WHY must they do it?
Your dog’s habit of jumping on people is natural. It’s their way to try to reach faces for greetings, licks, and sniffs. That’s how they would meet other dogs.
We often unintentionally encourage this behavior when our puppies are smaller because it’s cute and we enjoy it. However, when they get larger it can become a problem.
So, it’s up to you to teach your dog how you would like the greetings to go which usually involves keeping all four feet on the floor.
What not to do
Negative reactions like yelling at your dog or grabbing their paws are still attention and can reinforce the behavior.
For many dogs, pushing them away is simply part of a wrestling game.
5 Steps to Getting The Greeting You Want From Your Dog
1. In order to have some control over your dog while training greetings, keep a leash on initially.
However, you do not want to pull your dog back from the door because that will only encourage him to pull against your force towards the door.
Have someone hold the leash or anchor it back from the door so he does not have free reign over the doorway. The energy of an excited dog trying his best to show someone his enthusiasm at their arrival gets chaotic. The leash will help bring some sanity to the situation initially.
2. Teach your dog to sit in front of people in order to greet them. Don’t use a correction like a tug at the collar or a loud “no”… instead, gently ask for a sit and then give the attention he wants, praise, and/or give a treat. Practice this multiple times each time a visitor comes over.
Eventually have visitors simply stand quietly and wait for your pup to initiate the sit himself. That’s the sweet spot! Once this occurs you are on your road to a solid greeting. Give praise and extra treats when this occurs.
Repeat! Repeat!
3. Train “spot”-Another command I train around greetings is to train to a “spot”. This is training your dog to go onto his bed when people arrive. I use this when the energy level is high, there are multiple guests arriving, and I can tell my dog is just not going to be able to control his emotions at the excitement of it all.
Train him to wait for a release, “o.k.”, to come greet visitors once the energy has calmed down a bit.
4. Bribe your neighbors and friends…Let your friends, family, and neighbors know that you are training your pup to greet people appropriately, and have them help you practice.
5. If your dog jumps then remove the attention he is seeking by turning around and being quiet.
Once he sits you can then treat and quietly, gently greet him.
Once your pup is getting the sit-in front for greetings thing, throw a puppy party! With the promise of fun cocktails, entice friends and have them enter the house one at a time, and give your pup a chance to sit on his own.
Every time he does, he gets lots of treats, until he’s excited to do it again the next time the doorbell rings.
When it’s not a puppy party…
If you don’t have the time to referee the dog greetings because you’re busy preparing for guests, then keep your dog separated until everyone is in and you have time to manage it. Allowing your dog to greet inappropriately sometimes and not others diminishes the training.
I actually train my dogs to jump on me with a command, “up”. This way they know to wait for a command to jump.
To be honest, I like a hug once and awhile. But only on my terms because an unexpected jump can cause an injury.
And remember, your dog jumping on you may not bother you… but it will likely annoy your guests.
Allowing your dog to jump on you (unless it is trained to a command) and then having a different expectation for visitors is confusing to your dog. So try to stay consistent.