How to Stop a Puppy From Jumping Up on People

For this Omaha dog training session we worked with Benji, a 6-month-old Australian Shepherd / Rottweiler mix. His guardians wanted to learn how to stop a puppy from jumping up on people.

How to Stop a Puppy From Jumping Up and Stay Calm

Puppies are often taught to jump up on us from a young age. They are cute, they want to get close to us and jump up on our legs as a result. We reach out and pet the puppy when they jump. This teaches the puppy that jumping is how to get attention from people.

Since I knew Benji gets excited and jumps when people arrive, I called his guardians ahead of time. I gave them some simple instructions. This exercise will help teach a dog not to jump on people when he is excited.

If the guardians call or text each other when they are going home, they can practice this a few times daily. Each practice will likely last only 1 to 3 minutes. If Benji does this regularly for a month, he should learn that people prefer when dogs don’t jump on them.

Training a dog to stop jumping on people isn’t hard with this approach, in fact it’s really easy. It just takes practice repetitions. That said, stopping dog jumping is a pretty common request we get from clients and our success rate with this approach is amazing.

After showing his guardians this tip to stop dog jumping, we sat down to talk about Benji’s daily life and other dog behavior issues.

Easy Ways to Eliminate a Dog’s Fear of the Kennel

A big problem was Benji’s dislike of the kennel. He had protested in it so intensely that what was left was a crate barely held together. Recognizing that the crate was causing him distress, the guardians started dropping him off at a local dog day care.

I wish more people would recognize a dog protesting about the kennel is communicating they’re in distress. All too often I see people whose “solution” is to get a stronger kennel. If your child is upset about something, would you want to make it harder for them? Or would you help them overcome their fear?

To help eliminate a dog’s fear of the kennel, I walked Benji’s guardians through a kennel training exercise I have developed over the years.

If the guardians take their time and practice regularly, Benji can overcome his fear of the kennel. He will learn to see it as a safe place to relax and hang out.

I also went over ways to reward Benji when he offers desired behaviors, how to pet with a purpose and the importance of rules and enforcing them so the dog sees the humans acting as leaders (in the dog’s eyes).

Another great thing to do for dogs suffering from separation anxiety is to teach them to stay until released. Once they teach Benji to stay, they can start practicing having him stay by himself for short periods of time in the other room.

Dogs with separation anxiety have little experience being alone while calm. Practicing being alone when he knows his humans are in the next room can help him be more relaxed when he is flying solo.

The guardians should also look for triggers, things they do before they leave that Benji has associated with them leaving. By doing these actions without leaving, the humans can help reduce what stresses Benji. This helps him not think they are about to leave.

Another exercise I showed them was teaching a dog to focus. This is a great way to redirect a dog’s attention away from things it may be reactive to.

To help his guardians remember all the dog behavior secrets I shared with them in this at home dog training appointment, I shot a roadmap to success video. You can check it out below.