How Do I Train My Dog Not To Jump On Visitors?
First, let me share my story.
I have a dog named Alpha, who is so clingy and playful at all times. The worst thing about him is it has a bad habit of jumping on guests who enter our home. This act somewhat frightens the guests. He jumps maybe because of the excitement that he met new faces in our territory, but that’s embarrassing at some point of times. As his owner, I don’t mind when my dog jumps on me, but how about someone who isn’t a huge fan of dogs? That might piss them off.
Perhaps we have the same problem towards petting a dog?
There are ways to stop that kind of dog behavior to prevent further harms on someone. Fortunately, you’re on the right post as I’m going to share how I train my dog not to jump down on the visitors below.
The Story Behind the Jumping Behavior of Dogs
Did you know that the most complaint behavior of dogs is jumping up when greeting?
And so, why do dogs often jump when meeting people?
Some dog breeds are hooked on humans that they love to hop into them. Jumping is the pet’s natural gesture to say hello, especially to its owner. Another reason is, a dog wants to get attention as these pets are attention-seekers. Once they get your attention, they start to interact with you because dogs loved to be petted.
The most common reason why dogs jump on visitors is because of excitement, as mentioned earlier. This may be a loving gesture of enthusiasm towards the owner of the animal, but to those who aren’t in love with dogs will hate it.
With these reasons, we need to imply pieces of training on dogs to stop them from jumping on visitors. Once the pet learns to stop itself from jumping, it’ll create a safer environment to be entered by the visitors.
7 Strategies for Training Dogs Not To Jump on Guests
Now, we’ll move on to the techniques and guides to stop that bad behavior of dogs. Here are:
1. Training and Management Technique
These two have distinct strategy, while the method of practice includes reward and consequences for dogs, and the management part is a self-rewarding behavior. Doing these techniques simultaneously will prevent the dog from jumping too often on visitors.
Approach and Withdraw Training: In a scenario of arriving at home, when your dog jumps on you, walk out from him for about 1-minute. Then, go back to the dog. When the same behavior happens, do the same cold treatment until it no longer jumps. Give him a reward when this tip takes effect. Do the same training with strangers.
The management technique here is to gently face down the dog’s back or step on its leash to stop it from jumping.
Counter-command Training: Teach your dog another type of behavior instead of jumping, like sitting, as a distraction. This must be done during the early growth stage to inculcate into its mind easily. Don’t forget giving him a praise statement afterward. This would encourage the dog to be more obedient on every command.
Exercise Training: Dogs have a lot of energies to offer, and sometimes it’s not a good thing. The more its strength, the more it can jump on you. As exercise is also good for the pet’s health, teach him to have 30-minutes of aerobic exercise a day. This will tire out the dog that causes less jumping behavior.
2. Give your dog a special toy
This is another way to distract the pet’s excitement in greeting someone as its attention will now be on that special toy. It can be a stuffed toy or you can buy West Paw Zogoflex Hurley Durable Dog Bone Chew Toy. Dog’s energy will be poured out on the toy instead of jumping next to the visitors.
Here are some list of dog toys you could look for:
3. Train the dog to sit while welcoming a guest
Get a partner to make this training operational. Let the other person start approaching from afar. When the person steps forward, signal the dog to sit down then give him a treat. Continue the feeding while the person is approaching. That continues until the person from afar can personally feed the dog with a treat. Doing the training time after time would teach the dog to sit when people are approaching automatically.
Note: choose the right person to come with you in training your dog. Or, better pick training assistants or a person whom the dog always jumps on during a visit.
4. Use a training mat
When dogs will suddenly go on the doorway when someone knocks. There must be a training mat on doorways to keep the dog from being the first one to face the guests. This kind of training doesn’t need person intervention but only a mat. It won’t surely harm your pet though it comes with electronic effects.
We recommend PetSafe ScatMat Indoor Pet Electronic Training Mat. This mat teaches the dog to stay out from doorways. Don’t worry as it has a harmless static pulse that’s only in effect up to 3-seconds. It has 3-levels correction to accommodate every dog ages. You can place it anywhere inside the house or in the most visited area of your home. It prevents the dog from jumping towards the guests.
5. Start it with owner-and-pet relationship
Maybe you and your dog practice over-familiarity relationship at home. Wherein, both of you gets excited in meeting together after a long day. We, pet owners, do get excited now and then in approaching our dog. We practice having a loud voice in talking to them, which rouses them most to start jumping up.
Practice having a calm aura when you come home the next day and observe as the dog also stays calm. Therefore, your vocal tone has a great effect on your dog’s behavior, so be aware of how you talk to them.
Additionally, you can start discouraging this bad behavior by ignoring your pet when he jumps at you. This won’t affect your relationship to the pet because you’ll give a treat or a pat on the head whenever it calms down. Be consistent with this practice and even avoid occasional attention upon a jumping dog.
6. Place the dog in a playpen for a while
Yes, for a while. This must be practiced whenever you expect visitors to come. Placing a dog in a playpen is the safest and most convenient training to avoid them from jumping on anyone. Make sure the playpen is properly secured with latches and durably built.
We suggest Pet Trex Playpen Hogh Panels for Dogs as one of the best sellers in the market of playpens for pets. The enclosure has enough space to let the dog play while waiting for the visitors to leave. It has a double latch for better security and high enough.
You can set the dog free right after the guests left the house. However, expect the pet to get wilder whenever freed out of the enclosure.
7. Use training tools
There are lots of training tools for dogs available online. These help to easily train the dog not to jump on visitors. It includes:
This training tool stops the unwanted behavior of pets, including jumping on people. Brandon McMillan highly recommends this tool for your pets. It works by shaking the bottle then produces noise to distract the unwanted behavior of the pet. Two distinct sounds are available.
The dog will be under your control up to 330-yards remote range. It has three training modes such as beep, vibration, and shock modes. Just wear the collar onto your dog’s neck and execute a proper training session. There’ll be no accidental shocks as the remote’s keypad is locked to prevent misoperation. This collar distracts the dog from jumping.
This training clicker isn’t only suitable for dogs but also other pets. You can get a set of two training tools in one purchase. Just click the tool, and it produces a loud sound command to the dog. It is primarily used to teach a dog with obedience, a small trick, and to correct a dog’s bad behavior. You can bring this tool anywhere.
Well, a leash is a very effective tool to train a dog. Leashboss Nylon Training Leash is durable enough to handle a wild dog. You can easily prevent the dog from jumping on strangers along the street. The handle is so comfortable to grip. It is suitable for medium and large dogs.
In training a dog, you’ll need a reward tool. Dogs get wild sometimes that even the owners hardly stop them from jumping. You can still give a treat to dogs through this lure stick tool.
What not to do
The must-avoided conduct towards them is part of training a dog not to jump on visitors. We tend to be harsh on our dogs sometimes to teach them one thing, but that will never solve the problem.
Check whether you’re doing the following bad habits of petting your dog:
- Rehearsing a dog to jump because the behavior will be reinforced for all situations.
- Giving too much reward for dogs for not jumping may also strengthen the bad behavior.
- Physically punishing the pet. For example, beating the dog for not being submissive to commands may trigger them to jump even more.
If you’re doing these pieces of stuff while training dogs, you must stop now. We are training our dogs to teach them and not to be harsh on them. These pets deserve proper nurturing.
Conclusion
It seems impossible to stop jumping dogs on visitors, but thanks to the tips above, it is possible. The owner can do the training sets without the help of an expert. We have shown the reasons why dogs jump on a guest to know the solutions. And, as a dog owner, I will testify on the effectiveness of the above strategies that tame a jumping dog. It only takes more time, effort, and patience to fully enjoy the training’s effectiveness upon your dog’s behavior.
Do we miss a point?
Don’t forget to leave a comment down below for us to answer. Pet owners, it’s time to raise your pet in the right way to build a good behavior.
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