Training : Puppy Manners : Greeting Behavior

Many dogs have learned to greet humans by jumping up on them because they are excited and desire attention. The problem with attention is that any attention reinforces the behavior, even negative attention. For example, speaking in a harsh tone and pushing your dog off of you provides just as much attention as praising your dog for the behavior.

Greeting You and Your Family Politely
Anytime that your dog approaches you for attention, be proactive and simply request that your dog "sit" in the short period of time before he or she has a chance to jump on you. If you are not able to ask for a sit before the jumping occurs, simply ignore your dog, turn around, and walk away. When all four feet are on the floor, return to your dog and ask for a "sit" before the jumping begins again.

By repeating this procedure, your dog will eventually begin offering sits to gain your attention rather than relying on jumping. If your dog jumps up on you the instant you walk through the door, plan to arrive home and not to pay any attention to your dog for 5-15 minutes (depending upon your dog's level of arousal).

Ignoring your dog means withholding any type of attention, positive or negative. This will give your dog time to calm down, and also reinforce the idea that he or she does not get your attention until they settle down and stop jumping. After 5-15 minutes, approach your dog, ask for a "sit", and reward them with your attention.

Greeting Strangers and Guests Politely
The process for combating jumping on strangers and guests involves teaching your dog a new way to greet people. This can be accomplished through repeated on-leash exercises, where you ask a familiar person to approach you and your dog, and have the dog sit and stay just as the person approaches. If your dog stays in a sitting position, he or she is allowed attention from the approaching person. If your dog does not stay sitting, simply take two steps backward, and begin the process again.

Your dog should only get attention from the person if they stay in a sitting position. This gives the dog a new, more appropriate, greeting behavior to perform, and over time the sitting behavior will replace the jumping behavior. When your dog is comfortable with familiar people, you can begin introducing strangers by following the same procedure.