How to do I stop my puppy jumping up?

This is a really common question we get from puppy owners, because jumping up is a very normal behaviour in puppies. However, it's understandable that people want to stop their puppies from jumping up. Not only do we want to avoid muddy paw prints on our clothes, as your dog gets bigger jumping up can be dangerous!

So why does my puppy keep jumping up?
When your puppy greets you, they're usually aiming to get closer to your face (this is how they greet dogs!) and the only way to do this is to stretch up and put their paws on you. When they're very small, most people accidentally reward jumping up by then touching, talking to or other wise interacting with their puppy. The  puppy learns "ah, when I want to interact with the person I should put my paws on them". Uh oh! That wasn't what we wanted!

Prevention is better than cure.
To prevent his learning from taking place, from the first day your puppy comes home make sure you don't accidentally reward jumping up by interacting with them when they do it. Wait until their paws are on the floor. What gets rewarded gets repeated! 

If they're already jumping up then we need some management strategies!

Management
Management is all about setting up the environment so that your puppy doesn't get to practise jumping up.
Jumping on you when you come in the door: Remove access to the door when you’re out. Either by using a baby gate, a pen
or simply closing doors.

Jumping at guests at home: When guests initially arrive put your dog in another room, a crate, or a pen.
Once your guests are in and settled, bring your dog in on a lead, and ask them
to settle on their bed.

Jumping at people on walks
Create space between your dog and people, step to the side, cross the road, ask people not to touch or interact with them. If they’re off lead and running off to jump at people, working on your recall and using a long line will help.

These steps are essential if we want to make an alternative behaviour more rewarding.

Why asking your puppy  to sit doesn’t stop them jumping up
You've probably tried to tell your dog to sit when they jump up. From experience I can guess that this didn't work! This isn't because they're being naughty or disobedient, it's usually because they're too excited to process and respond to what you're saying. A jumping puppy is an excited puppy, and responding to cues in that moment takes a lot of practise. If they do respond, they probably sit for a second or two and then start jumpin again!

So what will stop your puppy from jumping up?
We need to lower the excitement levels and help your puppy calm down. For each of the examples above we need to create a calm association.  Calm puppies don't jump up!

Once your puppy is calm, then we can start teaching alternative behaviours, such as settling on a bed, walking past calmly, or greeting with paws on the floor.

Want to learn more?
1- Check our free 'Stop Jumping' guide  here 

2 - Join our group puppy classes in Leeds where we'll teach you all you need to know about keeping those paws on the floor

3 - Book in a free consultation call  or contact us to chat about 1-2-1 sessions