Why does my dog jump up at visitors?

The really simple and honest answer is because you have taught him to!

Think about it, when your dog arrived at your hose for the first time, and we will start with an 8 or 10 week old puppy, you gave your puppy a lot of attention and a lot of stimulation.

Everyone who visited your hose also gave your puppy a lot of attention, usually at the front door and this can be a cause of over stimulation that can make a dog start to jump up.

Probably not so much when they are very young, more usually as they get to four and five months old, and of course the jumping up generates more attention because you are telling them off for doing it.

When your dog jumps up at you, do you respond with an instruction to get down> If you do, your dog is getting attention for the very thing you don’t want, so your dog does more of it.

When was the last time your dog heard its name for doing nothing?

Probably never!

Your dog has quickly learned that unwanted behaviour gets far more attention than doing nothing, jumping up is one of the most common forms of unwanted behaviour.

So what to do? Stop greeting your dog at the front door, all this does is perpetuate your dogs belief that every person who comes through that door will generate and reward stimulation so your dog will continue to jump up.

Walk past your dog into another room and say hello there, and try and be a bit calmer, you will be amazed at how quickly your dog learns that calmer is better.

Dogs are just mirrors of their environment and the people with whom they live, yes, we create a lot of the unwanted behaviours ourselves, which means we have to change our behaviour in order for our dogs to change theirs.

If we continue to react to the behaviours we don’t want, our dogs won’t have a reason to change.

Treats and toys can have an effect but are not usually able to create the permanent changes you desire for a happy and calm life with your dog!

Attention usually has the highest value, although for some people this can be too difficult to control and then other rewards can have some affect in terms of changes.