Ah, the adorable puppy jumping up… wanting to get as close to us as possible. “Hello, you little darling!” people often croon.

Thus setting the stage for problems with jumping up later, when it’s less adorable. Even if you have a small dog, it’s not always cute. Muddy paws on white slacks just before you go out? Been there, done that. )Our Basenji understood she wasn’t supposed to jump up in OUR minds, but she was the most independent minded dog I’ve ever had.)

Here are some tips to stop your dog from jumping up, on you or on guests who are arriving at your door.

1. Train him to sit or down, in circumstances where there’s no excitement. Use really tasty treats, like tiny cubes of cheese or really small bits of hot dog cut up. Then gradually make the circumstances more exciting and gradually keep getting him to sit or lie down. This might take a lot of repetition.

2. You and other people can ignore him when he jumps, and then the game is way less fun than even if you are telling him how awful he is!

3. I’ve had some success by putting my knee up just before my dog jumps. He can’t get to me that way.

Whatever you do, it may take a lot of repetition and it’s probably best to choose one strategy and just keep doing it over and over for a good long time.

Over and over and over. (Here I’m hoping that repetition will work with you too!)

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!