5 Tips to Stop Puppy Jumping

Photo by Karthik Sridasyam on Unsplash

On the one hand, having a puppy jump up on your legs for attention probably means they like us enough to want our attention, and that feels good. But when it goes on and on and we can’t get away, it doesn’t feel so good anymore.

And then when it’s your puppy jumping on someone else, you can feel bad—especially if the person they’re jumping on is wearing some nice clothing that could be damaged or soiled by your puppy. Yikes!

The thing is, puppies jump because it works: Puppy wants attention. Puppy jumps on you and the first time, you give attention. Puppy thinks, “Hey! That worked!” So puppy jumps again. This time you push puppy off, point your finger and say, “Off!” Puppy thinks, “Hey! I got attention again!” It doesn’t matter that one time it was ‘positive’ attention and the second time it was ‘negative’ attention. It’s all attention, to the puppy. Behaviour that gets rewarded gets repeated.

Here are a few quick tips to help you prevent puppy jumping:

1. Prevention

   Depending on the context, you could keep your puppy on a leash or behind a barrier, like a baby gate or an exercise pen.

2. Teach a solid Sit

   And when your pup has a really good, fast sit, cue them to sit well before they jump. I usually suggest you speak in a loud, clear voice and say your puppy’s name and then “Sit!” when puppy is still a metre or so away from the person they’re aiming for.

3. Keep greetings low-energy

   This is super hard! But we can’t expect our puppies to stay “4 on the floor” when we rev them up as we greet them.

4. Make the floor the place to be

   Feed food rewards on the floor instead hand-to-mouth. For example, from Tip #2, you cue your puppy to sit and when puppy sits, you can calmly praise and place 2-3 treats on the floor.

5. Practice!

   Help your puppy make good choices by doing lots of practice. Remember: behaviour that gets rewarded gets repeated.

6. Put it on cue!

   Bonus tip: Teach your puppy when it’s okay to jump up. This way your puppy still gets to jump up sometimes, but they have to wait until you tell them it’s okay.