When your pet is still a little puppy, all those enthusiastic displays of affection and joy can be gratifying and let’s admit, more than a little flattering. Flash forward to a few months later, and your dog is now big enough and heavy enough to actually harm or injure you by jumping on you the moment you step in the door.  A seventy pound dog jumping on you can easily knock you off balance.

If your dog is making your guests the focus of all this affection, you can’t always be sure they appreciate all the loving.  They might be afraid or feel uncomfortable.  They might not like their clothes and hair being messed up by a big slobbering dog dribbling saliva inches from their face. If it’s a person who doesn’t have any experience with pet dogs, they could even panic leading to all kinds of undesirable consequences.

Teaching your dog to display acceptable behavior in the company of others is an important part of responsible dog ownership. You might think your dog is cute and smells great, but your friends or guests might not agree.  When you invite guests into your home, you must be mindful that your dog doesn’t make them uncomfortable, and a jumping dog actually makes more people uncomfortable than you think.

For a dog to be taught not to jump on others, you have to first train him not to jump on you.  It isn’t possible to teach him that a particular behavior is acceptable when it’s displayed towards you, but completely undesirable when it’s displayed towards others. Begin training your dog not to jump on you form the time he’s a puppy.  Bad habits left ignored only continue into adulthood, and you’ll have a harder time getting your dog to stop his jumping behavior if you wait till he’s seventy pounds of muscle and slobbering all over you.

Tips for Training your Dog not to Jump

Take a look at your current behavior with your dog, and how you react when he jumps on you when you walk in the door.  Do you resign yourself to his affection and say “Ok” Ok, boy, down boy, down?”  If this sounds familiar, you  might know it, but you’re actually encouraging his jumping behavior, and establishing it in his mind as desirable behavior. There has been no punishment, and no reason for him to stop his behavior. You haven’t’ been angry with him. In fact, you’ve done nothing to show your dog you don’t approve of his jumping.  Don’t expect your dog to figure out what’s in your mind. He needs to be taught that you don’t encourage certain behaviors, and ignoring it and hoping he’ll grow out of it doesn’t help.

The next time you walk in the door, and your dog jumps on you, turn around before he has a chance to rest his paws on your shoulder.  Ignore him till he stops the jumping actions,and avoid all eye contact. Then, once he’s on the ground and calmer, turn around and pet him and praise him for being such a good dog. Remember, he shouldn’t be jumping at the time of praise; he should be sitting and calm.  Timing is crucial here.

Use the “sit command to distract him when he is about to begin his his normal jumping routine.  This forces him to stop focusing on jumping, and begin obeying the “sit” command.  He won’t be able to jump when he’s sitting. Now, pet him and praise him to reinforce the sitting behavior.  Come down to his level, and interact with him, and return his greetings this way.

The “Off” command works fine too, if used instead of the “sit” command.

If you find using the “sit” and “off” commands isn’t doing anything to calm your excited dog, throw him off balance…literally.  When your dog is leaning on you with his paws on you, take a small step forward, so he is forced to retreat backwards. Don’t take a step backward yourself; he’ll think you’re playing a game which only establishes the jumping behavior as desirable.  When you move a step ahead, he will find it harder to walk backwards on his two legs.  For smaller dogs, you might want to take a small step, so you don’t risk completely throwing them off and on to the ground.  You can also try leaning on the dog a little to throw him off balance.

Some dog training experts advocate kneeing a dog in the chest to discourage his jumping behavior.  This might work in some situations, but the disadvantages are too many.  Kneeing your beloved pet might not be easy to do, and you risk injuring your dog if you knee him too hard.

Remember, the longer your dog goes without learning to restrain himself with you and others, the harder you will find to get him to lose this undesirable behavior.  If your dog is making a nuisance of himself in the presence of company, begin training him immediately.

If you are out and return to your house and find that your young puppy or your dog has destroyed something, just ignore him until you’ve had an opportunity to both clean up and cool down. Beating and hitting your puppy is not only unkind but doesn’t work.  If your puppy is found chewing on something he shouldn’t be, firmly say “no” and then gently take the object from him.  Then you can immediately give him a more acceptable toy or the sock trick mentioned below.  Then, as always, follow that up with some praise.

A quick little tip that can help train your puppy and give hime something to gnaw on while easing some of the pain.   Just make sure to watch your pup if you use this tip.

Get a sock and put a bunch of semi-crushed ice cubes in it.  After you’ve tied the top of the sock you can throw it back into the freezer. If your puppy begins to chew on something he shouldn’t, get the old sock out and let him chew that instead.

Please don’t let the puppy chew on this by himself with this sock as the puppy could tear off bits of the sock and choke on them.

A dog will often bark to attract attention when they are lonely or bored, or sometimes they are simply overly sensitive to every movement or sound. It is possible that your dog has learned to bark as a means to get your attention. If he or she has been barking and you’re yelling “Stop Barking!”, he learns it’s an easy way to garner attention.

It is necessary to keep three objectives in mind when attempting to correct inappropriate or excessive barking. First, avoid the situations that tend to provoke the barking; secondly, reduce the number of barks when they do begin barking; and finally, increase the duration of the quiet times between barking sessions. It is usually very difficult to eliminate barking altogether. Remember, it is okay for a dog to briefly bark a happy greeting when you return home or “sound the alarm” when he sees something out of the usual.

There are also some basic training techniques that can be done to reduce excessive barking. First of all, do yourself and your dog a favor by learning some basic dog training. You will be able to establish yourself as the leader, so that when you give the command “No Bark!” he will instantly obey. And please, do not physically punish your dog for barking. It is very hard for dogs to understand, after the fact, what they being rebuked for.

It is also a good idea to praise your dog when he is not barking. This might seem silly, but it usually works. As your dog is lying around quietly, say, “Good Dog!” After the third or fourth alarm bark, say, “NO BARK!” When he stops his barking, ask him to “Sit,” followed with praise and a “Good Dog!” You have then given a verbal reprimand for excessive barking and followed it up with a command and praise which indicates what you would like him to do after he barks an alarm. Try to use a quiet, soft voice which will force him to listen to you.

If your dog barks immediately after you leave your home, you might want to change the way you leave. Try to act unemotional, simply saying “Bye-bye, Rover” and then walking out. Practice this when you are not really leaving your house for good. Do so by leaving your house for a short while and then quietly returning. If he is not barking, go into the house and give him lots of praise. If he is barking, verbally reprimand him and leave again. Be consistent and persistent with your training and your dog will stop barking in no time.