You just opened the door to greet Mr. and Mrs. Smith and your dog, Fluffy, is now greeting them by jumping up on them. Fluffy has gotten muddy paw prints on Mr. Smith’s pants and torn Mrs. Smith’s hose. Mr. Smith responded by kneeing Fluffy in the chest, which caused Fluffy run away from him now but Fluffy continues to jump up at Mrs. Smith who yells at him to get off while reaching out to pet him. Neither of them are very happy with Fluffy right now. The doorbell rings again, and now Ms. Jones comes in. Fluffy again launches himself at her, getting fur all over her clothes. Ms. Jones bends over and lets Fluffy lick her face and to jump up on her, while telling you, “it’s ok if he does this, I like dogs.” You are angry that Fluffy is bothering your guests, and wondering why he has to behave like this.
Why does this happen? Dogs like attention, and Fluffy has learned that if he jumps up to greet people, they will pay attention to him. It doesn’t have to be good attention, anything that gives your attention to him is good, even negative attention. Fluffy doesn’t care that Mrs. Smith kept saying, “no, no, don’t jump”, all Fluffy cared about was that she was paying attention and petting him. So, do not reinforce the behavior by talking, touching or even looking at the dog while they are jumping. Stand still and ignore them, it isn’t any fun to jump on something that isn’t responding to you if you are a dog.
Does punishment work for this? In order for punishment to work you must meet 3 rules:
It must occur EVERY time the unwanted behavior occurs. In this case, Mr. Smith punished Fluffy by kneeing him, but neither Mrs. Smith or Ms. Jones gave any punishment to Fluffy.
The punishment needs to occur within a few seconds of the behavior. Mr. Smith reacted right away to the jumping with striking Fluffy in the chest, so this rule was met.
The punishment needs to be strong enough to stop the behavior, but to strong will frighten the dog. Fluffy ran away from the blow to his chest and is now afraid to go near Mr. Smith, so the punishment was too strong. Fluffy doesn’t understand that he was punished for jumping, he thinks Mr. Smith is too rough to play with and will now “punish” Mr. Smith by not going to him.
So, if punishment isn’t the way to go, how can you stop this behavior? Training is the way to go. Teach your dog to sit and do not allow anyone to interact with him unless he is sitting down. Tell Ms. Jones that it is NOT OK for Fluffy to jump and that she is not allowed to look at, touch, or speak to Fluffy unless Fluffy is sitting down.
You can also teach your dog to go to a “go to spot” away from the door each time the doorbell rings. Place a rug or dog bed on the floor away from the entry area. Teach your dog to “go to” this spot and stay for a treat and attention. Fluffy may not leave this spot until you release her with a verbal command. Practice this behavior daily. Send Fluffy to this “go to” spot each time the door bell rings. Ask a friend to come over and ring the doorbell, but not come in, until Fluffy learns this new trick. Once your guests have entered, then Fluffy can greet them by sitting down to receive a treat or attention. If Fluffy is not sitting, then there is no reward given. This will take some time and training, but it is well worth the effort. You may need to put Fluffy on a leash for better control while you are training Fluffy to sit to get petted. Dogs do whatever it takes to get your attention, so you have to teach your dog that good behavior will win them more attention than jumping will. Good manners in dogs must be taught, they don’t just happen.
