Hounds & Hooves is a multi-award-winning dog training and activity centre based on the Whitcombe Estate, just outside Dorchester.

They provide group training classes, one-to-one programmes, workshops, group dog walks and sole use exercise field. They also have a range of toys, treats, harnesses and leads available to buy online.

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Top tips to stop your dog from jumping up

By Jordan Eley

Jumping up is one of the most reinforcing behaviours that a dog can do, and 90% of the time we reinforce it without thinking.

It is only when it starts to become an problem, or they start to get bigger and we realise that it is no longer cute and potentially dangerous, that we start to take action.

Teaching our dogs not to jump up is really important but it can be a tricky thing to train. However, it is vital if we want our dogs to be safe off lead and around the home.

The world is an exciting place, and we want our dogs to enjoy freedom and interactions with other dogs and humans. It is therefore our responsibility to make sure they are still under control and safe when they do so. 

Why should we teach them not to jump up?

Apart from the fact that it's a really annoying and frustrating behaviour (for us humans), we also have a legal requirement for all dogs to be under control at all times:

Under section 3(1) of the 1991 Act (as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014, (the '2014 Act')), if any dog is dangerously out of control in any place, including all private property, the owner, or person for the time being in charge of the dog, is guilty of a summary offence.

This means your dog no longer has to bite a person; jumping up, knocking someone over – even if only in play – can have serious consequences for both you and your dog.

If the person feels like there is a threat, then they are completely within their rights to report the incident to the dog warden and the police. This includes how they behave to delivery drivers, postal workers and refuse drivers when they are on your property. For example, it is not just relevant out on walks but in the home to.

How do we do teach them not to?

Teaching our dogs not to jump up or not to be rewarded for jumping up should be high up there with things to teach the moment your new addition arrives at your home.

Everybody needs to be on the same page. Imagine how confusing it can be if, after months on end, something that we love doing we are suddenly told its no longer acceptable? You would want to find a way to continue doing the thing you love, right?

The problem is behaviour that gets rewarded gets repeated and that can work for the stuff you want and the stuff you don't want.

Let us first look at how dogs learn.

With all training and behaviour modification we have to be aware of how dogs learn and the science behind it. The concepts are the same for dogs and humans, and it may be helpful to think of how you have been 'trained' using these methods.

It is so important to train your dog using positive reinforcement techniques – what this means is giving your dog a reward (toys, treats, praise) for good behaviour which then increases the likelihood of the behaviour happening again.

When we train using positive reinforcement, the dog will enjoy doing what we are asking them to do, because they know rewards will follow. This is called a conditioned emotional response.

Let's use 'OFF' as an example. 

Before it is trained, the word 'off' means nothing to your dog. They have never heard it before and, even if they have, nothing has been expected of them when it has been said. 'Off' for your dog is a neutral word (conditional stimulus).

Dogs generally love food. Your dog has not been taught to love food, therefore this is a natural response. Food is an unconditioned stimulus, which means your dog has not had to be conditioned to enjoy it.

When we begin to pair the word 'off' with food, with enough repetition, the word 'off' itself will have a conditioned response because your dog knows it is followed by a reward. This is classical or Pavlovian conditioning.

Humans are mostly to blame for this behaviour

Dogs and puppies don't come pre-programmed to understand that jumping up is undesirable. They are a completely different species to us and have a completely different agenda to us. Unfortunately, from the moment our puppies come home we are often (without realising) encouraging them to jump up. 

Let us paint a picture... cute puppy comes to greet mum. Puppy really wants mum's attention so puppy starts bouncing on their back legs, pawing at mum's trousers. Mum then gets down to play and low and behold without even thinking about it the behaviour chain has started.

The thing that puppy wants? Fuss and attention.

How does puppy meet this need? Jumping around until mum rewards the behaviour by interacting.

There is a common misconception that puppies will just grow out of this behaviour. Unfortunately, this is very rarely true.

In addition to this, by the time puppy is six months old they are much bigger. They have been able to practise this behaviour for six whole months and man it has felt so good, but let's get serious, it is no longer cute and its getting them and potentially you into trouble.

Where do we start?

Jumping up in the home

If we know that our dog is likely to get over excited and bouncy when we come home from work or when visitors come to the house, we need to think of ways that we can pre-empt the behaviour and stop giving them the opportunity to practise the behaviour.

Remember, what gets rewarded gets repeated this works both ways so if we are rewarding the good behaviour such as calm, paws on the floor you are going to see more of it.

Some ways you can do this are by having some treats on you as you come through the door as your dog approaches you get down to their level and reward the four paws.

For visitors, think about implementing some barriers such as puppy pens, crates, stair gates and house lines. Pop your puppy or dog behind these barriers when people arrive and when you are ready attach a house line for them to greet the visitors.

Prep visitors before they arrive. Say that you are working on your dog not jumping up and tell them how you want them to treat your dog. You may also want to think about teaching a settle on a mat or go to bed cue.

Jumping up out on walks

Again, preventing the behaviour before it happens is going to set your dog up for success. In my experience lack of recall and jumping up often go hand in hand. So, we need to limit the opportunities our dogs get for practicing this behaviour.

The best way to do this is with a long line – a long, flat lead that you can hold the end of or leave to drag along the floor. This means that your dog gets the freedom of being off lead, but you have a safety net should a distraction appear.

You can then practice some fantastic recalls away from the tempting temptation and your dog learns that distractions = run to mum for games or rewards.

Consider your training environment

Environment is key when practising and refining any type of training. If your dog is struggling with jumping up in the home then taking them to the local dog park, beach or forest when there are loads of other distractions is going to be a recipe for disaster in the beginning.

You have a long time to experience all of the above with your young dog. Yes, take them for the experience but be mindful that if you are going with the thought of training in mind then be sure to choose times where there is more likelihood that your dog is going to succeed than fail. 

Building strong foundations

Whenever we look at implementing a change in behaviour we need to ensure we first build really strong foundations. These often get overlooked for the more traditional, fancy stuff but once we have strong foundations we can start to layer things up and make things harder.

Timing is everything and the majority of our jumping up training should be pre-emptive; anticipating the moments that our dogs are most likely to jump and giving them a suitable behaviour to do instead.

However, there will be instances where our dogs get a jump in, and we therefore need a solid 'off' cue (we will come to how to do this in a moment). It is important that everybody your dog meets is on the same page with his training – jumping up is rewarding for your dogs so if they get a sneaky repetition in they will likely carry on jumping!

This means that family, friends, and even strangers you meet on the street should be prepared for how to greet your dog. Taking time to play engage-disengage games with your dog in multiple environments will also put you on the path to success.

I tell my dog no and they just ignore me?

Ever heard the saying "my dog thinks his name is no"? Feel like you use the word 'no' in every other sentence? Let's face it, jumping up is a really frustrating behaviour and there is often the temptation to tell your dog 'no' or move their paws from you.

There are two issues here; 'no' only tells your dog what not to do, it doesn't show them what we want to do and so they miss a learning opportunity. Giving any sort of feedback (even if you are telling them off, when the cue has no meaning) is still feedback.

As we have spoken about previously, dogs learn by consequence. The more that a behaviour gets rewarded the more likelihood it will continue because it is still meeting a need. The moment you change your behaviour, your dog has to work out why that no longer works.

Sometimes we will see an increase in the undesirable behaviour as your dog may feel the need to escalate in order to try to understand why the behaviour is no longer getting rewarded.

What about ignoring the behaviour?

This works to a degree but everybody, and I mean everybody, needs to be ignoring the behaviour. There are also other simple steps you can take to start the training.

• Dog jumps up - human steps back and turns away.
• Dog jumps up - human stands up (if sitting)
• Dog continues to jump – human leaves the room

Rewards must only come when four paws are on the floor. Remember, a reward is something that your dog enjoys. Just because you like fillet steak doesn't mean they will, so play around with rewards to find out what they really will do anything for.

If we can pre-empt the behaviour and get the rewards in before the dog has the opportunity to jump-even better.

Teaching a paws on and off cue

Often, when the jumping up has become prolific, guardians are starting to use a variety of words to try to get the dog to stop. The problem is this can lead to confusion.

How many of you have used 'down', 'off', 'no' multiple times to no avail? It doesn't really mean anything to your dog and we are providing feedback out of frustration, because we want them to stop.

For me, 'down' means to lay down so I tend to teach an 'off' cue. What do I mean by this? Well, I teach your dogs to put their paws on something with an 'on' cue and we use the exact same method to teach the dogs the paws off cue. 

Not only is this a great way to teach an off cue. The paws on cue will also supply you with an abundant array of cute photo opportunities, it helps create body confidence and rear end awareness among other things.

• Find a small step (or a large book if you have a smaller dog) and lure your dog towards it with a treat on the end of their nose
• Slowly bring the treat higher into the air, above the step
• If your dog puts a paw onto the step, mark with a 'yes' and reward
• Continue until your dog reliably steps onto the platform
• Introduce an 'off' cue by throwing a treat away when they are on the platform

You can then generalise this by practicing it in lots of different places. This exercise allows us to put loads of value into the 'off' cue, and stops it being a punishment for our dogs. Think of all the places on your walks where you could do this? Log piles, platforms, park benches, water troughs and so on.

If you have enjoyed this blog and you would like to know more, we offer in-person jumping up workshops and also have a downloadable 'no jumping up' PDF which is jam packed with more tips and activities that you can try at home. Find out more at https://www.houndshooves.com/