Our furry friends are very hyper, and they love to show it at any opportunity. Jumping is what they love most, and it becomes a nuisance in the long run. Imagine your friend has just come to visit you and before you know it, the dog is all over her. It sucks, right?
Let’s get down a little a bit. Dogs greet each other by touching their noses, and they’d love to the same with any person. However, we are tall for them, and that’s why they have to jump.
For puppies, this may be cute, but as they grow older, the downsides creep in. For instance, the dogs may knock you down or scratch you by their claws.
You can do something about this and teach your dog the right way of greeting people. That’s what we are going to look at in this article.
1. Teach Your Dog to Stop Jumping
Your dog is just like your child. It has to listen to you as a parent. It is a crucial step in dog training as it’s a way of gaining the dog’s trust, but you’re still the one with authority. It must respect any command you give.
There are different management skills you can teach your dog to stop jumping. For instance, when you are expecting a visitor, and you know that they fear dogs, these tips might help a great deal.
- Confining them in a different room or their kennels.
- Restraining it on a leash
- If he’s still a puppy, putting him on a crate will do
Such practices are called post-management methods. They show the dog that you don’t like their behaviour, and it’s the reason why you are putting him aside. They’re one of the essentials steps before you go into the actual training.
2. Ignore Your Dog When Jumping
How do you feel when someone ignores you knowingly? You feel bad, and there is a high chance that you will never talk to that person again, right? It’s the same way with your pet. The process may seem unhealthy, but it helps in the long run.
Dog are attention seekers, and they’ll stop at nothing to get what they want. When you deprive them this right, something clicks on their mind and there’s a high chance that they will step back.
An effective way of doing this is when they begin to do the jumping. You can happily give him his favourite treats, go for a walk, or even play a few games. However, when they start jumping; you can either stop petting them or show that you are not interested. When you continuously do this, they’ll figure out the main reason you are ignoring them.
For this practice to be effective, both of you must have bonded. Furthermore, he must understand your language.
3. Teach Your Dog How to Sit
From time immemorial, the “sit” command has been the most straightforward skill of training a dog. It’s the fists step in successful dog training. And it helps a lot when dealing with a jumper.
Now, sitting is common to dogs. What you are trying to get from the dogs by the command is the duration they should remain sitting, and where they should sit.
Before you commence on the training, you need a few treats on your side to reward your trainee when they get it right. It motivates them, and it will get used to it faster than expected.
You can follow this simple procedure;
The right sitting position
The correct sitting position is when the bottom is laying firmly on the ground. The whole body must relax. Some dogs, however, are cunning and will try to fool you. They hover above the ground, assuming that they’ve sat. In the real, sense the position gives their legs the strength to pounce on anything.
If you have nailed it on the sitting position, try to let them sit for ten minutes which you should do a couple of times in a day and the week.
The Treat Trick
Generally, any dog will follow any instruction when it sees you with their favourite treat. The process involves holding the treats over the dog’s mouth and moving it back towards the ears.
The dog will be forced to sit in which you release the treats. You can command it to stay at the position for a couple of minutes.
Getting the Right Cue Word
At this time, the dog does not know what it’s doing. All he knows is that if he stays on that position, there are treats while making his owner happy. Just then, you introduce a cue word to bring everything together.
Typically, you only need two cue words; “sit” and “OK” or any other word you think might resonate.
The “OK” cue word is to release it from the sitting position. Make sure that it sits for the longest time possible. Continue the practice for a period, and you will be using this command to make it stop jumping.
4. Jumping on Command
Another hack of preventing the bad behaviour is using it positively. Teaching your pooch to jump on command is the only way of meeting his intuitive need to jump while not leaving you angry. At least, both of you are happy at the end of the day. It’s a win-win situation.
There are numerous methods of teaching your dogs how to jump, but this is the most effective and easy to try. It’s known as the straight up method.
- It all begins by signalling your dog to sit (which he must have known by now). He can quickly generate energy to jump from the position.
- You should have a treat to “bribe” the dog to jump. Place it just above the head and signal him to jump. You can use this as a cue word. He’ll probably try his best until he reaches for the treat.
- Repeat the process again and again while increasing the level of the treats until it gets used to it.
- Take away the “bribe” and command it to jump. He will easily do this since he already got wind of what you mean.
How to Stop Dog Jumping on Others?
When it reaches such a level, there’s a high chance that people will be avoiding you or coming to your house. It’s one of those tough situations to find yourself in. It’s a potential jumping situation that any dog loves. So you really have to brace yourself and sharpen your axe well.
Whenever you are out walking him around the vicinity, it goes without say that he should be on a leash. And not any strap, but a short one. It keeps him near you and won’t jump on anyone because they smell good.
Sometimes you may meet a friend on the streets, and you have to talk as you catch up. You must have trained him to sit long enough in such a case. Some dogs are super-smart and will sit without a signal.
If your dog has not reached here yet, you can quickly cue him to sit and remain calm even if the person is petting him. If you nail it on this area, then you’ve already instilled some discipline on your dog.
Rewarding Your Dog
When training a dog, a treat shouldn’t lack on your side. In the first steps of your training, the dog knows that it’s working for the treats.
Plus, food makes a good impression as the ideal item to train your dogs with. You can’t “reward” your dog by punishing him when he doesn’t get it right. He won’t be motivated, and he’ll avoid training sessions.
Some of the advantages of training your dogs with treats are;
Motivating Your Dog
A few dogs feel full most of the time. The better part of them will not waste an opportunity to be treated to some of their favourite foods.
You can take this opportunity to train them new skills and reward them. They’ll be more than ready to learn at any time. At the back of their minds, they know that training time is eating time.
Use the Feeding Time for Your Advantage
Some pet owners don’t see the value of their pet’s feeding time. It’s a convenient time to train your dog anything.
Don’t just put food on a table and throw it to the dog. You can use food dispensing toys to keep him busy. At least, he’ll learn a lesson or two from feeding time.
The Takeaway
Pet behaviourists say that any dog can be trained regardless of the breed. When you subject it into an exercise consecutively, it gets used to it and is keen to listen to your instructions.
We know that it’s a daunting task, but it’s worth the effort.
So don’t let your cute little buddy turn into a “monster” that everyone fears. You can optimize these tips in your training sessions and see if they’ll make a change.