Dear Jumping: Dogs are social and territorial creatures. They need information to make decisions about newcomers arriving at their homes. Most dogs go to a human’s face to get that information. Sometimes they also sniff in embarrassing places. But for the dog who is jumping I suspect they are looking for clues if your guest is a good guy or not. So the behavior is normal and acceptable for the dog. The jumping, however, is not acceptable to you and most likely your guests. The trick is to change the behavior to make it acceptable to you.

You say your dog doesn’t listen to “No” when she jumps. It is probably because she is unaware of which behavior you are saying No to. It could be the jumping, it could be the tail wagging, or going to the front door. So rather than try to stop the old behavior why not create a new behavior for your dog that is acceptable.

Teaching Old Dog

A New Trick

First, decide what you’d like her new behavior to be when guests enter the house. I’d recommend that you teach her to sit and stay for new guests to enter the house. Most owners teach their dogs to sit with a treat. Also, make sure you have trained you dog to stay. If you have not yet done this training perhaps a few obedience classes are in order. If not, we can teach her as she’s learning to greet guests.

Have a friend or family member help you out in the training session by being the “guest” at the front door. Have the guest ring the door bell or knock. This will act as a trigger for your dog to start the new behavior. With your dog on a leash, bring her to the spot you’d like her to stay at (make it close enough to the door so you can answer the door and still have her be on the end of the leash) and make her sit. Give lots of praise and a little treat. They tell her to “stay” and open the door. Make sure this new behavior is solid before moving on to part two.

Act II

Part two involves the guest entering the house while she is on a sit and stay. I’m sure she will be wagging her tail and very happy to see the guest. If she gets up have the guest leave immediately and start over. Once she has stayed and the guest has entered, praise her and have the guest give her a few really good treats, like liver or cheese. Then let the guest walk by her. Once the guest is safely inside the house you can release her from the stay with an “okay, good girl” command. Don’t give her food after you have released her.

After much repetition, the dog will begin to associate some new behaviors with guests coming to the front door. She will know she must sit and stay. And, if she does that successfully, then she knows that anyone coming in the door will be giving her a treat. At the beginning have some treats at the door to give to guests as they enter. Eventually, she will have made her new behavior a habit. And once she’s really good at this you can slowly remove the treats and give praise as her reward. This will require consistent, repetitive work on your part, but in the end both you and your dog will look forward to house guests. 

Lisa Peterson, a long-time breeder of Norwegian Elkhounds, is the Director of Club Communications at the American Kennel Club.

Contact her at ask@lisa-peterson.com or Dogma Publishing, P.O. Box 307, Newtown, CT 06470.