Getting the Jump on Jumping

Getting the Jump on Jumping

Dogs only do things that are rewarding. You will never see a dog do something that is not fun
unless a human tells them to do it. Whenever your dog does something that you don’t want him
to do, take a step back and ask yourself what the reward for that action is.

So what is the reward for jumping? If your dog is jumping on you, your typical response is
probably to look at the dog, tell the dog “off”, “down”, or “no”, and to push the dog off of you.
You may see all of these things as punishment for the dog. What the dog has learned is, “When I
jump on my humans, they look at me, talk to me, and put their hand on me! Hurray! I’ll jump
some more!” So instead of punishing the dog, we are actually rewarding the behavior.
Whenever a behavior is rewarded, the chances of that behavior occurring again greatly increase.

So what can we do to stop the dog from jumping? First, we have to stop rewarding the dog for
jumping. This means that when the dog jumps, we ignore him. Fold your arms and look at the
ceiling. Don’t look at him and don’t talk to him. Your dog does not exist anymore until he is
either standing with all four feet on the floor or sitting. Your dog will quickly learn that we
humans are not very fun if we are jumped on.

There is another very important step to this process. Ultimately, your dog wants your attention.
We must teach him how to get the attention in a manner that you approve of. We must teach him
what to do right!

If your dog is not jumping, give him attention. If he makes any motion to jump, immediately stop
giving attention and ignore. Think of it as a “Red light, Green light” game. If he has four feet on
the floor, it’s a green light and he can be petted. If he lifts a foot, it’s red light.

At first, you might feel like you are one of those drinking birds on a desk top. You bend to pet
the dog, dog jumps, you stand up. It may take many attempts at first to be able to pet the dog.
But your dog will quickly learn that the only way he is going to get attention is if he has four on
the floor. If he persists, you may have to change the rules so that the only time he gets attention
is when he is sitting. Soon your dog will be sitting all over the place! You can use your clicker to
speed up the process. Strap on a treat tote and have your clicker handy. Click and reward
anytime your dog sits by you. Walk around the house. Your dog will probably follow. Ignore
him until he sits or lies down. Click and reward. Your dog will soon learn that sitting is rewarding
and jumping is no fun.

You can also redirect the dog. This means giving him something to do other than jumping. If
you know the dog is going to start jumping on the house-guests, have a Kong stuffed with
peanut butter ready. Give him the Kong right before guests arrive. Or, if you know that when
you come home your dog is very excited to see you and jumps, have a toy ready before you
walk in the door. A lot of dogs will grab the toy and run around with it and forget about jumping!

Kids:
If the problem exists when kids are around there are a few things you can do.

First and foremost, ALWAYS supervise children while playing with the dog. This is for the safety
of both the children and the dog.

The best thing to do is to teach the children how to act around the dog. When kids run and
scream and flail their arms, this only encourages the dog to act unruly. Teach the children to act
calmly around the dog. This will greatly help you teach the dog how to act calmly around the
children!

If the kids are too young to understand or control around the dog, then you can remove the dog
from the area when the kids get wound up. When the kids get rowdy, put the dog in a crate or in
a fenced yard. You can also place a short leash on the dog and let him drag it around the
house… supervised. When the dog starts jumping on the kids, calmly take the leash and move
the dog away from the kids. Do not use the leash to jerk the dog or correct the dog. The leash is
only a means of redirecting the dog away from the kids. Your dog will learn that if he jumps, the
play ends.

If you find that the dog just cannot contain himself around the children, place a leash on the dog
and move to a distance where the dog is no longer aroused. Once your dog is calm, reward him
for being calm and focusing his attention on you. Slowly move towards the children, always
staying just far enough away that your dog can remain calm. If the dog starts pulling toward the
children, back up until the dog is calm again and work your way back toward the children. If you
are using a clicker, remember to click and reward if your dog offers a sit, down, standing quietly,
or gives you eye contact.

A fun way to teach both the dog and the children how to calm down is with the red light, green
light game. Place your dog on a leash and either hold the leash or tether the leash to a
doorknob or furniture. Have the kids jump up and down, make funny noises, and flail their arms
around. When you say “Red Light” everyone must stop moving. The person closest to the dog
asks it to sit. When he sits, click and reward. Then give the “Green Light” and repeat until the
dog learns to sit on his own as soon as everyone stops moving. You can also click if at anytime
during a “Green Light” the dog sits or lies down. If the kids start acting out of control while they
are playing and you see the dog is getting wound up, say red light and everyone must freeze.

Remember to always reward your dog for good behavior around children. And to reward your
children for good behavior around the dog!