Jumping

While some people do appreciate their dog's jumping and sometimes even encourage it, this behaviour can be annoying, unwanted and even dangerous. A big dog could unintentionally knock over a small child or cause an elderly or injured person to fall.


Is your dog's jumping love or disrespect? 

Owners often associate a dog jumping on them with love, affection or excitement. Dog professionals usually associate a dog jumping on humans as disrespectful and a sign of dominance. Depending on the dog, it could be either. Whichever you believe doesn't change the fact that it can be potentially dangerous if done at the wrong time or to the wrong person.  That is why it's best to teach your dog to keep all four paws on the ground unless you give him a command to do otherwise.


Prevention

Like most unwanted behaviours, prevention is the key. People never seem to mind when a puppy is jumping all over them. However allowing or even encouraging a puppy to jump on you can present a challenge once that puppy is full grown. As a general rule, avoiding an unwanted behaviour is always easier than correcting one.

For puppies, do the following:

• avoid using a high pitch voices to greet a puppy
• give affection and attention when all four paws are on the ground
• ignore any form of jumping by walking away or avoiding eye contact
• be consistent

Consistency

If you aren't consistent you will only confuse your dog and that's not fair to him. He doesn't know difference between your gardening clothes and your work clothes. So if you don't want him jumping on your work clothes, you must correct him every time.


How to interrupt a dog that's about to jump

You will get to know the signs or the times when your dog is likely to jump on you (for example when you first get home from work). So before he does jump, give him a command such as "sit" or have a toy handy by the door to redirect his attention.

If he catches you off guard and starts to jump, you can either dart you your hands out downward and thus he will make contact with them instead of you or turn to the side. Never knee your dog in the chest. You are not trying to hurt your dog, just simply making jumping on you less beneficial to him. Also praise him when all four paws are back on the ground.

Also be ready to correct him when friends or strangers come to your door or when you are out walking. You can use the leash to correct if you need to but it's best to be proactive and not give him the chance to get in the habit on jumping on people to greet them.