To stop a dog jumping up, practise a manageable greeting with a familiar adult helper.
Choose today's contact plan
Jumping alone cannot identify a cause. Skip practice for worrying or unmanageable contact, grabbing or biting; seek qualified help. Discuss recent changes with your vet.
Dogs Trust allows separation from visitors. Contact is optional. Practise somewhere quiet with an adult your dog is comfortable around.
Agree who handles the rewards, who approaches and how either person will stop the attempt. Tell your helper the plan before they arrive. An unexpected visitor need not become today's training partner.
Practise an easier approach
Have the helper approach gradually while your dog keeps four paws down or offers an already-learned alternative. Reward that response before continuing the approach.
If your dog cannot respond or take the reward, increase helper distance.
If jumping continues, have the helper retreat or end practice.
RSPCA Australia rewards standing or sitting rather than jumping. Avoid pushing, kneeing, shouting or pulling the dog down.
Keep the result specific: note the helper's position and whether your dog remained paws-down, needed more distance or stopped participating. That gives you an actual starting arrangement for the next attempt.
Add arrival, greeting and an ending
For a doorway greeting, Battersea starts with the arrival sound before entry. Rehearse that sound at a manageable level before adding the helper entering.
If it breaks, have the helper move back and simplify.
When the approach is manageable, permit a brief, voluntary greeting; the dog can decline contact.
Have the helper move away after that interaction, then reward your dog away from them. End there instead of allowing repeated following and restarting.
Once that sequence works, gradually change the helper or setting; return to easier practice when needed.
Write down which part changed: the sound, entry, approach or contact. If the approach worked but entry did not, plan the next practice around entry rather than marking the whole greeting as learned. Record ending the session as an outcome too.
Keep separate tasks separate
A bed cue has its own progression in our dog-bed introduction guide. Our toy-carrying greeting guide considers spontaneous approaches with an object; carrying one does not automatically offer it for you to take.
If you use a pouch, compare openings and access in the training reward pouches category. A listing does not decide which food suits your dog.
