How To Stop A Dog From Jumping Up On Strangers? (Tips &Tricks)

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73% of dog owners have used some training method for their dogs. But the remaining 27% of dog owners still struggle to control their dogs outdoors.

Many dogs get over excited and start jumping on strangers who are passing by or approaching the dog. But there are ways to train your dog in a way it stops jumping on strangers.

You can use basic approaches like taking control, warning people from afar, teaching new responses, and introducing consequences. These approaches can help you stop your dog from jumping on strangers.

According to a study, many dog owners are happy with their dog’s behavior after performing these techniques. 

So, let’s make that happen for you and your dog by getting into the details. Shall we?

How Can You Stop Your Dog From Jumping On Strangers?

The most important reason for your dog to jump on strangers is to either say hello or to protect their owner from the stranger. The second case occurs if the dog has gone through any trauma in the past.

Also, You may not believe this, but your posture and behavior affect your dog’s behavior in many ways. So to know how changing your approaches can help you stop your dog from jumping on strangers, I have shared a few tips below.

Step 1:  Control The Situation With Prevention Techniques!

Dogs usually jump on people when they get excited seeing a new person. The best way to prevent your dog from jumping on a stranger is not to let it drag you where the dog wants. 

You are already half-failed if you let your dog drag you as you let the dog control the situation. You need to ensure your dog’s over-excitement is not sabotaging your will.

If your dog starts jumping on people, distract the dog and grab its attention. And reward the dog for paying attention and keeping eye contact with you.

This way, the dog will obey you whenever you try to grab its attention, and the situation will be managed temporarily.

Step 2:  Instruct Strangers In Advance

At the time of your dog’s initial training, don’t let strangers get close to your dog immediately. The reason is that your dog might not react as you want it to. 

It might sound rude to people if you tell them not to get closer or pull your dog’s leash back; it’s needful to do so. 

Once your dog is halfway trained, and you are confident about your dog, you can inform the person it’s going to jump on in advance from a safe distance. This results in that person being aware of your dog‘s intentions and can prepare themselves.

Step 3: Choose A Quiet Place To Teach A New Response

You can use many tricks to teach a new response method to the dog. But the most effective trick is ‘The target and treat method’ (also called the hand target method). 

Many canine trainers and experts recommend it. This technique works every time because treats constantly distract dogs.

To teach this trick, put your hand directly in front of your dog’s face to teach him to touch his nose to it and offer a treat. After that, let the dog follow this trick from a  distance. 

Once you are confident with your dog, you can use this trick when you and your dog are outdoors, and people are passing by closely.

Step 4: Include Consequences

Including consequences in training can result in your dog obeying you the next time. Dogs feel saddened by the thought that their owner is ignoring or not interacting with them. 

In this trick, you have to take away emotional rewards from your dog, like taking a step away, turning back on the dog, or leaving the dog alone in a room by exiting.

So, whenever your dog jumps on strangers, you can challenge your dog with consequences to stop him beforehand. 

Step 5: Bring Your Jump-Free Act On The Road

After all the politeness and disciplinary training, you’ll be confident enough to let your dog greet strangers. Also, you will be able to take your dog on walks without worrying about their behavior.

Once you feel that your dog is well-behaved and can be controlled by you, you can rest assured when out of your house and with visitors.

Why Does Your Dog Jump On Strangers?

• Generally, the main focus behind a dog jumping on strangers is to either greet them or to grab attention. 

• It might happen that you’ve accidentally taught your dog to jump when in a particular situation. That’s why even though your dog is doing the same thing he did when he was a pup.

• When a dog is small and cute, dog owners often encourage wrong behavior traits because they find it adorable. This mistake leads to the dog getting used to behaving like that and following it throughout life.

Do’s & Don’ts To Stop A Dog From Jumping Up On Strangers

Here are the difference mentioned below:

Things You Should Not Do:

• Pulling the dog from behind can make them feel restricted and opposed. It results in the dog thinking of rebellion, and it does the exact opposite of what you are stopping it from doing.

• Ignoring the dog to an extent may end up bad. Some dogs are persistent in chasing things they are obsessed with.  The dog will continue to jump until he gets a response and can become frustrated.

• Kicking or hitting the dog is never an option. Although you may think that might help stop the dog from jumping, it only makes the dog angry or scared of you. (and you don’t want your dog to feel that way, do you?)

Things You Can Do Instead:

• Control the situation when your dog starts jumping on strangers. Jumping makes dogs happy, and they think of it as self-rewarding. You can break this cycle by letting the dog know this behavior is not rewarding.

You can also keep your dog on a leash or a  no-pull harness when you are outdoors if your dog is stubborn and big in size. A leash will help you control your dog when it gets excited and jumps on strangers.

• A primary way many dog owners follow is by giving training sessions to the dog when it’s a pup. 

You can teach your dog to greet new people and house visitors in this training properly. Also, you can add treats in training as a reward for good behavior.

• Once your dog is trained to greet new people, you can begin to let your dog off the leash or a no-pull harness when taking him on a walk.

However, you might want to still be on a high alert when you are outside in case your dog’s good behavior relapses.

What to do when your dog Jumps on you in the door and when you’re sitting?

• Keep the greeting low-key.
• Ignore your dog and get out of the door.
• Stand up if your dog is jumping on your while you’re sitting.
• Keep ignoring your dog until all of his feet are on the ground when he is jumping on you while sitting.

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Wrapping up!

It can be a bummer and sometimes frustrating if you have a dog that jumps on strangers while walking. It may even become dangerous for people outdoors to be around your dog. 

Though,  you are now well aware of tactics to train your dog and control him if he jumps on strangers, which we’ve learned in this article.

If you face trouble while training your dog using the abovementioned techniques, we recommend getting professional help from a canine trainer. They might suggest and perform a more intense form of training.

On this note, I’m expecting that this article was helpful to you in many possible ways. 

Also, do not forget to share your thoughts about this topic in the comment section below.  Thank you for sticking to the end. 

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