Why Dogs Jump on People
Jumping is another huge behavioral problem that a lot of dogs develop, usually as puppies. If it's not corrected, then it grows and develops into something worse as adults. This is another learned behavior many times.
Think about how often you come home from a long day away from your dog and you open the door (or crate) to let them out. They’re most likely immediately jumping on you because they’re excited, right? What do most people do in that situation? They don't usually correct them. They usually give in and give them a pet or praise them.
Re-Establishing Leadership and Boundaries Builds Respect and Better Manners
One way you can work on this is to ignore that behavior and only give attention once they have calmed down. Leaders need to re-establish authority when they are back in the house. Remember that if your dog thinks it’s perfectly acceptable to jump all over you whenever they want, they won’t differentiate you and a guest, a child, or another dog. This can become a problem.
Other Reasons Dogs Jump
Excitement, attention, and natural dog communication
The other reason why dogs jump a lot is that they've learned that jumping on you potentially gets them to be picked up. It's another way that dogs try to smell each other. Dogs primarily communicate through their body language and jumping is a way of them being able to be higher up or possibly be at eye level. This mostly happens on the couch and bed / other furniture.
My wife and I have three dogs. We allow them on the furniture, but it's an invite only process and it's a privilege to be on the furniture. When we have people over and guests over it, they're not allowed on the furniture. Our dogs understand those rules and yours can too.
The other thing that you want to understand is that biting incidents, reactivity, a lot of them happen near or on top of furniture. This is due to dogs feeling more empowered because they're higher up and now all of a sudden they're guarding either you or whoever's sitting on the couch. Could even be a toy or an item that they begin to defend.
Get Professional Help for Dog Jumping Problems
To help solve your dogs jumping behavior, give us a call. You can send us a message and tell us a little bit more about your dog. You can also fill out a free behavioral quiz which is found on our website. Can't wait to speak to you. Thanks so much.