# How to train excited puppy to not jump on people?



## Katduf (Mar 10, 2013)

I wish. I tried everything and Bear still jumps. He's going to turn 4 years in a couple of months. I think it's just part of some dogs personality.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Try to say "OFF" and save "down for laying down. 

An easy walk no pull front loop harness is great. The one at Cabella with reflective threads is nice bc it doesn't chafe under arms.

Try quietly stepping on your lead to take jumping off the table. Reward an offered sit and ignore standing. 

Practice shaking hands with people who ignore the pup while you step on the lead. In your peripheral vision, be spot on if he offers a sit and give him a shock- and- awe treat. Totally ignore any other behavior offered

Rinse repeat. 

Make sure he NEVER practices the fun of jumping, bc dogs get better at behavior they rehearse.

Another way to go is work on a default down. 

Teach the "down" separately and reward it heavily.

Then ask for DOWN whenever someone approaches . With practice and a great reward history for that behavior, your dog will down instead of jump.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Dogs usually only persist at behaviors that require effort if they're getting some kind of reward for them. With jumping, 95% of the time that dog wants a social interaction or physical contact, so if you have a persistent jumper, it often helps to start from the assumption that you're accidentally rewarding it (like by pushing or saying "down," which a lot of dogs interpret as the attention they're seeking).

If you can figure out what you're doing to accidentally reward it, remove that reward, and then reward an alternative behavior (like paying lots of positive attention when the dog chooses to sit instead of jumping), you typically see the jumping spike up and then die off. It spikes because the dog has previously been rewarded, so he'll seek out the old rewards harder for a brief period before changing tactics.

I have yet to see a case of social jumping that didn't die off fairly quickly once we identified what the handler was doing to accidentally reward it. A good start is taking away all signs of social attention: touch, voice, and eye contact (i.e., turn away and fold your arms, then, once the dog gives up on jumping and tries something else, like a polite sit, turn back and give attention again).

I also love the tactics LJilly outlined in her post. Stepping on the lead prevents rehearsing, and if you get the length of leash right (short enough that they can't jump, long enough that there's no downward pressure and they have just enough leash to sit), then it limits the dog's options, so he has to choose something like sitting, which you can then reward with your attention (or even a treat too!).

The leash thing is nice too because there are a handful of dogs for whom the jumping itself is enough of a reward, no matter how much you take away your attention when they do it.

Lastly, remember that the longer the dog has been rehearsing, the longer it will take for the behavior to fade. If he has a long history of having people get really exciting when he jumps ("no, Fido! Down! Off! bad!" *push*), it can take a while of practicing new behaviors before the jump attempts really die off.

I go a lot more in depth on this stuff here if you're interested.


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## Lambeau0609 (Aug 3, 2015)

Very good advise thank you. I know his jumping is do to people wanting to pet him and I'm guessing I'll have to tell people no pettting unless they can have him sit first. He is such a happy puppy who is really so easy to train. I had every intension to using the step on leash techniques in a store yesterday but he starting jumping faster than I could get my foot on leash. I do say no jump and down and make him sit but he just gets so overly happy when people show him attention. He hasn't had alot of interaction with other people so im thinking the more I take him around other people the better I hope it gets.


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## bixx (Sep 8, 2015)

I have this problem too and I can't say its gotten better despite everything I've done to curb this behavior. I could get her to sit even though she is bursting with excitement but once she is petted, she goes ballistic with happiness. It doesn't matter if I have a collar, harness or anti pull harness on her. She will jump. If she is ignored then she won't jump but she will bark for attention. She is trained to stop annoying behaviors when I turn my head sideways but that is only for me. I've been told that GRs will eventually calm down after their first heat cycle. I am really hoping this is true. In the meantime, we continue training.


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