Jump Jive n’ Wail

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| Print | By | June 5, 2008 3:47 PM

Louie the 10-week old Golden Retriever puppy is in an oh-so-critical stage of puppy development. I’m not talking about the socialization period, although he’s smack-dab in the middle of that as well … I’m talking about the “learning not to jump on every human he meets” stage.

This is the age when the lifelong jumpy-greeting behavior begins … this sweet little puppy will soon be a 70-pound adult who will, if not taught otherwise, jump on and annoy every visitor that comes to his house.

Did I just say, “annoy”? Indeed, I did. You see, I can tolerate all sorts of canine misbehavior, but getting jumped on Makes. Me. Mental. It hurts. It’s rude canine behavior. And trust me, when I’m wearing shorts in the summer time and I get jumped on and scratched, I get grumpy.

You won’t like me when I’m grumpy.

The challenge in teaching dogs not to jump on visitors is that we don’t begin to work on it until the behavior is deeply entrenched. When a widdle baby puppy jumps up, most people reach down to pet it. “Ah ha!” the puppy thinks, “When I jump up I get attention! File that one away for future use!” Puppy jumps up often, and gets attention every time because he’s just so darn cute. The behavior continues until the pup starts getting bigger and the hops up for attention begin to get painful. Oh no, you think, it’s time to teach my dog not to jump on people.

Too late, friends, you’ve got a confirmed jumper on your hands.

I give the “Never Let Your Puppy Jump Up On You, EVER” speech to the new puppy parent I work with, but I catch most of them absent mindedly acknowledging their pups’ jumps for attention during the course of our lesson. I feel like the jumping police. “See! You’re doing it again! He’s jumping, you’re petting!” It’s obnoxious, but I’m trying to prove a point.

Louie’s jumping habit has already taken root, but it’s not too late for this little guy. That is, as long as he stays away from friendly strangers and boisterous buddies who say, “It’s ok, let him jump! I love puppies!”

(A note to those strangers and buddies: it’s not ok to encourage a dog to jump on you, it’s obnoxious. Don’t encourage it. Thank you.)