can, will do. Place a few small stones or
other objects in the can. The idea is to make the can as noisy as possible when
rattled. Don't overfill, sometimes fewer stones are better.Now, enlist the help of a few friends. Explain the procedure to them. Let them
come round to your house individually and at spaced intervals.Your dog will attempt to greet the first visitor in his normal way. You must be
positioned quite close behind him. As he attempts to jump, throw the can down
at his back legs. This should startle him enough to stop him in the act,
immediately command him to sit. When he does, reward him.Repeat this procedure with each of the next visitors. With each procedure, your
dog will become less inclined to jump up and will greet people in the
acceptable manner.If your dog becomes extremely excited when visitors arrive it can cause the
problem to be more difficult to cure. In these cases, it may be necessary, when
the doorbell rings, to lead your dog into another room. This will give you a
chance to calm your dog down before allowing him to greet your visitor,
enabling you to carry out the rattling can procedure described above more
effectively.
The success of the above procedure does depend on your dog being able to carry
out the sit command effectively.You will find that, in general, the more basic commands your dog learns, the
easier it is to solve behavioural problems, as you will be able to use these
basic commands to assist in your solving of other problems.I favour the above method for teaching your dog not to jump up at your guests.
Another method you can try if you wish is to use a spray atomizer filled with
water and to ask visitors to spray your dog in the face when he attempts to
jump up. Once the dog goes down then the dog should be praised. I have been
told that this is effective in curing your dog of the jumping-up habit, but I
don't use it myself.Some people recommend kneeing your dog in the chest when he attempts to jump
up. Personally I deplore this method, I've never used it, but I do not believe
that it will be effective in curing your dog from jumping up on people. In fact
it is probably more likely to injure him.I recommend a great ebook dealing with dog behavioural problems which also provides a very effective dog training method.
