It happened again; you walk into a house and are rudely assaulted by four paws and a tongue! Most dogs prefer to greet people this way, and many believe these dogs are just trying to make friends, but jumping up on people is a dangerous habit for your pet to develop. A big dog that is allowed to jump up on guests can be scary and intimidating, and an unfortunate incident may be the result of your pet’s misbehavior which is why learning how to stop dog jumping behavior is critical for the safety of your family, friend, neighbors and, even your dog.

By getting down to your dog’s level, you may be able to stop your dog from jumping on you. However, this won’t necessarily work with neighbors or strangers that you pass. You must teach your dog a command to stop jumping for situations like those.

‘Sit’ is an important and basic command. Mastering the ‘Sit’ is a foundation for other commands and may save your dogs life. Before teaching how to stop dog jumping, you and your dog need to master the ‘Sit’ command. It must be automatic and consistent in order to move forward to stopping any jumping behavior.

For the training you should begin with your dog standing in front of you. You can immediately determine when your dog is about to jump up. What you want to do is look for the signs – muscles tensing, tail wagging etc… When you notice that they’re thinking about jumping up command the dog to sit. If the dog jumps up on you regardless (and he likely will at first) bring your knee up to his chest and firmly tell him Off. You might be tempted to say down. However, that is the command to get your dog to lay down and should only be used for that purpose.

Try not to scare or hurt your dog, just gently knock him off balance. Lifting your knee a bit should do the job. This is just associating the command with the action. Make sure he gets rewarded with a treat and verbal praise when it is done. With enough repetition, he will soon obey the “Off” command.

Dogs who jump on everybody they meet are going to create an unpleasant incident sooner or later. Such behavior is specially dangerous around elderly people and young children. So take the time to learn how to stop dog jumping behavior if you do not want the risk of a lawsuit, or worse. And enjoy you dog.