Jumping up is one of the most common questions we get from people about their
dogs. In today's video.
I'm going to spend a little bit more time with my buddy Hank here and give you a
few tips to help prevent your dog from jumping up on people on couches or other
things in your house. I'm Steve. Welcome back to McCann Dogs. Hi buddy.
Are you excited?
Oh boy.
Here at our facility, we've helped.
Well over a hundred thousand dog owners overcome the same training challenges
that you have with your dog. This is your first time on the channel.
Make sure you hit that subscribe button.
We publish new videos every week to help you to have a well behaved four legged
family member. When dogs jump up,
people tend to have one of two reactions and one is, they don't really care.
I'm going to talk about that one in a second,
but the other one is when dogs jump up,
people get really frustrated or embarrassed that their dogs generally don't have
the manners that they want them to.
We want our dogs to be good citizens and be able to go out in the world and just
function without being a little bit too overbearing.
And there are a number of things that you can do to prevent your dog from
jumping. One of the hardest things that people say to us is,
I don't know when my dog is going to jump.
There are generally three common places where dogs jumped that frustrate.
Most people, one of them is going to be furniture.
Next one's generally counters. The third one of course is people.
All of those things are pretty common, exciting things for your dogs. Now,
if you're one of those people, that's frustrated by her dog jumping.
I want to give you some tools that can help prevent your dog from jumping.
And if I teach my dog not to jump and to give them something else to do,
instead,
I spend less time correcting my dog for jumping and rewarding them for good
behaviors. Instead. Now, what do we do when our dogs want to jump up on people?
I can tell you when I got my first dog,
I actually sought out this place for dog training advice,
because I didn't want a dog that jumped on people.
It was my first Irish wolfhound.
He was the biggest one I had and I wanted to make sure he wasn't going to jump
up on people.
And I learned pretty quickly that a lot of this stuff that we hear about what to
do when our dogs jump really is not appropriate for teaching them,
not to people told me, okay.
Cause I asked people for advice before I actually came here and people said,
well, if your dog jumps up on,
you just need him in the chest or give him a big shove. You know,
those are two things that can work for some dogs. I can agree with that.
However, most of our dogs, when we give them a push think, Oh,
that's amazing. I wanted to wrestle. I wanted to play.
We start to give them a inadvertent reward.
When we give them that physical interaction, putting our hands on them,
the simple act of putting our hands on them for a lot of dogs,
he has an invitation to play.
So that's the first thing that I learned not to do.
Other people have said grab onto their paws and squeeze them and hold tight
until the dogs fight and fight and fight and fight and fight to get away.
And then once the dog actually finally gets away,
they won't want to put their paws on you anymore.
I want to discourage even doing that type of thing. Okay.
we need to think a little bit bigger picture in this scenario.
If I do that to a dog and then I want to go and clip those dogs, nails,
that dog's not going to be very willing to let me handle their paws.
I want to make sure any of my interactions are giving them the best direction
that I can without any introvert,
inadvertent reward and still maintaining that relationship.
And that trust that I'm trying to build with them.
I learned pretty darn quickly that having a leash or a line on my dog will allow
me to better redirect my dog when they do happen to jump up.
But more importantly, I learned that I need to give my dog better information.
I need to be proactive instead of waiting until the dog jumped up,
I'm going to have the dog, the dog do something else. Hey.
So if somebody were to come to my house I'm not going to just let the dog run to
the door and crashing the door and be excited when somebody comes in, okay,
I need to give them a little bit better direction.
And having that leash can help.
Ideally we know when people are going to come to our house and we can be
prepared for that type of thing, but let's face it. Life is life.
And sometimes people happen to show up and then that happens.
And somebody knocks on your door,
you better believe that young puppy is going to charge to the door and be so
excited to see whoever it is. It doesn't really matter.
That's probably going to be closely followed by some jumping and some barking
that goes along with it. Okay. If I don't have a leash or line on my dog,
my only option is to go over and take a hold of that dog. But again,
I'm giving that dog a bit of a physical interaction.
That's not relating to know what to do. I'm simply reacting to the moment.
So how do we train our dogs? Not to jump up on people? Well, first things first,
I want to involve my family and my friends. And if I can set up the idea,
have my friends text me before they come over to let them know or let me
know that they're going to be there. I can be a little heady game.
So first things first, I'm going to make sure I have a leash on my dog. Okay.
I'm going to have some great treats because I do want to build value for sitting
now where I have my dog sit is really, really important.
We spend a lot of time teaching our dogs to sit at our left hand side.
So that's sort of a home base. It's a place where they know good things happen.
And it's a place where they have some rehearsal of that.
So when I know somebody is going to come to my door,
I'm going to have that leash in my hand,
I'm going to have that dog sit at my side.
I'm going to have those great rewards. And I'm going to continue to yes,
and reward those dogs on a loose leash.
This is the part about giving them a choice.
I'm not holding tight on the dog and preventing the dog from making a choice
that dog has given the opportunity with slack in the leash to either hold the
sit, which I'm going to reward, or if they get up,
I'm simply going to quickly guide that dog back into the sit position that
allows me to reward them for that great choice.
And the more I build that positive association,
the less they have the ability to run and jump on the person. Now,
the nice thing about having my leash in my hand is two fold because not only can
I reward them for sitting on a loose leash,
if my dog were to get up and run and try and jump on that person,
I have immediate control and I have great timing.
My dog doesn't get to reward themselves cause I've interrupted really quickly
and I can place them right back in that, sit at my side.
So I'm setting up my dog for success.
Now that's an easy thing to say that you can have your dog sit at your side when
somebody comes into the door, but let's face it.
There are some dogs who are so social and so happy that they are going to
struggle to hold that sit. If that person is within three or four or five,
or let's face it 10 feet in front of you. So you need to pick a distance,
that's going to be successful for your dog.
And that may mean moving a little bit further back down the hallway and tell
your friends. Yeah, come on in for a second. I'm just working with the puppy.
Encourage your to ignore the puppy when they come in at first so that you can
focus on rewarding the dog.
If you're trying to get their coats hung up and trying to encourage them into
the kitchen, you know, you're not paying attention to your dog.
You need to pay attention to your dog. This is the training phase.
As long as they're holding that position, I'm going to continue to yes.
And reward them. If they're being successful,
I can actually encourage my friends to come in and stand a little closer,
but I'm still going to discourage them from instantly reaching out and have a
party with that puppy.
This is about teaching some self control with new people around.
So we're making it very easy for the puppy to be right and let's face it.
It's a nonconfrontational way to teach my dog, not to jump up on people.
I have great timing. I'm building value for a separate exercise.
So this is how you can use your family and friends to learn and teach your dog.
Not to jump up on people. Let's face it. Life is life though.
And sometimes people appear and you need to get your friends in the door.
You need to be able to welcome them in and give your mom a hug and do all those
sorts of things. If you don't have time to focus on training,
that particular skill, you need to manage your dog.
You need to take away their ability to rehearse jumping,
pop them in their crate. Give them a little bone, let them chew in there.
Welcome your friends in, grab a drink, go sit, be social,
but we're not letting the dog rehearse the jumping and reward themselves for
making those decisions.
Once your dog has some skills and you've practiced having them sit at your side
while people come in and they're getting pretty good at it,
I will often expand on my dog skills and teach them something else to do when
somebody comes to the door.
So if your dog is a little bit more advanced than I already have some
understanding about not jumping up,
I'm going to give my dog something else to do it.
And this scenario giving my dog a place to go.
When people come over and helping build value for that can really sort of set
them on the right direction.
It takes away their ability to rehearse the jumping and sets them,
gives them something that I can reward them for.
So I'm just doing a little practice here where I'm luring Hank to the bed and
telling them go in, lay down. Good boy, excellent job.
And I'm rewarding him for holding position on the bed. When somebody comes,
I don't have to touch him. I just tell them on your bed, go and lie down.
I can let my friends in and my all can be successful. Good boy. Go ahead.
So I'm rewarding them at the bat. I can tell him. Okay, good boy.
I'm going to set that up a little bit again.
He's still quite excited on your bed going lay down. Good job.
Very good guy. Good.
Now I'm going to see if Hank can hold this position while somebody comes in the
door. Good boy. Excellent work. Good. So let's say,
I know somebody is coming over.
I'm going to make sure I set it up still because I'm still teaching my dog.
I'll have that better. That mat close by.
I'm gonna encourage my dog to go on the bed and go and lie down.
As long as they're holding position, I'm going to yes.
And deliver some cookies right on that bed. Okay.
And as long as they're holding that,
I can keep an eye on the person who's coming to the door and it just yeah.
Wave them in. Come on in. And again, I'm paying attention to my dog,
rewarding them for holding position. My person comes in,
I can talk to them for a second. I still have one eye on that dog,
teaching them and helping them to understand what their job is at that point,
which is firstly, not to jump up on people. But secondly,
just to lie on a bed and the more advanced I get with this,
the more I can have my bed off in the corner.
I can tell my dog to go and lie down. While people come in the door again,
I'm setting them up with a skill that they be successful at and taking away
their ability to rehearse jumping, which is naturally rewarding to these dogs.
So you notice in all those greetings that we did at the door,
I'm doing something else to prevent my dog from doing it.
But I'm also giving him a skill that he could be right at that I can reward them
for. Kitchen counters is the other area where dogs learn very quickly,
that things are rewarding.
And if the dog has learned to jump up and get that piece of food,
or they happen to find that steak that was throwing on the counter,
that can be something that's very hard to overcome.
And I'm going to give you a few tools to help train your dog,
not to jump up on the counter because we do need to train it.
It doesn't magically go away. First part is training of training.
As I need to be there,
I need to be supervising my dog and setting them up for success. Now,
there are a couple of ways I can approach teaching my dog,
not to jump on the counter and the one is to simply manage it.
I don't put interesting things to my dog on the counter.
That's not real life though.
I can't always not have food on the counter and I want to be able to make my
dinner and do my other things without my dog thinking they should jump up and
reward themselves. So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm gonna look at this as a little bit more of a training opportunity.
You'll notice that Hank has Alicia on.
I have it in my hand right now because my focus is teaching him that he
shouldn't jump up on the counter, but also giving him something else to do.
And that's either going to be sit or lie down or do something other than that.
But if I don't have this leash on, I don't have any good timing at all.
So how am I going to teach tank? Not to jump up on the counter? Well,
I'm actually going to put some of these delicious treats on the counter and I'm
going to let them know that they're there.
And then I'm going to try and see what he does now.
I'm not going to wait until Hank actually jumps and get those treats off the
counter. I'm going to be a little quicker with my leash and tell him off,
or I'm going to tell him to leave it. And I'm going to sort of direct them away.
And then I'm going to give him another job to do,
which is going to be sit or lie down or something a little bit more stationary.
The reason for another job as it gives me a little bit better visual as to
whether he's actually thinking about going to that counter or not.
If he's just kind of roaming around and I oftentimes I'll get distracted doing
what I need to do in the kitchen here.
And my dog takes advantage of our back turn.
But if my dog's in a more stable position,
I will know instantly if he's getting up. So I've got these treats here.
I'm going to show them to him. Okay, buddy, go ahead.
Now I'm going to put them up here. Now I'm going to tell him off. Good.
Good boy. Good. Good. What are those things? Oh, good sit. Excellent boy.
Good job off good. He wanted to take that opportunity to jump on me. Good sit.
Good. I'm gonna put these little closer to the, to the edge of the counter. Now,
one of those things off. Yes. Good boy. Excellent job.
Now I want to talk about what happened there. I put those there.
He saw them actually indicated I simply moved away a little bit.
When his eyes went there and he stopped and made a great decision and looked at
me now, I'm going to make it more rewarding for him to pay attention to me.
Then those two little cookies on there,
and you can use your dog's favorite treat for this to really help them. Now,
step two is I'm going to give him something else to do. And now he's sitting,
but I'm going to ask him to go and lay down. Good boy. Excellent job.
Very nice on. And as long as he continues to hold this position,
I've prevented him from jumping, but I'm also training him.
I'm saying when you're in this area and there's good things here,
your job is to go and just chill out in a position.
Now it really is important that you are the time to train your dogs to do this
good boy. Excellent work. You know, I'm talking to you,
but I'm also very focused on what he's doing this particular moment.
If he were to get up,
I'm not going to just let him reward himself for going to the streets.
I'm actually going to direct him back into the down.
So let's just do a little test here and see we do that. Okay. But, okay boy,
that's my guy off. Good, good job. Yes.
So he moved a little closer to the counter.
He's not paying any mind to those treats at all. Excellent boy. Good job.
Very nice. Yes. Good. Now I can take up my food and reward.
Very good guy. I might even shift these treats around a little bit. Good job.
Look at those right there. Good. Yes. Good boy. They're very nice.
Excellent work. Now again. I'm going to make it a little easier. Okay buddy.
Come on over here. Doing lay down. Good job, bud. Excellent work.
Then I can go back to doing all the things that I need to do.
It's important that I'm right there to help him and take away his ability to
make that bad decision, but teach him what I want to do. Instead with Hank,
I'm using a tasty treat that I know he likes,
and I just had it resting on the edge of the counter,
but you can make this harder for your dog.
Get yourself some of those delicious cheese slices, put them on the top,
roll them over the edge. Let your dog see that tasty morsel hanging there,
attempting them, reward them often for not jumping up again.
Space is your friend in these situations.
I wouldn't take a dog that I've done a little bit of training,
put a cheese slice here and have them sit right beside it.
I might move a little bit further away.
I might also have some really special treats to reward the dog when they ignore
that cheese. In the beginning,
I mentioned that some people don't really think jumping up as a big deal.
And I really want you to reconsider that view.
Jumping up is something that's naturally rewarding for dogs.
And I can tell you that the vast majority of dogs that are jumping are well,
meaning they don't know any better,
but there are definitely some safety issues that go along.
Not only for the people, but for the dog itself,
let's say I have a bigger dog like Hank, our lab, or a bigger German shepherd.
And that dog jumps up on a little kid that can knock that little kid over and
really scare them. Even if it's a little dog like Hippie.
And that dog happened to jump up near their face.
That can be very worrying for that child.
Now we also have people who maybe aren't that stable on their feet.
Somebody who's maybe a little older and he uses a walker or all sorts of reasons
why I don't want to have a dog that jumps up and could possibly injure somebody.
Now I mentioned it can be hurtful for dogs to jump up. You know,
if you have a dog that's used to jumping up and they fall awkwardly on their
hind end as they come down,
cause maybe they missed the person or they jumped straight up and they happened
to fall back over.
Those are things that can cause some serious injury to your dog.
So I really want you to think about taking the time to teach your dog that
jumping up isn't allowed. Now that doesn't mean they can't come up.
If you ask them to, you know, I've invited Hippie up on the couch.
I have dogs that will jump up in my arms when they're asked them to,
but they don't take that upon themselves.
They don't run through the room and come launching at me when I don't expect it.
I give them that permission. But until they know the rules,
they don't get that luxury. Whether it be on the couch,
up in my arms or coming up to see me when I've come home,
inviting those front paws out, that's all about invitation.
And that comes after they know the rules.
Having dogs on the couch is something that I do in my house.
My older dogs are allowed to jump up on the couch and hang out with me at any
time, but they need to learn the rules.
First and little Hank here thinks that jumping up on the couch is the greatest
thing in the world. So with my young dogs, again,
I want to prevent them from thinking they can jump up on their own and making
that own decision.
And I can't just correct them every time they run and jump and be mad at them
for doing it. I need to give my dog something else to do so. Again,
we've talked about the using the bed as a spot for them to go on light down.
When people come in, I can use the exact same skill when I'm hanging out.
And I want my dog to just chill out with me while I sit on the couch,
dogs can come up with the coach when I invite them.
But when they decide to help them be a little bit more successful,
I'm going to have his leash on.
I'm going to have the bed near the couch where I want to sit. Hi buddy,
come on over here.
And I'm going to lower him over that bed and encourage him to go and lie down.
And then I'm simply going to sit down, but I'm not going to drop the leash.
I'm going to make sure I hold onto it.
And I'm going to give him lots of rewards for holding position on the bed again,
letting them know how to be right. So again, I got some food here.
Ready to go on your bed, buddy. Go on, lay down. Yes. Good boy.
Excellent work. And the more he chills out, the more I will continue to reward.
Good boy. Excellent work. Yes. Good job. Very nice.
He's going to figure out pretty darn quickly that all sorts of good things
happen when he's lying on the floor and not trying to launch himself up on me.
Excellent work. Good for you. Very good.
And this takes some time and repetition.
They're not going to get this in two minutes,
but if you spend several days working this year,
a dog will really start to figure out what to do instead of doing the things
that are a little bit more naturally self-serving so he wants to get up off the
bed. I need that buddy.
So I'm going to get it a little food I'm to move him right back to the bed.
Go one light down, bud. Excellent job. Very nice. Yes.
And the more relaxed he gets, the more relaxed I can be.
I can watch my TV program, my Netflix, whatever it happens to be. Now,
one of the most common questions we get in this situation is when is my dog
ready to be invited up on the couch? Good boy. Excellent job. Well, at first,
when I'm just teaching my dog, this,
I need to spend a lot of time building value for this position.
So I'm going to reward pretty regularly for him. Excellent boy. Good job.
As he gets a little bit more adept at it,
I might space out those rewards a little bit more,
or I might even change my posture to be a little bit more relaxed. Good boy.
Excellent. As long as he's doing a great job again, I'm still gonna reward,
but I'm sitting back and making it a little more real life. Okay.
Now once he's getting quite adept at that and I'm rewarding,
maybe fairly infrequently. I might just give him a little yes. And a nice Pat.
Good boy. Good job. Very good.
Letting him know that still good things are happening,
but that does take time and repetition. Now this is a pretty common thing.
My dog's now gotten up and he wants to come have a little jump on me.
I'm very casual in my posture. So I'm going to change the picture again.
I'm going to stand up for a second. That'll do go in, lay down. Good boy.
Very nice. Standing up,
puts you in a much more authoritative position to the dogs. Excellent boy.
Good job of, I stayed down here and he climbs up on top of me.
He's gotten to a different level. That's going to want to encourage him to jump.
Now you can see obviously a little Hank here is not quite ready for that next
step. He needs that reinforcement very often right now to a job.
And one of the things to keep in mind for him.
Is my touch to him is.
So exciting. Oh buddy, over here on your bed, go and lay down.
So he's not quite ready for this. If you find your dogs, wiggling and jumping,
you need to spend a little bit more time proofing with food.
Good job going lay down. Excellent work.
Then once I get a little bit more settled like this,
I can remind him down and I can then sit back down. Excellent job, buddy.
Yes, very good job. And you know, Hank is figuring this out as your dog will.
He's starting to try and figure out what it is that I want,
but then when I get something I don't want, I changed the picture.
I've mentioned using a leash or a line or a house line as a training tool to
help prevent your dog from jumping up.
If you want to learn more about the biggest mistakes people make when using a
house line, check out that video right there. And on that note, I'm Steve,
that was Hank. This is Hippie shake, happy training.