Top 5 Things NOT To Do When Your Dog Jumps Up

So many people struggle with their dog jumping up!

And, interestingly, there is some horribly bad information out there that will tell you how to curb this behavior.

These 5 Tips Are What NOT to Do When Your Dog Jumps Up On You:

5. Kick Him

Strange that, in the world we live in, where dogs have more rights than ever before, people are still condoning kicking or kneeing a dog that jumps up.

Will it work?

I suppose….

I suppose that it would work if the pain was so significant that the dog literally thought he never wanted to do that again, but I don’t think it is fair.

After all, you will just end up with a dog that is terrified of YOU.

What a horrible relationship it would be to be terrified of your best friend or your spouse.

There are better ways!

4. Pinch His Paws

This little piece of advice is along the same lines as the advice above.

As the story goes, you are supposed to take his front feet and pinch them to cause the experience to be negative.

Or, you are to hold them until he panics.

Ironically, I have used the “hold them” with some success.

But the truth is, there is nothing positive about this.

It is easier to teach your puppy what to do with an incompatible behavior than to panic him and hope he doesn’t bite.

3. Ignore Him

Ignoring him also won’t work.

Jumping is a self-rewarding behavior.

The dog gets a “high” when he gets into your personal space.

So, ignoring or yelling isn’t going to work.

2. Turn Away

This is one of my pet peeves – trainers who recommend that you “turn away”.

I don’t think I have literally EVER seen this work.

What does happen is the dog follows you around and your turning is likely to excite him even more.

It is like turning away is playing keep away.

And, keep away is a fun game for your dog.

Unfortunately, jumping can’t be ignored or turned away from.

Jumping actually needs to be corrected.

1. Pet Him

This is the WORST thing that you could do!

Ironically 95% of people are guilty of doing this with their dog.

The dog jumps up to get closer to your face… and you lean over and pet him and coo.

Puppies learn this behavior early on in their lives.

They dance and scratch at their new owner’s legs and get petted and picked up.

For some reason, we think this behavior is adorable on a puppy but horrifying when the same behavior is shown by an adult dog!

It is sad that our expectations change so quickly.

The truth is that by petting our dogs and puppies, we are teaching them that this behavior is not only acceptable but GOOD.

But then, at some point, the dog jumps on the wrong person, or he rips your clothes and you realize what a bad behavior he is showing.

The problem is, you place the blame on the dog instead of blaming yourself for confusing the dog in the beginning.

And, for dogs, bad habits are hard to break.

So, once you have created the problem, I would ask you to be consistent, but patient, when it comes to change.

Start now, by vowing you won’t let your dog jump up on anyone, anymore!

via Whisker Therapy