{"id":13895,"date":"2022-11-15T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T15:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/?p=13895"},"modified":"2026-02-17T10:07:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T16:07:50","slug":"untraining-your-pet-no-more-jumping-on-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/blog\/behavior\/training\/untraining-your-pet-no-more-jumping-on-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Untraining Your Pet: No More Jumping on People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to our \u201cUntraining Your Pet\u201d series, where we help you \u201cuntrain\u201d your pet from those naughty or annoying bad habits and get them back to being the goodest boys and girls. <\/em><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question that a puppy jumping excitedly around your legs when you come in the door is an adorable way to be greeted by your favorite furry friend. But\u2026 what happens when they\u2019re still doing this behavior as an adult? Your family and friends probably won\u2019t find the jumping behavior quite as cute when their shirt gets ripped or their white pants now have a paw-print pattern. Or, worse still, they get knocked over by your boisterous greeter, which is a real possibility if your dog is a large or giant breed \u2014 a Great Dane on their hind legs is taller than most people!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to get your dog\u2019s jumping up under control, we\u2019ve got some tips for turning your out-of-control jumper into a calm and gentle greeter.<\/p>\n

Why Do Dogs Jump on You?<\/h2>\n

Jumping is a natural behavior dogs use during play and when meeting each other. Dogs like to greet each other nose-to-nose<\/a>, so that\u2019s what they\u2019re trying to do when they jump up on you \u2014 reach your nose that\u2019s way up there. Some dogs also use jumping to get your attention, whether that\u2019s positive attention and you react by playing with them, or negative attention and you tell them to get down. Either way, they stopped you from doing whatever you were doing and got your attention. And then there are dogs who have so much pent-up energy that they use jumping on you and bouncing off the walls (literally) as a way to release it. So, jumping is a normal behavior for dogs; you just need to teach them when and where jumping is appropriate.<\/p>\n

Stick with the No-Jumping Rule<\/h2>\n

Consistency. It\u2019s going to be a recurrent theme for our \u201cUntrain Your Pet\u201d series, but it\u2019s an important point and one worth mentioning every time. Once you decide to stop your dog from jumping on people, everyone in your household, your visitors and even strangers at the dog park, need to know that jumping is no longer an acceptable way for your dog to greet people. It\u2019s confusing for your dog if they\u2019re allowed to jump up during playtime but not when Grandma comes to visit or when you\u2019ve got your hands full of groceries. So no jumping on people has to mean no jumping on people <\/em>\u2014 ever again.<\/p>\n

Change the Greeting Style<\/h2>\n

The end goal of stopping your dog from jumping on people is to train them to do something else instead. It\u2019s up to you to decide how you would like your dog to greet people. They could sit or lie down or have a special mat where they wait for people to come to them. Whichever command you decide to use, the idea is to teach your dog that when someone comes in the door, they do that command instead of jumping up. It helps if they know the command already, they\u2019re just learning how to follow the command when they\u2019re really<\/em> excited. It will take time, patience and a lot of rewards, but hopefully soon you can stop wrestling with your dog and saying \u201cdown\u201d as you\u2019re trying to usher visitors in through the front door.<\/p>\n

The best case scenario is to train your puppy<\/a> right from the start not to jump up. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done with a playful little puppy whose jumps don\u2019t bother you. But it will be better for both of you long term.<\/p>\n

While You\u2019re Waiting\u2026<\/h2>\n

Training your dog to follow a command instead of jumping is going to take some time, so here are some pointers on how to handle jumping while you\u2019re in training.<\/p>\n

Hello from Afar<\/h2>\n

While your dog is learning a new greeting method, you can manage their jumping urges by limiting jumping opportunities with a pet gate or crate. This reinforces the \u201cWe\u2019re not jumping ever again\u201d rule and helps stop you inadvertently giving your dog attention (even though it\u2019s negative) because you\u2019re responding to their jumping. Once your dog is over the initial excitement of a new friend in the house, you can see if they will calmly greet your visitor.<\/p>\n

You can also use a head collar or no-pull harness and leash to control your dog\u2019s jumps. Ask your visitor to wait until your dog is calm before approaching them. If your dog tries to jump, gently turn and lead them away. Once they\u2019re calm you can try again.<\/p>\n

Turn Away or Walk Away<\/h2>\n

There are going to be times when your dog jumps on you while they\u2019re in training, so it\u2019s good to know the best way to handle it. One of the best things you can do is take away the reward your dog gets by jumping \u2014 your attention. If they jump up on you, turn away with your arms crossed. Don\u2019t look at, talk to or touch your dog (yep, that\u2019s going to be hard). Once they stop jumping, wait a few seconds to make sure, then reward their calm and good behavior with your attention (and other rewards if you want). If they jump again when you turn around, ignore them again. If they\u2019re really persistent with their jumping, you may need to walk away or go into a room and close the door. Eventually they will learn that being calm gets your attention and rewards; jumping does not.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Remember that for this to work, you need to be consistent with the no jumping rule. So if you\u2019re coming home from a long day at work and you just want to give your best furry friend a hug, you can\u2019t do it if they jump up. You have to wait until they\u2019re calm, with all four feet on the floor. It\u2019s going to be tough for both of you for a while, but you can do it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

RELATED POST: Untraining Your Pet: Stopping Your Dog from Begging<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to our \u201cUntraining Your Pet\u201d series, where we help you \u201cuntrain\u201d your pet from those naughty or annoying bad habits and get them back to being the goodest boys and girls. There\u2019s no question that a puppy jumping excitedly around your legs when you come in the door is an adorable way to be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":13898,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Untraining Your Pet: No More Jumping on People","_seopress_titles_desc":"It\u2019s no secret that dogs love jumping up on people. Learn how to curb your dog's bad habit of jumping up on yourself and strangers by reading these simple tips!","_seopress_robots_index":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[201,282],"tags":[10,810,811],"class_list":["post-13895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behavior","category-training","tag-dog","tag-dog-behavior-training","tag-puppy-jumping-training"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diamondpet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}