Jumpiness is a common trait in dogs, especially in young dogs, and we talk to a lot of pet parents who want to curb this behavior. But it’s important to remember that jumping is not an inherently “bad” behavior. In fact, your dog probably thinks he is being polite by jumping when he is greeting you or anyone else: It’s the best way he can try to smell your butt and your mouth, and butt-and-mouth smelling is an important part of the way dogs instinctually greet each other.
Many people attempt to use “negative punishment” to deter jumping by turning their back, ignoring a jumping dog, or yelling at the dog. These are not effective methods for a few reasons:
First, as with any behavior that is punished, the behavior has to occur to begin with, and if it is occurring repeatedly, it means it’s probably been reinforced just because the doing of it is fun. Once something is inherently reinforcing, the punishment that follows needs to be pretty severe in order to counter the reinforcement. It’s like punishment is an effort to pay off a credit card, but if you’re only doing that in response to a charge on the credit card, the payment needs to be relatively sizable in order to make a difference.
Second, if the main issue is that you’re trying to keep your dog from jumping on other people, you first have to train everyone else to turn their back on your dog, and, since a lot of people don’t mind being jumped on (or may actually like it), this can be an uphill battle.
Instead, the best way to control jumping at the door is to help your dog learn that people coming in the door means always results in something really good (something more fun that jumping) happening at a distance from the door. To teach this:
1. Use treats
Keep treats outside your front door and instruct people to toss them on the floor, near your upon entering. You might have to experiment with different kinds of treats in order to find something that will compete with the excitement of people coming into your home. It can be particularly wise to have a specific spot, like a mat, where your dog can receive these treats so that he can learn that there is a good place to be when people come in.
2. Have people come over
Create situations where you can practice having people coming into your home daily, so that you’re not only rehearsing how you want your dog to behave when you actually have guests coming over.
3. Incorporate a crate to create a safe space for your dog
If you have a dog who is acclimated to a crate, you can have guests toss treats in the crate. You can do this with or without the crate actually being closed — delivering the treats in the crate will help your dog want to be in there, whether or not he has to be.
4. Create good associations
Don’t worry too much about having your dog sit for treats. Even if your dog is jumping during the first practice sessions, we still advise that you deliver food on the ground. Whenever you’re dealing with training using classical conditioning, you need to focus on the association your dog is making behavior you focus on the particulars of how they’re behaving. If you’re clever about the new association you forge, the behavior you don’t want will go away on its own.