One of the most common behavior problems in dogs is jumping.
A dog might jump on you when it greets you, but you don’t want its dirty paws on your work clothes.
Or maybe visitors come over (some who might not be so steady on their feet)… and you fear your dog will knock them over.
Or maybe you take your dog out to the park to social network with other dogs, and your dog can’t help but jump on strangers.
You don’t want any of that, you want your dog to be the well-behaved one.
Which is why you’re on this page. 
In this post, you will learn
- Why dogs jump on people
- How to use positive reinforcement to train your dog not to jump on people..(with video demonstration)
- How to use brain training to eliminate behavior problems
What Will I Learn?
Why Do Dogs Jump on You?
From an early age, puppies jump up to their mothers.
If the mother dog is bringing food, the puppy will jump up on her and lick her face as a way to say “please drop me the food”.
She is the “pack leader” here, so they can’t simply take the food away from her.
Instead, they “supplicate” in a submissive manner in order to win over the pack leader (their mom in this case).
This is a natural instinct deeply rooted in dogs from the moment they are puppies.
So it makes sense how if you’re the dog’s master aka pack leader, it will also jump on you.
The thing is that when the pack leader is a dog, the dog doesn’t think “eww keep your dirty paws off me”…it probably doesn’t care about that.
However, as a human, you care more about not getting paw prints on your work suit. You also don’t want your dog to jump on guests who come by for tea… so you have to train your dog not to jump on people.
How do you do this?
First, think like a dog.
The dog thinks that by jumping, it’s supplicating to you and in return it’ll earn a reward. You have to mold that into thinking “jumping won’t get me anything, but when I don’t jump I DO get a reward!”
For a dog, the path to success is getting the reward.
With training, you can define the path to success to whatever you want it to be.
All you have to do is define the positive behaviors that win a reward.
(You can use Brain Training For Dogs to accomplish this)
How to Train Your Dog to Stop Jumping on People with Positive Reinforcement
Now I’d like you to take a look at the following video on “practicing proper greetings”:
Practicing proper greetings is the key to stopping a dog’s jumping problem.
Above we have a video of CPDT-KA certified dog trainer Adrienne Farricelli teaching “Maggie” not to jump when she opens the door to the house and greets her.
Here are the steps of how she trains away the dog’s jumping problem:
1. Adrienne enters the door and greets the dog with attention
2. The dog jumps, so she turns her back to the dog to take away the attention
3. She “tests” his behavior by greeting the dog again, but as soon as the dog jumps, she turns her back and removes the attention. (This teaches the dog that getting attention won’t happen if it jumps)
4. After the third jump, Adrienne leaves altogether.
(Maggie the dog is now wondering, where the heck did Adrienne go?)
5. Adrienne opens the door again and greets the dog but as soon as the dog jumps, she goes back outside.
6. This keeps repeating until the dog doesn’t jump, at which point Adrienne gives her a treat.
(Maggie the Dog now thinks: “hmm OK, so when I don’t jump, I get a reward!”)
7. Adrienne goes out and back in to try the greeting again, and once again, the dog doesn’t jump (and she gets another treat!)
8. Adrienne tries it again but now with more enthusiasm and acting very excited, to test Maggie. Once again Maggie doesn’t jump (and she gets a treat).
Maggie the Dog is now getting the hang of it. She is on her way to being a well-behaved non-jumping dog!
Use Brain Training to Make Dog Behavior Problems Disappear
Ever heard the phrase “an idle mind is the devil’s playground”?
Well it not only applies to humans, it perfectly applies to dogs too!
See, when your dog’s mind has nothing to do, it will find something to do… like barking all night, jumping on people, and destroying your backyard.
Whatever your dog’s behavior problem, it can be controlled by giving its mind something to do.
Dog misbehavior gets toned down by developing intelligence.
In particular, you can use brain games to raise your dog’s IQ, eliminate behavior problems, or even to get your dog to perform cool tricks you can show off to your friends.
The Brain Training for Dogs program shows you how to to keep your dog’s mind busy with 21 fun games that improve obedience and behavior.
The course is written by professionally certified trainer Adrienne Farricelli (who’s work has appeared in USA Today, Everydog Magazine, Nest Pets and more).
By the end of Brain Training for Dogs, your dog will be able to organize his toys, identify each toy by name, and even play the piano (yes really!)…
…all while being a better behaved (and less destructive dog).