Stopping the 3 Most Annoying Puppy Behaviors - Part II

In the previous post, I mentioned the 3 most annoying puppy behaviors - biting and mouthing, jumping up on peeps, and chewing.

flickr.com: Mt. T in DC

This post focuses on the whys and hows of dogs jumping on people.

Why Puppies Jump Up on Peeps
Clearly, jumping up on people is a seriously annoying behavior that puppies do quite naturally. A small pup sees you walk through the door, wants attention, and the next thing you know, the paws are digging into your legs and the back of your knees (that was Alvin's fav trick).

Think about it - they are small, you appear monstrous, and the natural behavior is to do ANYTHING to get attention. Jumping seems to work, so the puppy gets into a pattern of doing that behavior. 

When we broke Simon of jumping (way past puppyhood), he cleverly found another attention-getting behavior - gifting. So now when we come home, we get a waggling Simon carrying around one of his toys. Not a bad substitute behavior!

How to stop dog jumping
Simple in concept, breaking this habit requires persistence, patience, and consistency.

Here's how:
Walk through the door.
Totally ignore the pup for 5 minutes, even if he jumps.

Do it consistently, every day until the jumping stops. It may take weeks or just a few times.
At this point, I got Alvin and Simon to sit and stay on command (they had learned these commands as young pups).

Reasons why ignoring a puppy won't work

• You're not doing it consistently. You need to ignore the dog EVERY time.
• You allow the dogs to jump up on visitors. If he can jump up on visitors, why can't he jump up on you?
• All family members won't ignore the puppy when they walk into the house. There's always one jerk who thinks yelling and flaying arms works better. Guess what! That human behavior actually encourages jumping!

Who's Ruining Your Dreams of Having the Perfectly Trained Dog?

Let's see - you are trying  to get your small puppy to stop jumping up on people. So you explain to everyone you live with that all you need to do is ignore the dog. And if you ignore the jumping; eventually it will stop.

It's a Proven Method, BUT . . .
Great advice and works for many small dogs. But not for all. Why? Just observe the behavior of the humans you live with. Who's ignoring what you have asked them to do? Who's dumb enough to scream at the dog as soon as the jumping starts. Duh! That's giving the dog the attention he seeks by jumping. And it's totally counter-productive.

Your Next Move
Your have two decisions in this case - give up, or persuade the offender that what they're doing is not working. Unfortunately, some people are ignorant and will never learn. But it's still up to you as the dog's owner or caregiver to train your dog. The ball's in your court!

Solutions
Here's an article I wrote about the topic of dog training saboteurs who totally destroy your efforts. The article explains some of the things I've done to counteract their ignorance.
The Biggest Obstacle to Successful Dog training