By Lisa Peterson

and Adria Henderson

Welcome to our ongoing series “Back to Basics.”

This week we examine the canine behavior of greeting people by jumping on them. In order to modify this behavior one must understand what motivates the dog to jump in the first place.

Dogs act out of instinct. Normal canine behavior may drive humans crazy such as jumping up to greet us. This behavior is “bad” to us because our clothes get dirty with muddy paw prints or toenails shred our pantyhose. But dogs, like their wolf ancestors, greet each other face-to-face. They sniff noses and lick faces. Dogs jump up on us to reach our faces to sniff our noses, lick our faces and make eye contact. It is the doggie equivalent of a handshake.  

 In addition, as puppies we conditioned them that being up in our face was a great place to be. Remember? We picked them up and cuddled and held them near our face. Puppies will also lick their dam’s face in the hopes that mother will regurgitate food for the pup to eat.

“Good” behavior must be taught. Too many people think good behavior comes naturally. It does not. It must be learned through actions that bring rewards. 

Most people get a jumping dog off them by pushing away with their hands or raising their knee into the chest of the dog in a more forceful way. Sometimes they yell “Off” or “No.” While sometimes these corrections seem to work for the moment, the dog will repeat this behavior over and over again and never learns not to jump on anybody. When you “correct” in this manner, you are actually rewarding the dog with the physical touching, eye contact and the voice attention that the dog is craving.

In order to change the behavior for good you must “teach” your dog what is acceptable when someone comes to the door or enters the yard. The behavior you want to teach is sitting rather than jumping when someone approaches.

So now you are thinking, that’s a lot of work. Well, you’re right, it is. But the rewards are worth it. Dogs require guidance from their pack leader and that leader is you. If you want a well-behaved dog you have to show it what behavior you want from it. Natural instinct will kick-in (jumping) until someone shows him otherwise (sitting). He has to learn that he will be rewarded for sitting and waiting rather than running and jumping.

So what to do? Here are a few helpful tips.

Before you start training your dog not to jump on people, he must have solid sit and stay skills. This can be easily taught anywhere, anytime. For example, you are in the kitchen, chopping some veggies and the dog comes up to you in a standing position. Hold a very small piece of veggie (or whatever treat you use) in front of the dog’s head and tell him “Sit. “ Then move the treat over the dog’s head towards his tail. His head will come up to follow the treat and when he looses site of it he will automatically sit back to get the treat into view again. When he sits, give “immediate praise.” Say “good boy!” with much feeling.

Praise him while he is still sitting not after he has gotten up. He needs to know which position he is being praised for. After the verbal praise, give him the treat and then release him with a verbal “Okay” or some term. Don’t use “good boy” to release because then he will release himself every time you tell him “good boy” during any exercises.

If he gets up and doesn’t sit, don’t punish or yell. Just ignore the behavior you don’t want and place him back into the position you do want. When the dog is successful, verbal praise, pat him on the chest, then treat, then release. No additional praise is needed after the release. If you praise after the release, you teach the dog that the release is the desired behavior.

For the stay command, put the dog in the sit position and use the command “Stay” and face the open palm of your hand towards the dog’s nose. Walk away from the dog and repeat the stay command verbally many times if necessary. You may give him a treat and verbal “good boy” while in the stay position. It is important to be able to walk around the dog while in the stay position as well. When you are ready to release him, verbal praise, treat and “okay.” Do this exercise on leash. Remember if he moves, simply ignore that behavior and place him back in the sit position and start over. Each time you do this exercise increase the length of time he is required to stay. It may be only a few seconds in the beginning, but soon he will learn to stay for many minutes.

Once the dog has mastered these two behaviors we can move towards greeting visitors. In the beginning, stage a few entrances from the front and back door or wherever the majority of the traffic comes into the house. Or outside if people come into the dog’s yard. Put the dog on a leash and have some one with the dog while another person comes into the house or yard. As the dog runs to greet the visitor, simply put the dog on a sit and stay position. Have the visitor approach the dog and squat down to dog level and praise verbally. Have the handler or visitor give the dog a treat and then have the visitor walk away. At this point you may release the dog, say “okay,” and carry on. If the dog does jump, turn away and ignore the behavior. Don’t punish with verbal commands, mean eye contact or pushing away. Because in the dog’s mind he’ll love this attention just as much even though it’s negative attention.

After much repetition, repetition, repetition, the dog will learn that when it runs to greet people and sits rather than jumps he will get the attention he craves. Ideally you will want to start this behavior as young as possible. The more you do before the pup is five months old the better. But you can teach an older dog new “tricks” as well. Keep at it and before you know it your “bad” dog will have learned “good” behavior that both of you can live with.  

Lisa Peterson and Adria Henderson are owners/operators of Safe at Home, LCC, a Newtown-based pet sitting service. They love to hear from their readers at animallifestyles@usa.net