Content
- Why do dogs jump on people?
- what should you know
- preparing the ground
- Always use positive reinforcement
- Practice obedience with your dog
- a serious problem
Does your dog jump on people? Sometimes our pet can get very excited and show a complete lack of control jumping on us to welcome us.
Although this situation may be to our liking and be funny, it is important that you stop doing it as it is likely that if you do it with an older person or about a child, we may have annoyance.
Continue reading this PeritoAnimal article to know how to prevent the dog from jumping on people.
Why do dogs jump on people?
We can compare the dog's brain with that of a very small child who needs to be educated: it must learn to take care of itself in the street, to socialize with all kinds of people and pets and it must learn about behavior within the nucleus familiar.
If we don't educate our dog from a puppy, problems like the ones discussed in this article occur: prevent the dog from jumping on people.
But why does this happen?
As a general rule, this type of behavior happens in dogs that have been developing this behavior since puppies. By allowing them to climb on top of us, we are implying that this behavior is correct, so when they get bigger they continue to do the same, as a regular and correct routine.
Dogs that have had a change in their life that cause them stress can also start to develop this behavior and for this reason begin to behave very excitedly jumping on people, sofas and objects.
Finally, we can add a third factor, which is recent adoption. In newly adopted dogs these behaviors appear right at the beginning, that is, they are casual.
what should you know
To begin with, we must know that the dog is an energetic animal, with vitality and joy. It is not a being that we should mold to our taste or whim, it has its own personality. For this reason we must know that jumping is a habitual behavior and proper to a puppy, you should not be alarmed if this happens.
THE way to avoid this behavior it falls directly on the moment of its education when it is still a puppy, but if we cannot (or knew) to carry out this process, we will need a lot of patience.
An adult dog and even an elderly dog can learn about behavior whenever a few basic rules apply:
- Love
- Patience
- Perseverance
- Persistence
- Determination
- Positive attitude
- positive reinforcement
It is possible to educate an adult dog but it takes time and dedication to understand what to do. As already mentioned, this is not a robot, it is a dog.
preparing the ground
Before starting to comment on some tricks that will help us improve this situation, it is important that you prepare the ground by asking yourself some basic questions:
- Is your dog almost always accompanied?
- Does your dog exercise?
- Does your dog walk as long as it should?
- Does your dog train with a clicker?
- Does your dog listen to you regularly?
If the answer to these questions is "no" you are not ready to start working. It is important that you do not try to apply education techniques to your pet if it is not in the ideal situation of well-being and tranquility.
If the dog has a serious behavior problem, suffers from stress or another illness, even if it is a mental type, we should wait to resolve the situation. We must practice with a dog that is physically and mentally healthy.
In addition to everything that was mentioned, if your dog is an excellent jumper, you can think about the possibility of practicing agility.
Always use positive reinforcement
The dog is a very persistent animal and it has been understood that jumping on people is something positive, happy and friendly (and that they can also receive treats or affection) should look for a technique to teach them another type of behavior and attitude. It's no use to ignore, especially if what we want is a harmonious and thoughtful coexistence.
We will try reinforce the calm, positive and serene attitude and for this it is essential that the whole family gets involved and collaborates in our learning process:
- reward the dog when it's calm
- Let him smell you when he gets home
- Pet the dog when he is resting
- don't excite him
- don't make him play violently
- don't let him jump on you
The best way for our dog to learn is through positive reinforcement, as the animal joins you in a much more complex way than through the use of prizes or treats.
And what a lot of people don't know is that the dog prefers a caress rather than a treat. For this reason, when we talk about positive reinforcement, it is important to differentiate it from a simple technique such as clicker. The dog is a social animal that must feel loved and accompanied in its learning process.
Practice obedience with your dog
To truly improve this problem you should start practicing obedience with your dog, always in a fun way for him and for you.
For definitively solve this problem should teach your puppy some basic command such as "sit" or "stay". Practice with him every day for 5 - 10 minutes and always give him personal rewards (such as a pet) or food (chips of dog biscuits) so he can pick up on his new trick.
Once we learn the chosen trick we will start practicing it specifically when we realize the dog wants to jump on us. For this, you should always have treats and prizes to your liking.
It's not about fattening up the dog, it's about making him understand that it's better to make the order than to jump on us, since jumping on us doesn't get anything and on the contrary, when he gets seated he is rewarded with treats .
a serious problem
In principle, if you carry out this obedience technique you can redirect your puppy's behavior but it will be in other cases where we cannot prevent this from happening.
If you believe your problem goes beyond poorly learned behavior you should consider turning to an ethologist, a canine specialist who can advise you on your dog's behavior and well-being.