jumping for joy: how to teach your dog to say hello in a respectful way

Written By Elysa Hellermann

Many dogs love to jump up on people! They’re excited to meet new friends and jumping is often their way of wanting to interact with us. However, it’s not always safe to have our dogs jumping up on people. So here is a tried and true way to help teach our pups to greet people with all paws on the ground!

The treat scatter method is my favorite way to help teach our dogs to not jump up on people. This method redirects their energy in a productive manner AND rewards them for having all four paws on the ground. Management techniques like this are essential in helping our dogs not jump because anything you do after they’ve jumped up rewards the jumping. Our dogs think “if I jump up the people will interact with me!”  You also want to avoid punishment when our dogs jump up as it doesn’t teach them what to do and we don’t want to create a negative association with people and visitors. 

Items needed: 
-High-value treats 

Here’s how to teach this method: 

  1. When your dog approaches you, quickly scatter treats on the floor. This will redirect your dog downward and since dogs can't jump and sniff the ground at the same time it will keep there focus downward. When doing this make sure to use high value treats (I like to use shredded cheese!) 

  2. Keep repeating until the dog approaches you in a calmer manner. You can then hand the dog treats or ask the dog to “sit”. 

  3. The goal: To shift their focus from jumping up to sniffing and enjoying the treats on the ground. 

Tips: 

  1. Keep a jar of treats in your entryways!  When you or guests come in the treats are right there and can be tossed. 

  2. If your dog is more toy motivated than keep some fun toys in the entryway so yourself or guests can offer your dog a toy. 

  3. Over time your dog will learn “paws on the ground =positive attention” and will be in a place where you can teach them skills like sit, place, stay, or for a fun twist to bring your guests a toy! 

  4. BE CONSISTENT! It can be hard to learn new habits! But by being consistent your dog can unlearn old habits and learn new ones! Practice makes perfect! 

  5. If your dog doesn’t care about the treats try upping the value of the treats or adding a squeaky toy to the exercise. 

Have fun!

Elysa Hellermann