How to Train Your Dog to Stop Jumping on Your Guests
Make sure you watch my other jumping videos to learn many strategies for this problem. This is a really simple concept that just simply needs to be executed properly. You need to remember that your dog is learning 24 hours a day whether you are actively teaching him or not. In other words, if your dog is allowed to jump, he will jump in the future!
Tether Your Dog
A tether is a leash that is attached gently to a doorknob, over a banister or under the leg of a piece of furniture. The concept is NOT to be rough and prevent your dog from being comfortable. It is simply used as a way to prevent him from following you or your guests when you walk away. A 6-foot leash works best. It is long enough to allow enough freedom for comfort, but not too long that he can move too far away from the location.
Practice
Use treats, toys or petting to get your dog interested. 'Click' or say, "yes!" BEFORE he jumps, and give him the toy or treat. If he jumps, simply walk away from him a few steps. AS SOON as he stops jumping come back. The message that you want him to learn is that jumping gets all the goodies (including you!) to move away, and standing, sitting or lying down is a polite way to ask you to come back. You might not always come back, but you DEFINITELY won't come back if he jumps!
More Advanced No Jumping Strategies for Your Dog
As you do more training, you can require your dog to sit or lie down instead of just standing. You can also walk more slowly back to him and teach him to be patient for an extended period of time. Also, take new and exciting toys, treats and bones out of your pocket and see what he does. A really advanced dog will understand that jumping will not get him that toy. But, this takes a while. Don't get frustrated if your dog takes a long time to generalize this training to all situations.
How to Apply These Strategies to Guests
All the above strategies are foundation exercises that you should practice daily. How do you apply these principles so your dog doesn't jump when you actually have guests over?
- Desensitize your dog to the doorbell. This may seem off-topic, but if your dog goes ballistic when he hears the doorbell, it will be that much harder to get him to calm down when the person actually walks through the door! Buy my Barking EBook if you have questions about barking around the doorbell.
- Tether your dog away from the front door. Instruct your guests NOT to pet your dog if he is jumping. You can stand near your dog or even be across the room if you are using a clicker. 'click' as soon as your dog sees your guest and isn't jumping, even if your guest is far away. Then quickly give him a treat. It is important to start really far away at first, so your dog can't actually jump on your guests.
- As your guest is approaching your dog, continue 'clicking' and treating each time your dog looks at your guest. If he jumps at all, have your guest move away and continue working.
- Throw a treat or toy down the hallway when your dog sees your guest. If you use a toy or treat that your dog really loves, he will eventually learn to look down the hallway when he sees a guest.
- Use the leash. This is just a gentle reminder that you should either hold the leash or tether your dog. If he jumps, gently move him away and work at a farther distance.
Daily Practice
Practice with family members. If your dog has a tendency to jump on everyone, call or text each other on your way home and whomever is home can be prepared to do the training when someone arrives.
Have fun and look for other free dog training videos. Your comments are always welcome.
Happy Training!
