If you have ever had to deal with a jumping dog then you already know how tough it can be. Jumping dogs have been known to cause all kinds of havoc. Not just with their owners, but with guests as well. Jumping can often result in dirty or ripped clothes, or even scratches and bruises.
One of the main reasons dogs end up jumping, other than the fact that they love it, is because most owners encourage their dog to jump. When he jumps up to greet you what do you do? That's right, you scratch him and tell him what a good boy he is and how much you missed him. The problem with this is that your dog will now be associating jumping with you giving him praise. That's not good. You can't expect your dog to be able to know when it is okay to jump and when it is not. They just don't think that way.
Another, more serious reason dogs jump is to assert their dominance over others. Dogs are pack animals. Pack members will often jump on, or try to be on top of other members to show that they are dominant. This arises in your home if you are not giving your dog calm assertive pack leadership. In this case you will need to change your overall relationship with your dog, and learn to become the pack leader.
The best way to deal with a jumping dog is to completely ignore him. Dogs do most things to get attention. Positive attention is good, but negative attention will often do just as well. This means that yelling at the dog is not a very effective way to teach him to stop jumping. How you react to jumping is he most important thing. You, and your family, must be consistent in dealing with a jumping problem. Don't let the dog jump sometimes, but not others. He's not gonna get that.
When he jumps on you, the best thing you can do is to walk away without so much as looking at the dog. Like Caesar Milan says, you gotta be like the popular kids in high school. You'll be amazed how quickly the dog stops jumping when it becomes boring because you're not responding. Don't try to ignore the problem and just stand there and let the dog jump on you either. Make sure to walk away and look like you are not even a little bit interested in him. Once the dog seems to get the picture and gets down into a calm, four legs on the floor, position you should let him know how happy that makes you. Praise him ONLY when all four paws are touching the ground. He will associate the praise with what he is doing when you are praising him, not the jumping, even though it was only seconds ago.
The final step is to teach your dog an anti-jumping command. I like to use the word "down", but you can make up anything you like. Just make sure you do not use the same word for any other commands or the dog will become confused. You need to teach this command to make sure the dog does not jump on anyone else. Its bad enough when your dog jumps on you. Ever had your sleeves ripped, or gotten scratch by the dogs nails? The down command can help to stop these problems.
Using these proven methods should help you and your family to stop your dog's annoying jumping sooner, rather than later.
| If you want to learn more about creating the proper environment for your dogs to have a happy, healthy life and stay well behaved visit my blog at http://you-train-dogs.blogspot.com |
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