Jumping up is annoying, but understandable

Jumping up. It is completely natural for a dog to jump up to greet people, especially when new people enter their home. Imagine being one-third the height of someone you are excited to see. It’s also completely natural to be annoyed by this harmful habit. Nails scratching your guest’s skin, dog nose jabbing into their face. Many trainers suggest you ignore your dog, and only give your dog attention when she or he is sitting or standing with all feet on the floor. That may work for your household members if everyone is on board. However, what do you do when you have visitors?

Large dog up on hind legs looking through white door. Photo by Sébastien Goldberg on Unsplash

Dogs find it super rewarding to jump on people. There are great smells on their faces, and people respond by moving and talking to them, even if they don’t intend to. It’s also incredibly difficult to modify this behavior because there is often a person in the mix who you can’t control, and who is likely getting scratched up or knocked over and responding to your dog. And that attention is probably rewarding to your dog, inadvertently encouraging more jumping. Below is a strategy that is primarily based on behavior management (limiting opportunities for the unwanted behavior of jumping), avoids punishment, and ultimately allows your dog to be part of the gathering.

This approach assumes your dog is crate trained. This means that he or she goes in to the crate voluntarily and relaxes there. If your dog isn’t crate trained, check out this guide.

To help your dog, train your people.

Here’s the strategy. Let’s imagine your brother-in-law is coming over around 2 PM to visit for a bit. Around 1:30, take the dog outside, if you have time, get some energy out (go for a bike ride or play a quick game of fetch), and then have him settled in his crate by 1:45 or 1:50. Ask your dog to go to his crate and give him something to keep him occupied. The crate should be in a quiet room without a lot of family traffic, and the door to the room should be closed.

Welcome your brother-in-law as you would normally, and once you’ve made enough small talk to not sound like a crazy person, let him know that you’re working on training your dog not to jump up. Tell him you’d really like him to ignore your dog completely when you let him out of the crate. Let me tell you, people have a *really* hard time with this. A comedically and surprisingly difficult time with this. The first time I tried this with my mom, she agreed, then when I let Barley out she immediately told him how she was ignoring him. Dan’s close friend agreed, then when Barley approached and sniffed him with a curious but relaxed posture, Dan’s friend reached down and said “Hi, Barley. Yes. Hi, Barley. These are my pants, Barley. Hi, Barley, yes…” Then, inevitably, “Hey, get down Barley, get down Barley!”

Be weird for your dog.

So, I think what you you should say to your guest is, “This might sound crazy, but please pretend my dog doesn’t exist. Do not look at him or touch him or respond to him in any way. I’ll tell you when it’s ok to pet him. People find this really difficult, actually, see if you can do it.” You see why the initial small talk is necessary. They will still think you’re crazy, mean to your dog even, but in the long run this means that your dog will practice greeting people in a calm manner and he will be able to be a part of the group in the future. Be weird for your dog.

When you’ve got your guest informed and he or she is unlikely to react to your dog, and things feel mostly calm (your guest is finished hugging the kids, people are settled, and your dog is not barking in the crate about the person’s arrival), go ahead and let your dog out. Don’t make a big deal of this, just go open the crate and release him and get on with your hosting. Your dog will probably make a bee-line for your guest. You will probably find that your dog does a few sniffs - the crotch, the shoes - but then moves on. He’s been in his crate for a bit and has a lot of things to check on. If he does jump up, ask the person to turn their back and continue ignoring the dog. (Perhaps you could have a little sticker chart on your fridge and people could compete for the best dog ignorer… I may be too much of a mom but I’d consider this.)

Golden retriever on brown couch with paw over person’s hand. Photo by Jack Brind on Unsplash

As soon as ten minutes after your dog has come out of his crate, your guest can probably start interacting with your dog normally yet calmly, and your dog will be less likely to jump up. Give your guest the okay to reach out his or her hand once your dog has overcome the initial excitement of reunion and his interest in the person has started to wane. Keep the first interaction brief. The reason this delayed greeting works for some dogs is because the initial excitement of a group in the doorway has passed, the dog’s motivation to jump up is competing with other new things to check on, and your guest is less likely to reward jumping behavior inadvertently with a response (because they’ve had time to hear your instructions). I suggest you take this approach whether your jumping dog is big or small, as long as they have positive associations with their crate.

This has been working great for our 70-pound rescue dog (thank goodness). Of course, each dog is unique and this may not work for you or your dog. If it doesn't, another option is to use positive reinforcement training to train an incompatible behavior, such as waiting on a mat in an adjacent room. To do this, you can use a remote reward dispenser to intermittently reward your dog for staying clear when people enter your home. You can also check out this list of strategies from the Humane Society of the United States, and of course reach out to a trainer if you want some personalized advice.

What has worked for you?

I hope this information helps some folks find a strategy that helps them live more harmoniously with their dog. Let me know in the comments if this has (or hasn’t!) worked for you and your dog, or other solutions you’ve found to have your jumping dog join your guests. Good luck!

Learn more

Looking for a trainer? In the US, there is no national system of providing credentials to dog trainers, but you can check the Association of Professional Dog Trainers website to find a trainer in your area that follows a positive training approach. In the United Kingdom, the Animal Behaviour and Training Council sets and oversees standards for trainers you can locate trainers on their website.

Update

We used this approach with Barley for about 10 weeks, during which time we probably had visitors once or twice a week. Then, we decided not to crate Barley the next time a visitor arrived. In this case, our visitor was someone we knew could be calm with Barley upon entry, and we gave him a bone to work on before the visitor arrived. When our visitor entered, he came and gave her a sniff then quickly returned to his bone. The next time we had visitors we tried a similar thing, and he didn’t jump up. We’ve now had visitors coming and going more regularly and he’s been doing great — not jumping, not being overly persistent — without using the crating strategy.

Dog jumping on guests? One practical, positive solution to try.