I get this question all the time: “Rewards, rewards rewards, I get it, but what do I do when my puppy is jumping and being BAD?” Even when I don’t get asked about it by a new dog owner, I want to make sure they understand anyway. All dog owners should know what to do when their dog displays undesirable behaviors.
Should you roll up a newspaper and whack yourself with it because you came through the wrong door? Whack the dog for jumping on you? Whack your roommate for not giving the dog enough exercise while you were at work?
None of the above!
You should come up with a plan to be successful in the future so that YOU don’t get frustrated and so that the dog doesn’t create bad habits. This is best introduced early, with a puppy ideally in the 8-16 week range.
Here are a few ways to approach a puppy’s common behavior of jumping up on you.
Non-reinforcement example
I have my puppy out with me in the yard, walking next to me and looking for my attention and affection. Then he jumps up on my side, putting his two front paws on my leg. I just keep walking. I completely ignore it. Typically, the young puppy will have trouble keeping up pace while running and jumping sideways, and just fall into place walking vs jumping.
Negative punishment example
In another instance, I’m playing food games and starting to work on training a sit or down behavior with my 12-week-old puppy. As I’m bent over, using food to lure my dog into various positions, he jumps up on me and puts his paws on my leg to get closer to the food.
I say, “Uh-uh.”
I turn my face slightly away from the puppy, clench my hands around the food, and freeze my body. I can stay hunched over and low to the ground.
I wait until the puppy goes back and puts all four paws on the floor. As soon as he does, I re-engage him.
Recap:
- We are playing with food.
- Puppy jumped on me.
- I said “Uh-uh.”
- Food went away and interaction ceased.
- Then puppy went back with four paws on the floor.
- Play starts up again.
This is the operant conditioning quadrant of “negative punishment.” Negative (take away) in order to cause punishment (make less likely to continue in future). We take away food and attention so that jumping is less likely to continue in the future.
However, there are many other things that can help you achieve this goal instead of just waiting for it to happen.
One of the methods I use to instigate jumping so that I can use this method is mixing it in with food games and obedience training. I start luring and engaging my dog with food, lure into a sit, and reward the dog breaking out of a sit. Then I will step backwards and lure the dog up a bit higher, like drawing the food lure up my leg to my knee or thigh. As soon as the dog jumps up and the front paws touch me, I say “Uh-uh,” turn my head, and then pull the food up to my chest. I do not move my feet. I wait until the dog puts his front paws back down on the floor and then re-engage in play and food work.
I eventually move this into super excited play and teasing the dog to jump on me. I will slap my legs, speak in high pitch tones, take big steps towards and away from the puppy, and only reward when my dog sits… without a command. Basically, I’m cueing the dog to sit on a non verbal command. I am almost making my excited movements into a physical cue to sit, and then rewarding that heavily. This typically works to get rid of jumping within the 8-16 week old range.
Positive punishment example
After this point, I will be more willing to institute a few corrections using positive punishment. Positive punishment is when we ADD (positive) an unpleasant feeling in order to establish punishment to make the preceding behavior less likely to continue in the future.
There are a lot of ways to do this. One is to have a leash on your dog. If you have introduced a slip lead or a flat collar or even a pinch collar, you can use it for this behavior. When the dog jumps up on you, say “No,” and give a pop correction on the leash away from you. It doesn’t have to be a one time fix. Don’t ruin your relationship with your puppy by yanking them away from you while they are trying to play with you. A gentle pop should suffice if you can be consistent over time.
You can also use other aversives but I’m less comfortable doing that. Some people use spray bottles, loud noises, rattle cans, air blasts… I’m not a fan of these things. Spray bottles end up getting your house all wet, loud noises correct everyone and everything in your house at the same time, and air blasts are just inconvenient and unnecessary.
I’d stick to the first two examples, which are good and play based, and then the leash option if the behavior continues.
If you’re continuing to have trouble, hire a trainer!
