Dear Critter Corner:
We have recently started to have more guests coming over to the house and our pup is jumping on them. He is very well behaved with us and doesn’t jump when we come home, but is overly excited with the guest. What can we do to teach our pup to not jump on our guests?
This is a common problem many households are starting to face as COVID restrictions are lifting and we are starting to invite more guest into our homes. Most of our pups have not had guests in their homes for the past year or so and if you have a puppy, they probably have never had guests over. For most of our pup’s having company over is very exciting and they want to greet the person and many have a hard time controlling that excitement. We also tend to forget that our pups don’t generalize behavior very well and if we want them to perform in any environment or with any distraction we need to train in those environments or with those distractions. This of course applies to guests coming into our home or even those that we meet on the street.
I recommend that you start with your pup on a leash so that you are able to have better control of your pup around the guest, this will also prevent a lot of running around and jumping at different angles. When the guest comes in, you will ask your pup for a sit and encourage your guest to give chest or chin scratches. If your pup gets up or tries to jump, correct the behavior by asking for the sit. Repeat this several times until the pup gets the idea and calms down. Keep in mind you will need to practice this with many different guests until you see that your pup is getting the idea.
If you are still having problems or would like some extra help, you can schedule a 1:1 Consultation with one of our behaviorists or call our Behavior Hotline.