Does your dog jump on visitors to your home? Jump on you and other family members? To a dog, jumping on people is great fun. They do it because it works – they get the attention that they want (don’t are good at telling “good attention” from “negative attention”. The first step in training your
dog not to jump on people is to train your dog to Sit. Once your dog has a rock solid sit, you can tell your dog to sit when someone approaches – a sitting dog can’t jump on people – and then guests can pet your dog for sitting.
Follow these steps to teach your dog to sit:
Step 1. Tell your dog, “Sit” in a cheerful tone of voice.
Step 2. Pause a second (count one-one thousand in your head), and then lure your dog into a sit by putting the treat up to her nose and slowly moving the treat backwards and up. Keep the treat lure close to your dog’s nose — if you move your hand up too quickly or too far away from their mouth, they may lose interest in the exercise or try jumping to get the treat.
Step 3. As soon as your dog’s backend hits the ground praise and treat. Repeat several times, so long as you and your dog are still enjoying yourselves. At this stage, it is important to praise your dog (“good boy!” or “girl girl!” works great) and give your dog a treat for every sit.
Step 4. Repeat the exercise several times over a few days. When your dog sits every sit you ask, it is time to take the treat out of your hand and use the verbal cue alone. If your dog makes a mistake, first try luring without the treat. Only put the treat back in your hand if all else fails.
Ask you dog to sit to get what he wants in life
Once your dog knows what “Sit” means, have them sit before going out doors, having a leash put on, on a ball thrown for him. The more automatic you can make sitting on command, the better. Think of your dog sitting as saying “Please” and ask for a sit anytime you would like your dog to be polite.
When guests come over tell your dog to “Sit” and have guests only pet the dog while the dog is sitting. If the dog gets up, the petting stops and the person turns their back and ignores the dog. Your dog will quickly figure out that sitting “works” for getting attention and petting, and jumping up gets them ignored.
Pepper’s Paws, LLC provides in home dog training in Rehoboth Beach, DE. We also Zoom dog training lessons for people who do not live in our Delaware Beaches private lessons service area.
Head trainer Deb Murray, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA is certified by the Certification Council of Professional Dog Trainers, an AKC Evaluator, a Distinguished Graduate and Mentor Trainer for the Catch Canine Academy, and APDT C.L.A.S.S. Evaluator and Instructor.
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