Jumping-Up

Jumping Up

By Marty Guerra

Jumping up (or inappropriate greeting behavior) is a big problem for many dog owners. It is also one that is most often reinforced by yelling at the dog to "get down", pushing the dog off and even "dancing" around trying to avoid the dog. All of which are giving the dog what he wants, your attention and a greeting! You may be aware with some of the common "hands-on" methods of dealing with this behavior; kneeing the dog in the chest, stepping on its back feet, squeezing/pinching its front feet which can lead to an aversion to having the feet handled. These are all compulsive corrections and a harsh thing to do to a dog that is only saying "hi" and, they only serve to suppress the behavior. They do not do anything to teach the dog what you would rather it do.

Using positive reinforcement, correcting this is easily accomplished by ONLY reinforcing the dog when he is on the floor. This means ignoring jumping up and "hyper" greetings (remove the reward). When you come home and your dog is happy to see you; jumping-up, running circles at your feet and darting about the house, completely ignore him!! Become a statue! DO NOT look at him, speak to him, or touch him in any way. Stare at the ceiling. It is hard at first to ignore the little Tasmanian Devil, however if you wait him out, he will realize that his jumping up is not getting him anything, and he'll get off of you. (Animals will not expend a lot of energy doing things that are not fruitful). When he does place all fours on the floor, REINFORCE with a barrage of CALM petting and treats. Squat down and quietly say "hello". Once the greeting is over, move on.

Another very effective approach to extinguishing jumping-up is to put you dog on leash, get the help of a friend or two. While you are standing (or sitting) with your dog on leash, have one person at a time approach your dog. As they approach and the dog gets up or just begins to jump-up, have them immediately turn and walk away. Do this until the dog stops getting up or jumping-up. Once the person can approach with the dog remaining on the floor, treat and greet. This doesn't usually take more than 5 to 10 repetitions before the dog starts to figure it out. The dog is learning through his/her own behavior that getting up or jumping causes what he/she wants (attention from the person approaching) to go away. The dog figures out that by remaining on the floor he/she can get what he/she wants, the person's attention and treats. Do this with a variety of people and children as often as possible for good generalization. Reinforce remaining on the floor and walk away from jumping. You may also teach a an incompatible behavior such as sit, and reinforce that. When the dog is charging at you, command it to "SIT" (obviously the dog will have to know and have a good response to the command) when he sits praise, treat and greet. Your dog cannot jump up and sit at the same time. Teach the rules to EVERYONE. Ignore dog until on the floor and/or calm! Invite people over for the sole purpose of teaching the doggy how to greet. Trying to train the dog when people show up at your door unannounced, is not an effective learning situation and is setting the dog up to fail.

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e-mail: mguerra@dogmanners.com

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