How to stop dogs from jumping on people: Dog trainers’ best tips and advice

If you’ve got an excitable dog in your life chances are it likes to jump up on you.

For some this isn’t an issue, but it can be a big concern for other dog owners – especially those who are elderly or have young children.

To address the behaviour, a dog training expert has revealed some tips to nip the habit in the bud.

Watch the video above.

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Amelia Steele, a qualified dog trainer and behaviour expert who shares tips on her Instagram @ameliathedogtrainer, has explained how to stop your dog from jumping up in a recent video.

As she works with a rescue dog in a shelter in Romania to demonstrate the training technique, she begins by emphasising the importance of positive reinforcement.

“Remember we always focus on teaching the dog what to do (punishing the jumping will be confusing and lead to a break down in communication),” she wrote in a video caption.

Steele begins with a piece of food that the dog wants and explains she will reward him for “literally anything he’s doing other than jumping up”.

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Each time she rewards the dog with a treat, she puts the treat on the floor “so he’s more invested in keeping his feet on the ground”.

She then proceeds to encourage the dog to think about “alternative ways to engage with [her]” that don’t involve jumping up.

In this instance she encourages the dog to touch her hand with his snout and rewards the behaviour each time he does it right.

If at any point the dog does jump up, she doesn’t scold the dog but rather ignores him until it gets back down on the ground.

The treats will continue as soon as he isn’t jumping up on her again.

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“If he does jump, I’m just giving him a minute to figure out how to get the reward going again,” she explains.

Steele explains that even after a short time of training this way, the dog has calmed down enough to enjoy some cuddles without jumping up on her.

“Jumping up isn’t something I personally care about so if you like it, that’s totally fine! But or a lot of shelter dogs, it can be the difference between them getting a home or not, so it can really help,” she writes in the caption.

Meanwhile, Aussie vet Dr Katrina Warren says jumping up is one of those dog behaviours that she is often asked about and is something that she personally finds “really annoying”.

She has a similar training technique to Steele but has shared some extra tips with 9honey.

She recommends wearing a dog pouch filled with your dog’s favourite treats all day while at home so you can train your dog all throughout the day.

Then she recommends calling your dog over to you throughout the day and “work on their ‘sit, stay’ routine”.

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This is to get your dog to comfortable with the fact that when all four paws are on the floor they are likely to get a treat.

Once your dog is consistently following your commands, she says you can start involving your dog with visitors and recommends asking your visitors to ignore your dog while practicing the ‘sit, stay’ routine.

“Once they’re sitting, shower them with treats and praise and then they get all the attention,” she explains.

“The dog is not to get any attention if they are jumping up.”

If the dog does jump up on yourself or a visitor, Warren recommends ignoring the dog completely until it is back down on the ground.

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