The Golden Retriever is adored by many for his wonderfully friendly personality. But sometimes that eagerness for human attention comes in the form of jumping, and that’s not pleasant. Or maybe your Golden is ball-crazy and jumps on you to get his favorite toy. And of course food can be a reason your Golden bounces all over you, too.
Whatever the cause, jumping up is not something any Golden Retriever owner wants. Luckily, it is fairly easy to fix once you understand why your dog does it in the first place. The following is how to teach your Golden Retriever to stop jumping on people.
Why Your Golden Jumps On People
Dogs are opportunistic creatures. This means that if they can do something to get what they want, they will. For example, your Golden may have learned that he can get attention by jumping up on you. This usually starts when they are a small puppy, and that adorable fluff ball put its front paws on you and you can’t resist, so you pet him. Your puppy just learned that putting his two front paws on you gets him what he wants, and he will do it more in the future.
Unless your Golden Retriever is jumping on people out of fear or aggression (in which case you should seek a professional dog trainer for help), he is doing it because it gets him what he wants – attention, a toy, food, etc. The good news is that this makes it easy to stop the behavior. All you have to do is make sure your Golden is not being rewarded for it. Then, give him another behavior to do instead that is rewarded. Problem solved.
3 Steps To Getting Your Golden Retriever To Not Jump On People
#1 – Stop Rewarding the Jumping
Every time your Golden jumps on someone, that person needs to ignore him completely. The best thing to do is turn around and walk away. Even if they shout “down,” “no,” and/or push him away, negative attention is still attention. The trick is that every single person, 100 percent of the time, needs to do this. One person saying,“Oh, I don’t mind” and then giving your dog what he wants will make the behavior stronger. So insist upon your rules.
#2 – Ask for a Conflicting Behavior
Most people ask for a “sit.” Your Golden can’t sit and jump up at the same time. There are two ways to do this: wait for your dog to offer a sit, or give the cue “sit” and then reward her when she responds. The reward should be whatever your Golden was jumping on you for in the first place – petting, a toy, a treat, even his food dish! Anything your Golden Retriever normally jumps up on you for, she now only gets if she is sitting.
If your Golden has hip issues, opt for a calm and still “four on the floor.” You will wait until your Golden is standing quietly, and then reward. This takes some training and patience, but it will work because, as mentioned above, dogs repeat behaviors that get them what they want. For some really excited young Goldens, you may find a “down” works better than a sit because it’s harder for them to “spring up” from a down position.
#3 – Management
This is the last piece of the puzzle and it’s what you have to do while your Golden Retriever is learning to sit for things, which won’t happen overnight. Strength can be an issue if you are working with an adult Golden, so keeping him on a leash can help. It’s also a useful tool for when you meet that pesky person that lets, or even encourages, your Golden to jump, or you are in a situation that is just too exciting for him to remember his manners. In these cases, you need to manage the behavior. If your Golden is dragging a leash, you can walk him away, step on it to prevent him from jumping, and/or put him in a different room to calm down. Once calm, bring him back out and try the introductions again.
