How to train your puppy not to jump when greeting?

[Jenny and Cooper]

Hi!  Our 17 week old Cooper is a great puppy, smart and was really easy to potty train.  The only thing wrong is he keeps jumping on people he meets!  We always have to pull him back really hard with the leash so he doesn't jump on our guest/friends.  We feel awful because sometimes he gets all choked up from the leash.  He gets super excited, but he doesn't bark (good thing). 

How can we train him to behave better?  Or is this something that will eventually go away when he gets older?  What can I do in the meantime? 

Thanks in advance for any advice!

[Tammy and Violet]

Violet is almost 3 and still does this .... :(((  .. I say.. off.....off.............and also ... when people come into my house... very ambarassing ...

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo just turned 2 and ithis has been our biggest obstacle. Her joy of greeting someone, overcomes knowing right from wrong. She fully understands " 4 on the floor" and I find if I remember to give her the command BEFORE she able to make the jump, it works 90% of the time.
All of this usually happens while we're out and about. I make her sit and I stand or kneel on her leash so she cannot make a jump. Then I allow the person, and it is usually a child....(Enzo's kryptonite! ) to approach.
I can fully attest..it is not something that will just go away.
If it happens in the house...the dog needs to be leashed and use the same method. Practice makes perfect!

[Tracey & Spike]

I think this is a problem we all have. We are still working on it and spike is over a year. However he is A LOT better. He tends to only go batshit crazy on his people friends.
I'll pass on what we were told in school. Keep him on a leash or long line when guests come. When they do calmly tell your dood to sit. Stand on the leash. Leave enough slack on it so your not forcing his head down. When he does jump.... Which he will. Immediatly give your correction whether it's an off or a down or whatever. When he jumps he will self correct himself. Do NOT let the visitor pet him until he is sitting or standing calmly. Or as calmly as can be without jumping :)
Another thing I found on my own is have something handy that spike can carry around. He LOVES his nylabone Dino's or his Petstages fake wood stick. Whenever we come home spike darts to find something... Anything.... To put in his mouth to greet us. When he does this he tends not to jump we just get the butt wiggles. So outside I make sure there is something handy that I can direct him to go get. He's so happy in showing off his toy he forgets to jump.

[Glenda & Lizzy Lu]

We had the same experience with Lizzy. Having a leash on her when you know someone is coming to the door and standing on it so she has to stay on all 4s and can not jump really works. We are at the point now where we can tell her down before she jumps she has more control. The leash thing really works.

[Butch and Michele]

Butcn is 9 months old and the jumping is a work in progress. Trainer told me loose leash walking and jumping were the most difficult challenges. I found leashing him around people and stepping on the leash was better for us. It was more of a self correction. If I held the leash he did exactly what you said, choked himself. What I have found works best for us is a spray bottle with just water. One quick spray and he redirects himself. 2 little kids came over the other day and he was beside himself but managed not to jump at all. Once his feet came off the ground and he looked at me from a distance like, yikes! He knew.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

step on the leash so he can't jump.

[Dexter Doodle]

Dexter just turned 10 months and this is our only big obstacle left. He usually won't jump, but falls to the ground and spins in circles like a nut offering his belly to strangers! He just loves people, but it makes him look much more hyper than he really is. If someone stops over that isn't really a dog person and isn't visiting for too long, I have him stay on place. I was hoping he would calm a bit with greetings as he matures.

Dexter's only other bad habit that I would like to break is licking. I don't expect people to enjoy his kisses and always correct him, but there are those people we run into that seem to love it and reinforce it. There are also times where he will just walk by and randomly lick someone's leg or foot when we have guests over. I have been trying the whole no reinforcement (good or bad) but it hasn't done much either!

Overall, I'm happy with Dexter's training. I will keep working on it and look forward to hearing suggestions too!

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle does the same thing, she is 9 months old. We are going to cover this in the next training class. It will be interesting to see how much she cooperates. I was working with her on training today when the grandkids were over. She loves to jump on them. She didn't even try with the training collar on. I was even using a loose leash. She just sat in place looking up at me with sad eyes as they were buzzing all around her. I was thinking, where is my dog because this isn't her. But as soon as the training collar came off she was back to her old jumping self.

[Jenny and Cooper]

You guys are so great here!  Thank you so much for the responses.  I will definitely try to remember to step on the leash.  I get so caught up on pulling him back that I didn't think about stepping on the leash!  He is so strong too!  I end up letting go because I don't want his head to come loose! lol.  Tracey, I like the chew toy/treat idea.  I might have to try that too. 

I guess I am not alone on this but I was hoping most of you would say, "oh, he'll calm down by the time he's 6 months old!" lol  Yikes, it can last for years! My husband won't be happy to hear that. :P

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I just read an article the other day talking about things our dogs do to tell us they love us.  One of the things it talked about was that the puppies Mother licks their face to let them know she loves them.  That translates into our dogs wanting to lick our face if they love us.  Because we are taller they have to jump up to lick our face ... However, we don't want them jumping.  Enter the problem.  I agree, this is very hard to break.  Practice Practice Practice is about the best solution.  Be it in public, on leash and lots of treats.  Butt on the ground before he gets petted and gets a great.  Or at the front door, put him on a leash, make him sit and you can also step on the leash with it short so he can't jump.  When he is good he gets a yummy treat.  Or, for the front door you can train place.  Pick a spot that he must go to when the door bell rings.  Practice ringing the door bell and telling him place.  Again, yummy yummy treats.  Doggy Dan trains ignore them when you come in until all is calm.  We have everyone at our house just walk straight in to the kitchen island and no one is to greet the dogs until they are calm.  It is still a little crazy when people arrive but it calms down quickly.

[Jenny and Cooper]

Thank you Lucy!  We are also trying to practice the "ignore" rule from Doggy Dan.  It seems to work pretty well within our family only.  When it comes to others, he jumps and gets super excited.  I like your idea of practice ringing the doorbell.  He just realized recently doorbell means someone is at the door so he gets all wild up when he hears it.  I will definitely have my kids keep ringing that doorbell this weekend!  Thank you! 

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

For Rip, it's the excitement that gets him to jump. We do the ignore upon reuniting, so he NEVER jumps on us, and expected guests I can warn to ignore him for a bit til he relaxes, but just yesterday we met a friendly neighbor in the street who he jumped on! At first he gave the cutest wiggle greeting (with ball in his mouth) but then the ball fell and proceeded to roll downhill. Poor boy couldn't run after it so I had him sit - then our neighbor gave him the sweetest, fun voice for his cuteness, and JUMP! That's all it took. It's like a play behavior, I think. Or if anyone has treats in their pockets, forget it! Rip is almost 12 months and it's easier when he is tired, but we are still consistently working! The people who don't mind tend to reinforce it, so I have to explain about his training and "please only pet for sitting." A friend's puppy jumps ALL over me and she hardly corrects him cause he is smallish. When their nails are long though, it really hurts! Good luck with Cooper, he is so cute!