Jump, jump, jump, jump...............HELLO

Ah..............the canine greeting, not so joyous for many.  Countless owners deal with the onslaught of an over exhuberant pooch greeting on a daily basis.  After being hit repeatedly everytime you walk in the door, many learn to live with it.  But when it comes to guests, it is not dealt with in the same "oh well," manner.  Do you have a leaping, projectile greeting dog?  If so there are a few steps that you can take that will assist in keeping their four on the floor. 

The first thing to remember is that kneeing a dog in the chest is not the way to stop them from jumping.  Kneeing is really a mean thing to do and a waste of time.  That and pushing them off of you each time they jump, this action can actually encourage jumping.  If you have a boisterous type, then each time you touch them it is enough of a reward for jumping.  It can become a game, they jump, you push, they boing back for another jump and it continues.

If you have a dog that is already conditioned to jump, you must take babysteps to non jumping.  The first thing you will reward are the short moments of non jumping.  The best way to reward with food is to drop it on the floor.  Use food that makes noise when dropped and try to pick a hard surface.  Drop magically, like the treats are appearing on the floor on their own.  When you drop the food on the floor instead of handing the food to your dog you stop the need to jump up for food.  After a while your dog will stand back and wait for the dropped treat, it is truly amazing how it works.   You also need to make yourself very boring and non inviting.  If your dog does jump up, simply withdraw.  Turn your body away and become like a tree, offer no attention.  Wait for them to get off and drop the food.

Once you have your dog primed for the food drop, you can continue with this working towards longer non jumping for a food drop.  Or you can add a sit, then only dropping food if they sit.  Once you start asking for longer sits before rewarding you can then move onto hand delivery of treats.  You can also teach a "place" exercise, this works amazing as it gives the dog a job to do.  When you come in they must run to a certain spot or bed and wait for their treat. 

For those dogs who are over the top crazy jumpers, they are typically wound by the whole process of yelling and pushing them down.  These guys need the withdrawal routine even more.  Dogs need alternatives, you cannot just say "don't jump."  If you say keep four on the floor and I will reward you, or sit and I will reward you then they have an alternative. 

Also, make homecoming a non issue.  This is probably the biggest thing that we do to fuel jumping, you walk in the door and throw a party for your dog.  Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Mom and Dad are home.  Spin, jump, bark, dive and catapolt at you.  Sound familiar?  So, in the door and past the dog without a word.  When they calm, then you can say hi.  Even if it is 20 minutes from when you walked through the door.

Like many behavior issues, the best attack is for you to remain calm and in control.  Hands off, mouth shut and wait, wait for that split second that they stop leaping on you and drop the goods.  It works.