The dog jumps under the influence of strong emotions. It happens when he is happy to see you and when he seeks support in a situation that caused him great anxiety. To stop your dog from jumping on you, you can try to ignore him so he doesn’t feel right, or try to distract him.
What will you learn from this article:
- the dog can jump on his guardian both when he feels joy and fear
- when the dog jumps, try to ignore him
- you can try to distract the dog when he starts jumping
My dog is jumping on me
End of walk on a very rainy and muddy day. You go home, and then in one second, your pooch jumps on you, leaving stamps from his dirty paws on your clothes. I think you know this situation well from everyday life with a pet. Unfortunately, I also know it.
In these situations, I wondered why my dog was jumping on me. At that time, I did not know the reason for this behaviour. However, it cannot be denied that it was very frustrating for me. Each such situation required subsequent washing.
At one point, I even had a suspicion that my pooch would choose to jump on me on days when the weather outside made him wet or dirty. Therefore, after a few such unpleasant situations, I decided to unlearn my pet this behaviour. I hope my tips will help you deal with this problem as well.
Why is my dog jumping on me
There may be several reasons your dog jumps on you. Therefore, if you want to deal with this problem, you should be aware of all eventualities. In such a situation, both positive and negative emotions can speak through your pooch.
– the dog is jumping out of joy
Very often, the reason your pet jumps on you is his joy. This way, the doggy wants to express his immense excitement that he is experiencing at the moment.
Your pooch realizes that by jumping at you, he is sure to get attention. This is what he cares about the most. It is especially common to observe this behaviour in your dog when you meet after your absence, even if it only lasted a few hours.
The doggy jumps at you with joy to see you again. I think you know this behaviour in your pet when you come home and he greets you from the doorstep. In such a situation, a symptom of your pet’s satisfaction is very often just jumping on you.
– the dog jumps because of fear
As I mentioned before, your pet may jump at you because of his fearful feelings. We can very often notice this behaviour in dogs suffering from separation anxiety. When the guardian returns home, the pooch is trying to express his emotions by jumping on him, mixing joy with fear and anxiety.
If you want to know more about separation anxiety in dogs, please refer to my other article on this blog. This is a very serious problem, so if you suspect that it may be related to your four-legged friend, be sure to learn more about it. I hope that in my post you will find all the answers on this matter.
– the dog jumps due to a feeling of insecurity
Your dog, feeling very badly in the situation in which he is in, may at all costs seek support from you in order to feel safe. I find that my dog reacts this way when he gets very scared of something. Jumping on me, he hopes that I will take him in my arms and that he will be able to feel safe.
My pooch is quite small and taking him in my arms is not a big problem for me. However, with large dogs, this behaviour is not easy to handle. A doggy jumping at you will not experience what he is looking for, which in this situation may further aggravate his stress.
That’s why it’s so important to learn to respond appropriately when your dog is jumping at you. Otherwise, you may unconsciously build up a sense of insecurity.
How to unlearn a dog to jump at me
You already know what might make your dog jump at you. As you can see, there can be many reasons for this behaviour in a dog. On this basis, it will be more effective for you to control the behaviour of your four-legged friend.
– ignore the behaviour of the dog when trying to jump at you
If you see that your pooch is about to jump on you, try to ignore him until he decides to let go. What I mean here is avoiding eye contact, which is essential in communicating with your dog, but not only that. Don’t talk to your pooch, even if you make commands to control him.
Dogs, through their behaviour, want to trigger a specific action in you. Lack of reaction on your part will signal to your four-legged friend that his behaviour does not lead to the achievement of his goal.
I am well aware that it can be very difficult for you to ignore your pet in this situation. It was also a difficult task for me. However, it is the consistency of your actions that is the basis for inducing a change in your dog’s behaviour.
If you let him do something one day and not allow him the next, he will feel confused. He will not understand what your behaviour stems from and will look for its reasons in himself. So if you choose to ignore your dog when he jumps on you, remember that the first thing you need to do is stick to your decision if it is to work.
– distracting the dog
You know in what situations your pooch most often jumps at you. Therefore, as soon as you sense that your pet is going to jump at you, try to distract him. How can you do that? For example, trying to interest him with a toy that he cannot pass by indifferently.
In the case of my pooch, toys with a rustling insert work great. The sound they emit almost immediately draws the attention of my pooch and then the pet focuses his interest on the toy. The urge to jump on me ceases to be attractive at this point.
Dog toy |BAX
What do I not recommend you to use treats as a form of distraction for your four-legged friend? When training new skills, I use treats as a form of reward for my pooch. So if I gave him a treat in such a situation, my pooch might misunderstand it.
His mind might take it just as a reward for a given behaviour. This way, jumping at me would become something for which he gets his favourite treat, so he does the right thing and gets my approval for it.
– change your position to confuse the dog
If you want to avoid your pooch jumping on you, you can crouch down to be on the same level as him. The doggy will be a little confused by your behaviour. Additionally, he won’t have to jump on you, as he’ll be on the same level.
This is a method that works best when your pet has a tendency to jump at you as a hello. Knowing this, the moment you see him very excited about your meeting, greet him by crouching in front of him.
Jumping the dog at his guardian
You have every right to be unhappy with your pooch jumping at you. Remember, however, that he does this for a reason. It is almost always that he is influenced by enormous emotions, both positive and negative. Therefore, in such a situation, look a little more indulgent at your pooch and think about why he acted this way.
Does your pooch often jump on you? How do you deal with this situation?
If you have any questions for me, want me to bring up a topic in the next post, share it with me in the comments section.
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