March 10, 2025 • 22 mins
Jumping behavior in dogs is completely manageable through positive reinforcement techniques rather than punishment-based methods that cause fear, pain, or intimidation. Using differential reinforcement, you can teach your dog to sit for greetings instead of jumping, creating a lasting behavior change that preserves your relationship.
• Dogs jump to meet face-to-face and because we've accidentally reinforced this behavior
• Jumping continues when we give attention (positive or negative) as a response
• Four main causes: face-to-face greeting, attention-seeking, poor self-regulation, and anxiety
• Traditional punishment methods damage trust and your relationship with your dog
• Teach your dog to sit when approaching from 1-2 feet away and reward generously
• Start with low distractions and gradually increase difficulty as your dog succeeds
• Turn away immediately if your dog jumps, removing all attention
• Use management tools like leashes and gates during the training process
• Practice with guests using the same approach-and-sit technique
• Any behavior can be taught or eliminated using positive reinforcement
Check out my website at dogbehaviorist.com for my article on how to stop dogs from jumping, along with about 100 other articles on dog behavior.
If you need professional help please visit my Dog Behaviorist website.
Go here for Free Dog Training Articles
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you have a dog that jumps on you and goes crazy
when you come home?
Maybe you've got a dog thatjumps on guests and it's
embarrassing to have anybodyover to the house.
Jumping behavior by dogs is oneof the most common behavior
problems that pet parentsexperience with their dogs and
(00:20):
for eons, the way that petparents have been taught to deal
with jumping is to punish theirdog.
One of the most common waysthat they were told to deal with
this is to knee the dog in thechest or use a shock collar or a
prong collar or a can that'sgot pennies in it and throw that
(00:40):
at the dog or compress air andthrow that at the dog or
compress air.
Any kind of correction, anykind of punishment, causes a
certain level of fear, pain andintimidation.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't get results using
punishment and corrections.
What I want to tell you is it'scompletely unnecessary.
You can stop any behavior usingpositive reinforcement.
(01:05):
You can train in any behaviorusing positive reinforcement.
Now, I've been training dogsfor 35 years.
Back when I first started, itwas all about punishment.
It was all about correctionsprong collars, shock collars,
choke chains.
However, today, in the year2025, no educated, no certified
(01:29):
trainer, behaviorist behaviorconsultant uses corrections or
punishment.
We know through science, weknow through research and I
specifically know through yearsand years of training dogs and
experience.
Punishment and corrections arenot necessary and I work with
the dogs that have the mostserious behaviors reactivity,
(01:54):
aggression, hyperactivity,excitability, distractibility.
You don't have to usepunishment Now.
If you're brand new to dogtraining today, I want to
welcome you for being here.
Thank you so much If you'vebeen a listener for a while.
Thank you for your continuedsupport.
Do me a favor hit thatsubscribe button.
(02:17):
Give us a five-star review.
Yeah, take just a minute if youwould, and then I'll get right
back into the show.
But our rankings only remainhigh or go up if you give us a
review.
That's the way the algorithmswork.
That's the way ranking works,so I don't want to ask for it
and waste any more time, but weappreciate it when you do that.
(02:41):
All right, let's talk aboutjumping.
Now, why do dogs jump on people?
Okay, well, you know, when adog meets another dog, they meet
the dog face to face.
Think about it.
They meet the dog face to facealways, and so when dogs meet us
, they jump up to get to theface.
(03:02):
That's one reason.
The other reason is that fromthe moment a dog, when they're a
puppy, starts jumping up on us,we usually are reinforcing that
behavior.
We're petting the dog,especially when they're cute
little puppies.
But then when they get to beabout 50, 60 pounds, it's not so
cute when they're jumping up onus.
Oh, it was just fine when theyweighed five pounds, when they
(03:24):
weighed eight pounds, when theyweighed eight pounds.
But now that they're bigger,now it's a problem.
Dogs will jump when there's alot of excitement and for
certain rituals that you mighthave greeting your dog, all
right.
When you come home, if you'reunbelievably energetic and
(03:48):
excited, that's going to amp thedog up more, won't it?
And then your dog's much morelikely to want to jump on you.
They're excited, they're happy,you're excited, you're happy,
jumping's going on.
You're petting your dog andthen all of a sudden you're
hoping or wishing it would stop,and then all of a sudden you're
hoping or wishing it would stop.
So part of it is us notreinforcing this behavior,
(04:16):
because dogs will jump forattention and they quickly learn
that jumping gets a reaction,whether it's a happy greeting or
whether it's you pushing themaway, telling them no, hey,
they're still receivingattention.
Another reason why dogs jumpsome dogs struggle with
self-regulation, especially ifthey've not been taught an
alternative behavior or ifthey've got a history of like I
(04:37):
was talking about a second agoyou reinforcing them by petting
them, giving them attention whenthere's high energy, greetings
and things that are going on,and that kind of jumps into the
fourth reason why dogs jump, andthat's overstimulation or, in
some cases, anxiety.
You know dogs experiencingstress or excitement, they may
(05:01):
jump, sometimes as adisplacement behavior.
Some dogs even jump whenthey're uncertain or they're
nervous about a particularinteraction.
But when we address theunderlying reasons behind
(05:27):
jumping and when we beginimplementing a structured
training plan, we caneffectively prevent this
behavior from happening.
Now let me talk about whypunishment is not the answer.
Okay, first of all, punishmentdoesn't teach your dog what to
do and we already kind of talkedabout.
You know, in many ways thereason the dog's jumping is
because you've been reinforcingit.
They've been getting positivereinforcement for jumping.
(05:47):
You've helped to condition themto jump.
If you're coming in the doorand you're excitable, that
excitability also is part ofwhat's getting them to jump.
We've been setting our dogs upfor failure and now we want to
punish them out of frustration,out of not knowing another way
(06:11):
and out of tradition, becausethat's what people have done for
so long and many of you justdon't know another alternative.
But you know dogs that jump dueto excitement or anxiety.
They may escalate theirbehavior if they get corrected
or punished.
But the big thing, the bigthing, your dogs know that the
(06:34):
punishment, the corrections arecoming from you and the only way
that a correction, the only waythat punishment works, the dog
has to experience some level offear, pain or intimidation so
the dog doesn't want to do thebehavior again.
Well, that can severely damagethe relationship that you have
with your dog, the trust, thebond.
(06:56):
And if you love your dog and Iknow you do, or you wouldn't be
listening If you love your dog,you're.
Why would you use correctionand punishment when I'm telling
you it's unnecessary, you don'thave to use it and there's a
better way.
The most effective approach isto use positive reinforcement to
(07:16):
teach an alternative,incompatible behavior, such as
sitting and rewarding calmgreetings.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
A lot of trainers will tell youhey, positive reinforcement is
great for teaching behavior, butit's not going to get your dog
to stop doing something,especially when your dog's
excited and distracted.
That's simply wrong.
(07:38):
In positive reinforcement wehave a thing called differential
reinforcement.
Think different.
When I say differential, allright, dri is differential
reinforcement of an incompatiblebehavior.
If your dog is taught to sitinstead of jumping and your
dog's getting highly rewardedfor that, and you practice that
(08:00):
over and over and you get thatcondition and you stop
reinforcing jumping behavior,and when you start to manage the
environment to prevent your dogfrom jumping, that jumping
behavior is going to fade andwhat you're going to have is
you're going to have a dog that,rather than jumps on you when
(08:22):
you come home, or rather thanjumps on a guest when they come
over, the dog's going to sitquietly for a greeting.
So let's talk about how we dothis.
Well, first of all, your doghas to know how to sit.
So if your dog doesn't know howto sit, the first thing you
need to do is get that behavioron cue or command.
(08:42):
Your dog needs to learn how tosit.
Now I'm going to assume, forthe sake of this podcast, that
your dog already knows how tosit, okay, well, what you're
going to want to begin to do ishave your dog, when it's at a
distance from you, start movingtowards you calmly.
(09:04):
You can simply do that by verycalmly, standing still away from
your dog, saying your dog'sname.
Now your dog's going toprobably start moving towards.
You Know that there is momentumgoing on, there's inertia.
If you ask for sit right whenyour dog gets to you, chances
(09:26):
are your dog's already launchingand jumping.
Okay, so what you want to beginto do and you're doing this in
a controlled way this is aplanned proactive training
session.
You get your dog to come to youwhen your dog's about one to
two feet away from you.
Ask for sit, ask for sit andthen reward your dog, and do
(09:50):
that again and again and again,over and over.
Ask your dog Every time yourdog comes toward you.
Ask for sit, but do it whenyour dog's a foot or two away
from you.
Now, if your dog's coming inslowly, you might be able to ask
for sit when the dog's a littlebit closer and eventually
(10:12):
you'll be able to get the dog tosit right when it comes up to
you and you won't have to getthe dog sitting when it's a foot
or two away from you.
But chances are, if the dog'smoving quickly and when the
dog's a foot or two away fromyou you ask for sit, the dog's
still going to be moving andwill probably end up sitting
when it's right in front of you.
Make sure you've got high valuefood rewards.
Make sure that you arerewarding that behavior.
(10:34):
Again, this is proactive.
I want you to do thisproactively about five, seven,
eight times in a row and do thatevery day.
It doesn't take long.
This is like a five, ten minutetraining exercise.
Okay Now another thing that'simportant.
(10:54):
We're just talking about you.
We're not talking about jumpingon guests.
Yet we're going to get to thatas your dog gets good at this.
And you start this with low orno excitability, low or no
distractions.
But you've got to start addingdistractions.
You've got to start addingexcitability.
(11:17):
But you start off low and overtime, over days, over weeks,
gradually, systematically,you're going to get a little
more excitable.
You're going to use that happy,jolly tone.
You're going to maybe move alittle bit faster, move with a
little more excitement.
But if your dog's failing whenyou ask it to sit, and you're
(11:38):
doing that and your dog wassucceeding before, well, you've
taken these distractions, you'vetaken the excitability and
you've made it too much too soon.
Dial back the excitability,dial back the distractions where
your dog is still havingsuccess.
(11:59):
Well, what I want you to do isI just want you to immediately
turn away from your dog andcross your hands and if your dog
goes around you, to jump on youagain, turn away from the dog.
If your dog does it a thirdtime, what I want you to do is
(12:21):
walk into another room, walkaway from your dog.
We've got to stop reinforcingthe behavior and when your dog
experiences attention orsomething pleasant, when it's
jumping, that just strengthensthat jumping behavior and we
don't want that to happen.
Now, when it comes to guests andthis is where controlling the
(12:46):
environment is really importantEnvironmental management While
you're working through theproblem.
Once you've done the behaviormodification and the training,
you won't have to manage theenvironment.
How do you do that?
Having leashes on your dogbefore a guest walks in the door
, having your dog behind a babygate?
You know, one of the thingsthat a lot of people don't get
(13:09):
is that when you're trying tochange your behavior, if your
dog keeps having the opportunityto, over and over again,
rehearse the old behavior,rehearse the behavior that we
don't want.
It just gets more and moreconditioned and that's more and
more difficult for us to getthat habit and that conditioning
out of your dog.
(13:29):
Let me veer off path for an examfor a second.
Let me give you an example alittle bit different but very
similar.
My dog, boo, who's a miniatureschnauzer for years, has likes
to snuggle on the couch, and I'mgreat with that.
I'm fine with my dog being onthe couch and I'm fine with my
dog jumping up on the couch andjumping down.
(13:50):
Well, that was all fine andgood until Boo slipped a disc,
yeah, yeah, now.
Now I've got a problem becausefor six years Boo's been jumping
up on the couch to be greetedby myself and my wife and gets
all kinds of love, praise andaffection.
So that's been positivelyreinforced.
(14:13):
It's not just a habit, not justa conditioned habit, but a
conditioned habit that's beenstrengthened over and over again
through positive reinforcement,even if it's just us going, oh
good girl.
Or petting her when she gets upthere.
So, being the behaviorist andthe trainer that I am, I'm like
hey, I got this, let me go buysome stairs and I will just
(14:37):
start teaching Boo to go up thestairs, reward the dog, go down
the stairs, reward the dog anddo lots of repetition of up the
stairs reward, down the stairs,reward and on.
We went, only to then later inthe evening be sitting on the
couch watching TV.
And what does my dog, boo, do?
Jump up on the couch, bypassingthe stairs altogether.
(15:01):
So for about two or three daysI'm struggling with this and I'm
thinking to myself hey, will,what would you tell your clients
to do?
I need to make it so.
There's no way that boo can jumpup on the couch, there's no way
(15:22):
that boo can jump off the couchuntil I've successfully
conditioned and trained in thenew behavior, and the new
behavior is using the stairs togo up, to get on the couch,
using the stairs to come down,not jumping up and down the
couch.
(15:42):
The only way that I was able tostop that was to get an X-pen
and block off the couch, exceptfor the area where the stairs
are are.
I've got to continue to work onconditioning and positively
reinforcing going up the stairs,going down the stairs, going up
(16:09):
the stairs, going down thestairs proactively.
But now, when Boo wants to getup on the couch to snuggle, she
doesn't have any other option,but to go up those stairs when
she wants to come off.
There's only one option comeoff those stairs because she
can't jump off into the X-pen.
She can't jump up with theX-pen blocking the couch.
Now, that X-pen I don't wantthere.
(16:30):
Yeah, it's an eyesore, I get it.
You don't want one, I don'twant one, but it's necessary If
I'm going to have success.
It's necessary.
It's tools like that that wehave to use.
So getting back to a dog jumpingon people if you have guests
over and you can't manage yourdog, your dog needs to be behind
(16:54):
a baby gate, your dog needs tobe confined.
To be behind a baby gate, yourdog needs to be confined.
But if being behind a baby gateor being confined and your dog
seeing guests gets your dog moreamped up, more excited, well I
don't like that.
I want your dog going somewhereelse where it's not going to be
as excited, because now we'reconditioning the dog to get more
frustrated because the dogcan't get to the people and that
(17:16):
just brings up that excitementlevel the next time the dog's
out with people.
But what you've got to do, justlike you were doing proactive
training sessions with you andyour dog, teaching your dog that
whenever it comes towards youthat it needs to sit.
You've got to do the same thingwith guests, so you've got to
(17:37):
get some helpers.
You've got to get guests tocome over to, so you've got to
get some helpers.
You've got to get guests tocome over to the house.
You need to put a leash on yourdog and as your dog is going up
to the stranger about two feetbefore they get in front of that
stranger, you need to ask forsit and make sure with that
leash your dog can't get anycloser.
And then you begin rewardingyour dog for sitting and giving
(18:02):
a calm, polite greeting.
And you need to do that overand over and over.
Eventually you can actuallyhave the guest give the food
reward if your dog remainssitting, if your dog remains
calm.
But if they don't right now,then you do the rewarding Now,
(18:24):
little by little, gradually, asyou're having success with that.
Again, every time your dog comesup to you, you're asking for
sit.
Every time your dog's going uptowards a stranger, you're
asking for sit.
Every time your dog does that,you're rewarding the dog.
You're proactively doingtraining sessions every day
where you're doing this six,seven, eight, nine, 10 times in
(18:46):
a row.
It's going to take you aboutfive, 10 minutes to do this.
And when you're unable to dothat, you manage things so that
your dog can't jump on strangers.
If your dog jumps on you, youturn away from the dog,
(19:09):
eliminating the positivereinforcement, eliminating you
giving your dog attention.
So the idea here is that, ratherthan punishing and causing even
if it's a mild level of fear,pain or intimidation to your dog
, through punishment andcorrection, we're teaching the
dog hey, do this behaviorinstead, sit and be calm and
(19:30):
good things happen.
And when you stop reinforcingthe behavior you don't want and
you proactively startreinforcing behaviors you do
want, those old behaviors meltaway and your dog starts
defaulting to the kind ofbehaviors that you want.
None of this, none of thisworks when all heck breaks loose
(19:55):
and things are crazy.
If you didn't train in thatkind of energy and environment.
But hey, that's not going tohappen.
On day one you start with nodistractions, low distractions
Again, little by little, youincrease the excitability.
And if your dog keeps failingwhen you increase the
(20:18):
excitability, hey, you've justupped the distraction level,
you've upped the excitement toomuch, too soon.
Just dial it back a little sothat your dog can have some
success again.
If your dog's never kind ofmaking a mistake, well, maybe
you're not challenging the dogenough.
But don't punish your dog.
(20:40):
If your dog is making mistakeafter mistake after mistake,
that's feedback that we're doingsomething wrong.
Maybe the distractions are toomuch.
We need to evaluate what it isthat we're doing.
But like I said at the beginningof the podcast, listen, there
is no behavior that you can'tteach with positive
(21:01):
reinforcement.
There is no behavior that youcan't stop with positive
reinforcement.
Any behavior can be done.
And listen, I work with dogsthat are very severe severe
aggression, severe reactivityand if it works with that, it'll
work with this.
Well, that music means we are,we're out of time.
Hopefully you got something outof this podcast.
(21:23):
You can also find my article onhow to stop dogs from jumping
by going to my website atdogbehavioristcom.
I've got about 100 articlesthere.
Look for the article on how tostop your dog from jumping, and
this podcast will be sittingright at the bottom of that
article as well.
Until next time, practice,practice.
(21:47):
No, it doesn't make perfect,but it makes for permanence.
Practice with your dogs, havefun, use positive reinforcement.
Punishment's not necessary.
Your dog will love you for it.
Have a good one.
I'm out of here.
Do you have a dog that jumps on you and goes crazy
when you come home?
Maybe you've got a dog thatjumps on guests and it's
embarrassing to have anybodyover to the house.
Jumping behavior by dogs is oneof the most common behavior
problems that pet parentsexperience with their dogs and
(00:20):
for eons, the way that petparents have been taught to deal
with jumping is to punish theirdog.
One of the most common waysthat they were told to deal with
this is to knee the dog in thechest or use a shock collar or a
prong collar or a can that'sgot pennies in it and throw that
(00:40):
at the dog or compress air andthrow that at the dog or
compress air.
Any kind of correction, anykind of punishment, causes a
certain level of fear, pain andintimidation.
Now, I'm not saying that youcan't get results using
punishment and corrections.
What I want to tell you is it'scompletely unnecessary.
You can stop any behavior usingpositive reinforcement.
(01:05):
You can train in any behaviorusing positive reinforcement.
Now, I've been training dogsfor 35 years.
Back when I first started, itwas all about punishment.
It was all about correctionsprong collars, shock collars,
choke chains.
However, today, in the year2025, no educated, no certified
(01:29):
trainer, behaviorist behaviorconsultant uses corrections or
punishment.
We know through science, weknow through research and I
specifically know through yearsand years of training dogs and
experience.
Punishment and corrections arenot necessary and I work with
the dogs that have the mostserious behaviors reactivity,
(01:54):
aggression, hyperactivity,excitability, distractibility.
You don't have to usepunishment Now.
If you're brand new to dogtraining today, I want to
welcome you for being here.
Thank you so much If you'vebeen a listener for a while.
Thank you for your continuedsupport.
Do me a favor hit thatsubscribe button.
(02:17):
Give us a five-star review.
Yeah, take just a minute if youwould, and then I'll get right
back into the show.
But our rankings only remainhigh or go up if you give us a
review.
That's the way the algorithmswork.
That's the way ranking works,so I don't want to ask for it
and waste any more time, but weappreciate it when you do that.
(02:41):
All right, let's talk aboutjumping.
Now, why do dogs jump on people?
Okay, well, you know, when adog meets another dog, they meet
the dog face to face.
Think about it.
They meet the dog face to facealways, and so when dogs meet us
, they jump up to get to theface.
(03:02):
That's one reason.
The other reason is that fromthe moment a dog, when they're a
puppy, starts jumping up on us,we usually are reinforcing that
behavior.
We're petting the dog,especially when they're cute
little puppies.
But then when they get to beabout 50, 60 pounds, it's not so
cute when they're jumping up onus.
Oh, it was just fine when theyweighed five pounds, when they
(03:24):
weighed eight pounds, when theyweighed eight pounds.
But now that they're bigger,now it's a problem.
Dogs will jump when there's alot of excitement and for
certain rituals that you mighthave greeting your dog, all
right.
When you come home, if you'reunbelievably energetic and
(03:48):
excited, that's going to amp thedog up more, won't it?
And then your dog's much morelikely to want to jump on you.
They're excited, they're happy,you're excited, you're happy,
jumping's going on.
You're petting your dog andthen all of a sudden you're
hoping or wishing it would stop,and then all of a sudden you're
hoping or wishing it would stop.
So part of it is us notreinforcing this behavior,
(04:16):
because dogs will jump forattention and they quickly learn
that jumping gets a reaction,whether it's a happy greeting or
whether it's you pushing themaway, telling them no, hey,
they're still receivingattention.
Another reason why dogs jumpsome dogs struggle with
self-regulation, especially ifthey've not been taught an
alternative behavior or ifthey've got a history of like I
(04:37):
was talking about a second agoyou reinforcing them by petting
them, giving them attention whenthere's high energy, greetings
and things that are going on,and that kind of jumps into the
fourth reason why dogs jump, andthat's overstimulation or, in
some cases, anxiety.
You know dogs experiencingstress or excitement, they may
(05:01):
jump, sometimes as adisplacement behavior.
Some dogs even jump whenthey're uncertain or they're
nervous about a particularinteraction.
But when we address theunderlying reasons behind
(05:27):
jumping and when we beginimplementing a structured
training plan, we caneffectively prevent this
behavior from happening.
Now let me talk about whypunishment is not the answer.
Okay, first of all, punishmentdoesn't teach your dog what to
do and we already kind of talkedabout.
You know, in many ways thereason the dog's jumping is
because you've been reinforcingit.
They've been getting positivereinforcement for jumping.
(05:47):
You've helped to condition themto jump.
If you're coming in the doorand you're excitable, that
excitability also is part ofwhat's getting them to jump.
We've been setting our dogs upfor failure and now we want to
punish them out of frustration,out of not knowing another way
(06:11):
and out of tradition, becausethat's what people have done for
so long and many of you justdon't know another alternative.
But you know dogs that jump dueto excitement or anxiety.
They may escalate theirbehavior if they get corrected
or punished.
But the big thing, the bigthing, your dogs know that the
(06:34):
punishment, the corrections arecoming from you and the only way
that a correction, the only waythat punishment works, the dog
has to experience some level offear, pain or intimidation so
the dog doesn't want to do thebehavior again.
Well, that can severely damagethe relationship that you have
with your dog, the trust, thebond.
(06:56):
And if you love your dog and Iknow you do, or you wouldn't be
listening If you love your dog,you're.
Why would you use correctionand punishment when I'm telling
you it's unnecessary, you don'thave to use it and there's a
better way.
The most effective approach isto use positive reinforcement to
(07:16):
teach an alternative,incompatible behavior, such as
sitting and rewarding calmgreetings.
So we're going to talk aboutthat.
A lot of trainers will tell youhey, positive reinforcement is
great for teaching behavior, butit's not going to get your dog
to stop doing something,especially when your dog's
excited and distracted.
That's simply wrong.
(07:38):
In positive reinforcement wehave a thing called differential
reinforcement.
Think different.
When I say differential, allright, dri is differential
reinforcement of an incompatiblebehavior.
If your dog is taught to sitinstead of jumping and your
dog's getting highly rewardedfor that, and you practice that
(08:00):
over and over and you get thatcondition and you stop
reinforcing jumping behavior,and when you start to manage the
environment to prevent your dogfrom jumping, that jumping
behavior is going to fade andwhat you're going to have is
you're going to have a dog that,rather than jumps on you when
(08:22):
you come home, or rather thanjumps on a guest when they come
over, the dog's going to sitquietly for a greeting.
So let's talk about how we dothis.
Well, first of all, your doghas to know how to sit.
So if your dog doesn't know howto sit, the first thing you
need to do is get that behavioron cue or command.
(08:42):
Your dog needs to learn how tosit.
Now I'm going to assume, forthe sake of this podcast, that
your dog already knows how tosit, okay, well, what you're
going to want to begin to do ishave your dog, when it's at a
distance from you, start movingtowards you calmly.
(09:04):
You can simply do that by verycalmly, standing still away from
your dog, saying your dog'sname.
Now your dog's going toprobably start moving towards.
You Know that there is momentumgoing on, there's inertia.
If you ask for sit right whenyour dog gets to you, chances
(09:26):
are your dog's already launchingand jumping.
Okay, so what you want to beginto do and you're doing this in
a controlled way this is aplanned proactive training
session.
You get your dog to come to youwhen your dog's about one to
two feet away from you.
Ask for sit, ask for sit andthen reward your dog, and do
(09:50):
that again and again and again,over and over.
Ask your dog Every time yourdog comes toward you.
Ask for sit, but do it whenyour dog's a foot or two away
from you.
Now, if your dog's coming inslowly, you might be able to ask
for sit when the dog's a littlebit closer and eventually
(10:12):
you'll be able to get the dog tosit right when it comes up to
you and you won't have to getthe dog sitting when it's a foot
or two away from you.
But chances are, if the dog'smoving quickly and when the
dog's a foot or two away fromyou you ask for sit, the dog's
still going to be moving andwill probably end up sitting
when it's right in front of you.
Make sure you've got high valuefood rewards.
Make sure that you arerewarding that behavior.
(10:34):
Again, this is proactive.
I want you to do thisproactively about five, seven,
eight times in a row and do thatevery day.
It doesn't take long.
This is like a five, ten minutetraining exercise.
Okay Now another thing that'simportant.
(10:54):
We're just talking about you.
We're not talking about jumpingon guests.
Yet we're going to get to thatas your dog gets good at this.
And you start this with low orno excitability, low or no
distractions.
But you've got to start addingdistractions.
You've got to start addingexcitability.
(11:17):
But you start off low and overtime, over days, over weeks,
gradually, systematically,you're going to get a little
more excitable.
You're going to use that happy,jolly tone.
You're going to maybe move alittle bit faster, move with a
little more excitement.
But if your dog's failing whenyou ask it to sit, and you're
(11:38):
doing that and your dog wassucceeding before, well, you've
taken these distractions, you'vetaken the excitability and
you've made it too much too soon.
Dial back the excitability,dial back the distractions where
your dog is still havingsuccess.
(11:59):
Well, what I want you to do isI just want you to immediately
turn away from your dog andcross your hands and if your dog
goes around you, to jump on youagain, turn away from the dog.
If your dog does it a thirdtime, what I want you to do is
(12:21):
walk into another room, walkaway from your dog.
We've got to stop reinforcingthe behavior and when your dog
experiences attention orsomething pleasant, when it's
jumping, that just strengthensthat jumping behavior and we
don't want that to happen.
Now, when it comes to guests andthis is where controlling the
(12:46):
environment is really importantEnvironmental management While
you're working through theproblem.
Once you've done the behaviormodification and the training,
you won't have to manage theenvironment.
How do you do that?
Having leashes on your dogbefore a guest walks in the door
, having your dog behind a babygate?
You know, one of the thingsthat a lot of people don't get
(13:09):
is that when you're trying tochange your behavior, if your
dog keeps having the opportunityto, over and over again,
rehearse the old behavior,rehearse the behavior that we
don't want.
It just gets more and moreconditioned and that's more and
more difficult for us to getthat habit and that conditioning
out of your dog.
(13:29):
Let me veer off path for an examfor a second.
Let me give you an example alittle bit different but very
similar.
My dog, boo, who's a miniatureschnauzer for years, has likes
to snuggle on the couch, and I'mgreat with that.
I'm fine with my dog being onthe couch and I'm fine with my
dog jumping up on the couch andjumping down.
(13:50):
Well, that was all fine andgood until Boo slipped a disc,
yeah, yeah, now.
Now I've got a problem becausefor six years Boo's been jumping
up on the couch to be greetedby myself and my wife and gets
all kinds of love, praise andaffection.
So that's been positivelyreinforced.
(14:13):
It's not just a habit, not justa conditioned habit, but a
conditioned habit that's beenstrengthened over and over again
through positive reinforcement,even if it's just us going, oh
good girl.
Or petting her when she gets upthere.
So, being the behaviorist andthe trainer that I am, I'm like
hey, I got this, let me go buysome stairs and I will just
(14:37):
start teaching Boo to go up thestairs, reward the dog, go down
the stairs, reward the dog anddo lots of repetition of up the
stairs reward, down the stairs,reward and on.
We went, only to then later inthe evening be sitting on the
couch watching TV.
And what does my dog, boo, do?
Jump up on the couch, bypassingthe stairs altogether.
(15:01):
So for about two or three daysI'm struggling with this and I'm
thinking to myself hey, will,what would you tell your clients
to do?
I need to make it so.
There's no way that boo can jumpup on the couch, there's no way
(15:22):
that boo can jump off the couchuntil I've successfully
conditioned and trained in thenew behavior, and the new
behavior is using the stairs togo up, to get on the couch,
using the stairs to come down,not jumping up and down the
couch.
(15:42):
The only way that I was able tostop that was to get an X-pen
and block off the couch, exceptfor the area where the stairs
are are.
I've got to continue to work onconditioning and positively
reinforcing going up the stairs,going down the stairs, going up
(16:09):
the stairs, going down thestairs proactively.
But now, when Boo wants to getup on the couch to snuggle, she
doesn't have any other option,but to go up those stairs when
she wants to come off.
There's only one option comeoff those stairs because she
can't jump off into the X-pen.
She can't jump up with theX-pen blocking the couch.
Now, that X-pen I don't wantthere.
(16:30):
Yeah, it's an eyesore, I get it.
You don't want one, I don'twant one, but it's necessary If
I'm going to have success.
It's necessary.
It's tools like that that wehave to use.
So getting back to a dog jumpingon people if you have guests
over and you can't manage yourdog, your dog needs to be behind
(16:54):
a baby gate, your dog needs tobe confined.
To be behind a baby gate, yourdog needs to be confined.
But if being behind a baby gateor being confined and your dog
seeing guests gets your dog moreamped up, more excited, well I
don't like that.
I want your dog going somewhereelse where it's not going to be
as excited, because now we'reconditioning the dog to get more
frustrated because the dogcan't get to the people and that
(17:16):
just brings up that excitementlevel the next time the dog's
out with people.
But what you've got to do, justlike you were doing proactive
training sessions with you andyour dog, teaching your dog that
whenever it comes towards youthat it needs to sit.
You've got to do the same thingwith guests, so you've got to
(17:37):
get some helpers.
You've got to get guests tocome over to, so you've got to
get some helpers.
You've got to get guests tocome over to the house.
You need to put a leash on yourdog and as your dog is going up
to the stranger about two feetbefore they get in front of that
stranger, you need to ask forsit and make sure with that
leash your dog can't get anycloser.
And then you begin rewardingyour dog for sitting and giving
(18:02):
a calm, polite greeting.
And you need to do that overand over and over.
Eventually you can actuallyhave the guest give the food
reward if your dog remainssitting, if your dog remains
calm.
But if they don't right now,then you do the rewarding Now,
(18:24):
little by little, gradually, asyou're having success with that.
Again, every time your dog comesup to you, you're asking for
sit.
Every time your dog's going uptowards a stranger, you're
asking for sit.
Every time your dog does that,you're rewarding the dog.
You're proactively doingtraining sessions every day
where you're doing this six,seven, eight, nine, 10 times in
(18:46):
a row.
It's going to take you aboutfive, 10 minutes to do this.
And when you're unable to dothat, you manage things so that
your dog can't jump on strangers.
If your dog jumps on you, youturn away from the dog,
(19:09):
eliminating the positivereinforcement, eliminating you
giving your dog attention.
So the idea here is that, ratherthan punishing and causing even
if it's a mild level of fear,pain or intimidation to your dog
, through punishment andcorrection, we're teaching the
dog hey, do this behaviorinstead, sit and be calm and
(19:30):
good things happen.
And when you stop reinforcingthe behavior you don't want and
you proactively startreinforcing behaviors you do
want, those old behaviors meltaway and your dog starts
defaulting to the kind ofbehaviors that you want.
None of this, none of thisworks when all heck breaks loose
(19:55):
and things are crazy.
If you didn't train in thatkind of energy and environment.
But hey, that's not going tohappen.
On day one you start with nodistractions, low distractions
Again, little by little, youincrease the excitability.
And if your dog keeps failingwhen you increase the
(20:18):
excitability, hey, you've justupped the distraction level,
you've upped the excitement toomuch, too soon.
Just dial it back a little sothat your dog can have some
success again.
If your dog's never kind ofmaking a mistake, well, maybe
you're not challenging the dogenough.
But don't punish your dog.
(20:40):
If your dog is making mistakeafter mistake after mistake,
that's feedback that we're doingsomething wrong.
Maybe the distractions are toomuch.
We need to evaluate what it isthat we're doing.
But like I said at the beginningof the podcast, listen, there
is no behavior that you can'tteach with positive
(21:01):
reinforcement.
There is no behavior that youcan't stop with positive
reinforcement.
Any behavior can be done.
And listen, I work with dogsthat are very severe severe
aggression, severe reactivityand if it works with that, it'll
work with this.
Well, that music means we are,we're out of time.
Hopefully you got something outof this podcast.
(21:23):
You can also find my article onhow to stop dogs from jumping
by going to my website atdogbehavioristcom.
I've got about 100 articlesthere.
Look for the article on how tostop your dog from jumping, and
this podcast will be sittingright at the bottom of that
article as well.
Until next time, practice,practice.
(21:47):
No, it doesn't make perfect,but it makes for permanence.
Practice with your dogs, havefun, use positive reinforcement.
Punishment's not necessary.
Your dog will love you for it.
Have a good one.
I'm out of here.
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