Jumping up / Nipping

Jumping up / nipping

Dogs jump up for your attention, if you have something in your hand or get over excited. The best way to prevent this is firstly not to encourage it even when playing otherwise the dog may get confused and think its okay to jump up.

Ensure your dog has a really good sit on command; every time your dog goes to jump up ask him to sit. Once he has sat still you can then fuss him. When you come home you find most dogs are pleased to see you and when you fuss them they get over excited and want to jump up, in this case when you come home ignore the dog for a short period and wait until he is calmer then you can fuss. Ensure that when you feed him, playing with toys that you get him to sit before he gets what he wants. If you are out walking and he gets excited and starts to jump up get him to sit and wait until he has calmed down before moving off, you may need a few treats at hand to reward him when he does sit.

Eventually he will learn that when he greets you and other people he should be sitting before getting his fuss and every time you feed him he will automatically sit and wait for his food, when playing with toys when he brings it back he will sit and wait for you to throw it again.

If you have a really over excited dog that jumps up and doesn’t seem to listen to you, it may be worth having a collar on him and a lead at hand so that you have more control of him. If he jumps up you can use the collar (and lead if needed) to help get his feet back on the ground, bring him down into the sit say the word and use the collar and / or lead to get him into the sit.

Plenty of exercise is also needed you will find the more exercise the dog has the more tired he will become and the less he will jump up. If you cannot exercise regularly then find mental games that your dog can do in the garden, hide treats for him to sniff out, use Kongs or treat balls so he needs to work at getting the food. Set up mini jumps in the garden for him to go over.

When some dogs (mostly young dogs) get really excited they tend to nip a little, this needs to be discouraged immediately incase it gets out of hand. Use the same principal as above with the sit command, however if you find he starts to nip and grab hold of your clothing hold onto his collar tell him NO and bring him down into the sit. You will need to up the amount of sitting for rewards for dogs that nip a lot. Really make him work for what he wants even to the stage of sitting before you let him out of the back door, before putting lead on. Use treats to help you, hold the treat at the level of the dog, if you hold them up in the air you are encouraging him to jump up.

Remember each dog is different some will get it faster than others but the more you practice the quicker he will get it. A lot of patience is needed and don’t rush it, allow yourself plenty of time to achieve what you need to. Make sure you are consistencewith it to prevent confusion, if there are other people in the household ensure they are following the same rules.