Jumping Up

How Dogs Greet Each Other and Us

à When dogs greet each other they stand face to face and sniff each other, then sniff each other's anal glands for more information. When puppies greet adult dogs, they will lick the adults' faces.

Dogs consider us members of their pack. Therefore when they met us, they want to greet us in the same way, face to face. Since we walk on our hind legs our faces are much farther away from the dog's, so dogs will jump up to reach our face.

Since dogs are just trying to say hello it would be rude and even mean to knee the dog, hit them, step on their toes or any of the other punishments humans have come up with to stop jumping. It would be as if you walked up to someone, extended your hand for a handshake and the other person slapped you in the face!

Getting the Greeting You Would Like

In our culture it is rude to jump on someone when you first meet them. Since dogs don't know that, we need to teach our dogs what is an acceptable greeting.

STOP REWARDING THE JUMPING: If you reward your dog with any kind of attention, both good and bad (not only is the touch and eye contact rewarding but also the pushing and the yelling) you are giving the dog what they want: your attention! In order to correct the behaviour you must ignore the dog when they jump. When your dog starts to jump stand up straight, cross your arms and turn away from her.

ASK FOR AN INCOMPATIBLE BEHAVIOUR: If you ask the dog to sit it makes it imposible for her to jump, this is what an incompatible behaviour is. Once your dog is sitting, bend down to her level and greet her. If she begins to jump again, stand up, take a step back and ask her to sit again and then continue the greeting.

BE CONSISTENT: For your dog to learn how to greet people politely she must always be ignored when she jumps and always asked to sit before she gets any attention.

Greeting Friends and Strangers

Your dog is your responsibility! It is your job to teach her to greet everyone politely.

When you meet people on the street or if people come to your house the same rules must apply: the dog is ignored when she jumps and is only greeted when she is sitting.

The best way to make this happen is to ask for a sit before a friend approaches, before she has a chance to jump. When your dog is sitting grab her collar so she can't jump up and then invite the friend to greet her. It is important to reward your dog for maintaining the sit throughout the greeting. Let your friend also reward with a treat for your dog's good behaviour.

Don't be afraid to tell approaching strangers to stop before they get to your dog. Tell them that she is in training, ask her to sit and then hold her collar. You can let the stranger know it is okay to pet her. Please reward your dog for good behaviour.

Dogs and Chrildren

Dogs and children should aways be supervised when they are together. This is especially important when your dog is learning how to greet people properly and is still prone to jumping. Children must also be taught how to interact with dogs safely. Never allow a child to approach your dog until she is sitting and you have a firm hold of her collar because a dog could easily knock a child over.