Dog jumping is at best an unpleasant, annoying habit and at worst a danger to everyone around you. Small puppies do not cause any trouble when jumping, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to wean adults off jumping. Jumping is a bad habit, but it is easy to wean a pet off it. The important thing is to choose the right training method and use it consistently.
Why do dogs attack people?
Dogs like to express their joy when they see you and other people, so they jump. They are also jumping to ask for your attention, which they may have claimed in the past in this way. Sometimes a dog jumps to show its dominance.
Basic principles for weaning a dog from jumping
The dog does not understand that jumping on people is a bad habit. Start training the dog as early as possible. Ingrained habits are much harder to break than teaching a dog not to attack people from an early age. Physical punishment and violence will not solve the problem, but will only increase the gap between therp for you and your pet and reduce trust. Your aim is to make it clear to your pet that you will always consider his attacks on people to be inappropriate behaviour. It is therefore important not to show the dog the attention it desires, as this will encourage it to continue to attack you or people. Give the same clear signs of misbehaviour each time and consistently prevent him from continuing to do so. You will be misunderstood if you allow it to jump on you without punishment one moment and then shout at it when it attacks a stranger the next.
Methods to teach a dog not to attack people
The following dog training methods use commands. Use commands such as “Don’t jump!” but avoid commands such as “Lie down! or sit! To be effective, the command must be spoken in a strong voice and in a firm tone of voice.
It is commonly believed that large dogs can be trained by holding their front paws and not allowing them to sit on the ground for long periods of time. However, this may irritate the dog. When the dog jumps up, it is clearsay your command clearly and firmly. Then take hold of his front paws and keep him on the ground for a few seconds. Do not delay this action so that the dog does not feel tortured. Repeat this action several times with the command and see if the dog responds correctly.
Another method is bending the knee. When the dog jumps up, you simply raise your bent knee, but you must not touch or hurt the dog. If the dog wants to jump on you, it will collide with the raised knee and land on the ground. Use this method carefully so as not to offend the pet.
When you feel that the pet is about to jump on you, turn your back sharply towards it. The dog will want to see you again and will not attack. Do not look at the dog or speak while making this movement. This will ignore the dog and prevent you from expecting attention. When the dog has stopped jumping and has calmly knelt down on the ground, praise it and scratch it behind the ear. The dog will learn to obey because next time it will expect attention from you again.