You have one of those dogs. A happy, happy, dog that loves everyone and wants to show it wildly. He can’t help himself, he needs to jump up with excitedness on every person her meets. You’re at wits end -trying everything from holding him on leash till he calms down, which could take a half hour, putting him outside or putting him in his crate. But those exercises do nothing to train your pup out of the bad jumping habit.
Using the leash is at least a step in the right direction. But to train effectively, you need to step on the leash with your heel – any other part of your foot and he will yank the leash right out from under you, especially if you have a big dog. The leash should have a foot of slack in it, between your foot and his collar/harness, so that when he tries to jump, he will be able to get a foot off the ground but that’s it. So when he jumps, he won’t be able to stand on your guests, as the leash will tighten and bring him back to the ground.
Here comes the tricky part. Have a person that your pup usually gets jumpy crazy over and have him stand just out of range of your pup when he jumps. You should be stocked full of high-value treats. When your dog attempts to jump you say nothing but wait until he resigns from trying to jump and either sits or lays down. The moment he does, say “yes! Sit!” or “yes! Down!” depending on what he does and give him a treat. Then wait for him to try and get to your guest again by jumping. The moment he resigns and sits or lays down, repeat by marking the good behavior with a “yes!” and either “sit!” or “down!”.
Continue waiting until your pup tries to jump and then rinse and repeat. At some point, he will just sit or lay down. At that point, have your guest entice your dog to jump some more – it shouldn’t take much – like say “who’s a good boy!” followed by slapping your hand on your knee. That should get him up and jumping again, and when he does, repeat the mark and treat exercise as noted above.
It could take a half-hour or just 10 minutes, but continue to perform this exercise until you can take your foot off the leash and have him not get jumpy again. If he gets jumpy again with your foot off the leash, just stand on the leash again and continue the exercise until you feel he’s done jumping and try seeing if he’s good with your foot off the leash. Rinse and repeat. Good Luck!
