Free Tips for Teaching Dogs to Calm Down and Not Jump Up

For this Omaha dog training session we helped a pair of 5 year-old Great Dane mix litter-mates. Lola and Mitzi’s guardians needed help teaching dogs to calm down and stop jumping up on people.

Easy & Effective Way of Teaching Dogs to Calm Down

The great thing about this training method is that the dog learns by themselves. The human does not have to micromanage their furry friend. The dog learns that being calm gets them attention. But when they jump or act excited, people move away.

Training an excitable dog to stop jumping on people requires patience, consistency, and positive reinforcement. Many dogs jump because they associate it with receiving attention, even if that attention is negative.

Guardians often reinforce this behavior unintentionally by reacting to it, whether through physical contact, scolding, or verbal acknowledgment. To break this habit, teach the dog that keeping all four paws on the ground is good. Jumping will get no attention at all.

One of the most effective methods is to ignore unwanted behavior. When a dog jumps, the best response is to withhold attention—no eye contact, no touching, and no speaking—until the pup calms down.

At the same time, rewarding calm behavior is crucial. When the dog remains grounded or sits, you should give treats, praise, or pets immediately. This helps the dog associate staying calm with receiving rewards.

Another useful technique is structured greetings. Before allowing a dog to greet someone, you should prompt them to sit. If they remain in a seated position, they receive attention; if they jump, the interaction stops.

Over time, this conditions the dog to understand that sitting is the proper way to seek attention. In some cases, leash work can help reinforce this behavior. A gentle leash correction can guide the dog back down if they try to jump, but it should always be paired with a reward for calmness.

Practicing these techniques with multiple people ensures that the dog learns to generalize the behavior across different interactions. If only one person enforces the rules, the dog may revert to jumping with others.

Additionally, if there are multiple dogs in the household, training them together can prevent one from exciting the other.

Consistency is the key to long-term success. Guardians must reinforce calm greetings every day, ensuring that the dog does not receive mixed signals.

Patience and repetition will help replace the jumping habit with a more controlled and polite way of greeting people. By using these methods, any dog can learn to manage their excitement and become a well-mannered companion.

It takes practice and repetition. So, I asked the guardians to have a friend or neighbor come by each day. This way, the dogs can practice. They can even call or text one another while on their way home so they can practice being a guest at the front door themselves.

Stopping a Dog From Jumping Up on People

Stopping a dog from jumping up on people starts with helping the dog calm themselves down. Just like humans, dogs make the most mistakes when they are in an unbalanced state of mind. Finding chances to stop when a dog gets excited is good practice for building self-control.

Waiting for permission to eat food is one way to help a dog. Sitting and waiting at the door for permission to exit is another. Sitting calmly before the leash is attached also helps.

These actions teach a dog self-control. They can help the dog stop getting too excited to listen.

We covered a number of other dog behavior tips in this in home dog behavior training session so we recorded a roadmap to success video detailing them all.