Teaching Your Puppy Not To Jump

Jumping up is annoying, but natural, puppy behavior. Whether puppy is jumping up on furniture, on counters, on visitors or on you there are several things to do NOW to prevent and manage jumping up.

Jumping on furniture

It is important to decide while the puppy is young whether they will be allowed on the furniture or not. If the decision is not, then the key is consistency, meaning the puppy is never allowed on the furniture or always allowed on the furniture. The decision can't be to allow on the furniture one minute and off the next. This will simply be confusing.

The first tip would be to put a leash on the puppy and let them drag it. The leash can be used to guide the puppy away from furniture and into more acceptable activities. The leash can be used as a tether to assure puppy stays near you on their own doggy bed, but doesn't jump on the furniture. Puppies and dogs like to be close to their humans and is the main reason they jump on furniture. If the puppy can be close to you on a comfortable doggy bed positioned on the floor, they will learn to enjoy the bed and stay away from the furniture. Even a soft blanket or towel will work as the resting place.

The second tip would be to place objects on the furniture to deter jumping. There are products on the market with plastic spikes, or alarms to deter furniture jumping behavior. Chairs make a nice deterrant also placed on top of the seat of the furniture. This is to be used if for any reason there is a lack of supervision. Ideally, the puppy is always supervised and properly managed so bad behaviors do not occur. Praise the puppy profusely for being on their bed, even toss treats or have a special toy for off furniture training. This is always preferable to no supervision and having to block the way up.

Jumping on visitors

Dogs rush to the door because it represents a danger zone to them, a zone where strangers can come onto the territory. It is adviseable to teach puppies appropriate door manners right away before problems occur. Doors can be scary for puppies so guide them to the behaviors you want. There is no reason a puppy has to rush to the door, push past their owner or jump on visitors as they enter the household.

The first tip is again to keep a leash on the puppy as a drag line. The last thing you want to do is pull on the leash, it is there for control and guidance. You can move the pup away from the door and into a suitable area or immediately begin to train them to go to a doggy bed placed away from the door. The cue of a doorbell or knock equals pup heads to their bed and stays. Use a clicker as a tool to mark the behavior you want, and reward for the position of staying on the mat. In the early stages, before a puppy learns skills such as go, down and stay, it is best to confine them or keep them on lead and ask them to sit. It is never to early to start teaching the behaviors you want to carry over into adulthood.

Puppies are wildest in the danger zones and inadvertently owners escalate the problem by not preparing what they'll do should visitors appear. In reality, dog owners add to the doorway drama. Puppies learn quickly this area is a place for excitable drama. They will want to participate, if not taught another behavior.

The second tip is when visitors come in make the visitor your priority and when they enter tell them the puppy is in training. Tell them they'll be able to meet the puppy later and ask them not to make a big deal about the puppy just yet. This eliminates the puppy getting attention at the doorway, which puts a factor of calm into the area of the doorway.

It is the responsibility of the dog owner to answer the door, greet the visitors and move them into and through the house. This is not a dog's responsiblity and many dogs even develop severe behavioral problems from rushing doors, creating drama, rushing out the door and jumping on the visitors. The cute Great Dane puppy jumping on 90-pound grandma, won't be so cute at 200-pounds. Start now to eliminate unacceptable door behaviors.

When visitors are settled, bring the puppy in and have a puppy party. Ask visitors to have the puppy do a trick such as sit for a treat. Sit eliminates jumping up and can be taught to be the default behavior when guests are over. Praise the puppy and give them a treat for the proper behavior, meaning they sat in front of the visitor. Ignore the puppy or get up if they jump up. If the puppy is too excited because of all the action, remove the puppy to a resting place near the activity and get them busy with a food filled toy or bone. They will learn to play the game, if consistency becomes the rule in the training process.

Jumping on you

Puppies are cute and you want to nurture a puppy. However, proper training includes times of leaving and coming back in. Coming back in can create excitement for the pup and it is an ideal time to start now to resist the pup's jumpy, happy greeting when you come home. Have treats by the door as you enter and when you come in have the pup sit for a treat.

The action of the sit as you come in the door dispenses the treat from your hand. This teaches the pup to look forward to you coming home and to do a proper behavior of sit to earn a reward. It conditions a habit the puppy will use for his lifetime. Eventually, the puppy will find you rewarding and the treat can be faded.

After treat one for sitting is given, then toss another treat out and over the puppy's body. Make sure they see you doing this. They will turn around to get the treat and open up the doorway for you to continue your walk through without jumping. Don't forget to praise this no jumping activity with your voice, good boy!

At this point play invisible puppy and get busy cooking or reading mail and wait for the puppy to get busy on their own. Of course, supervision will be key and watching the puppy mandatory. When the puppy is involved in a toy, or lying down, then call them over to you practicing your come-when-called word and this is the time to pet, praise, give attention and even more treats or to do a training session. This makes for a dog who understands the owners comes and goes as they please and it eliminates separation anxiety. The difference is the puppy is not initiating the attention, that is up to the owner. Anything that happens after this point is okay and represents communication not anxiety.

Communicate with your puppy, let them communicate with you, but as soon as there is a barriar and you go away and come back in, the process starts again. Soon it is second nature and the puppy has clear instructions on how to act. The day comes when you can walk in the door with just a friendly, no jump greeting as your dog eagerly follows you in and lays at your feet. This increases the bond and relationship developed. He won't be thinking about jumping up
on you. He'll be happy to see you and jumping will become irrelevant.

Counter surfing or jumping up on counters and tables

Usually this is learned behavior because it was allowed in the first place. Instead of the owner being where all good things come from, the counters, tables have self-rewarding food left on them. If a dog is counter surfing, it means they don't need you to get their food and creates a whole set of other behavioral problems. Simply don't allow this behavior to occur by taking the time to set boundaries in the home.

The first tip is to put up baby gates so the puppy does not have access to the kitchen in the first place. The pup that doesn't learn to jump on counters will not do it.

The second tip is to clear away all foods from counters. This is prevention and management and makes counter surfing void because there is nothing worth getting.

The third tip is to train your puppy to have good impulse control. A good puppy class will go over this and teach proper cues, such as leave it, sit, down, stay, off. Praising your dog for sitting or lying down on their bed while you work in the kitchen just makes good sense.

The fourth tip is to keep the puppy away from the table and either in a crate, doggy bed, or xpen (a metal or plastic top open pen) when you are eating. Teach them to lie on a doggy bed away from the table and never feed them from the table if you want to avoid begging behaviors or table surfing. All good things are delivered to the puppy by you in a training and learning fashion.

It makes sense that every time the puppy is near, training occurs. This means training either good or bad behavior. Puppy will learn what is taught, so teach the right behaviors from the very beginning. If the puppy is exhibiting a bad behavior, they are doing so because it works and they aren't being supervised or taught another way to respond.

Jumping up can become a distant thought with consistent training and alternative activities. Soon visitors will be complimenting on what a great puppy you've raised.