Cuddles and rewards the solution for ‘jumpaholics’

COLUMN: Pawsability by Anna Patfield

Jumping up is probably one of the most common troubles that we have with our dogs and puppies. Why do they do it?

Well, they jump up for a number of reasons. Perhaps they just want a cuddle, perhaps they’re jumping whilst biting their leads, maybe they are getting too excited whilst playing a game, or just jumping up for treats. Or, perhaps they are a wee bit anxious?

They might jump about, jump on you, or jump on anything or anyone that’s around. Especially with puppies, it can really look like they are just misbehaving. However, this ‘fooling around” is very common in anxious dogs and puppies.

But, fundamentally, the most likely reason is that we’ve actually taught them that it’s right to have their paws on us. We teach them that it’s a good thing to do. It’s true! Tiny puppies are so cute that we just want to lift them up and give them a hug and hold them close. We’ve all done it. Puppies learn that having their paws on our bodies is nice. It can be very confusing for them when we decide that sometimes we don’t want their paws on us.

So, what can be done? Well, firstly, no matter how hard it might be when you’re with your puppy, make sure your cuddles involve all four paws being on the floor. Get down on the floor yourself or have them in between your legs for cuddles.

But if they are already a “jumpaholic” then we need to work on some training. The secret here is to change our training thoughts – instead of trying to teach ‘not-jump’, we teach an opposite, preferable, behaviour e.g. sit. They can’t sit and jump at the same instant.

But this is no ordinary sit. Build this up nice and slowly. Reward sitting, then sitting for a few seconds without you moving, then move a wee bit and reward, then move a little more, perhaps even doing a wee jump yourself. During the training session, build this up so that they always get rewarded for keeping their paws and bottoms on the floor.

Then, if they jump on you, instead of telling them off, ask for a sit. You may of course need to guide them a little bit to start with – with a treat in your hand, guide the dogs nose off you and their paws will follow.

Of course, some of us are happy with jumping up and that’s fine (best taught though). And sometimes, jumping up has much more complex reasoning. As always, you’re not alone here – please do get in touch or have a look at the web site for lots of free behaviour and training hints and tips at www.pawsability.co.uk.

Anna Patfield, Ardgay, is a dog trainer and behaviourist

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.