6 Simple Ways To Stop Your Border Collie From Jumping on People?

It’s quite an embarrassing and annoying situation when your dog keeps jumping and pawing guests, and that can also lead to nipping and biting if your Border Collie is not trained to be obedient. As an owner it is your responsibility to teach your BC that jumping on people is a bad behavior and unacceptable.

First step to correct this problem is to identify the exact behaviors that lead your Border Collie to jump in over-excitement. The moment your dog start wagging his tail and panting goes excessive and heavier, those are the signs that indicate his excitement and willingness to play. However, different dogs have different ways of expressing their excitement, for example my BC starts with sprinting in and out of the room, and then she starts running in circles, and then she ends up jumping all over me.

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These early signs are important moments and perfect to train your Border Collie that this is not the right way to behave. The moment your dog starts jumping and sprinting, try to calm him/her down by saying “Down” or “Settle” in firm tone. Initially it will take time for him to learn the command, but after consistent training your dog will learn it. When you successfully calm him down, praise or may be reward him with his favorite treat to teach that being calm and not jumping will earn him treat.

Reason Why Your Border Collie Jumps on You and Your Guests

It’s all their excitement and willingness to express their love and emotion that they really miss you when you’re not home. Just like any other BC owner, you also must have experienced that when you come back home after long day at work, your BC jumps up and start licking your face. They do that in over-enthusiasm to show they are so happy to see you back home.

Sometime when you were not even out for too long, your dog will sit at the door, ears going up and down, and tail wagging left and right. They do that because they wait for you to open the door and as soon as they sense you are close to the door, they start jumping.

Some owners like this behavior and some don’t, but I personally love my dog jumping all over me when I’m home, because to me it’s their unconditional love and emotion they express that you don’t get from other pets. Sometimes not even your family members, but it’s your dog that welcomes you at the door as if it has been so many years since he last saw you. They do that every single time when you go out and comes back home even if you’ve been gone out for 10 minutes, 10 hours or 10 days, their love for you will not change one bit.

Jumping on me is fine, but why on guests?

So, it’s absolutely alright when your dog jumps on you, because he misses you. However what sense does it make when he jumps on other people or strangers that never met before? So what could be reason behind this strange behavior?

Most of the time they jump on your guests and friends at home out of excitement and willingness to greet them, because they relate them to you and eager to get closer to smell them and express their love that they are happy to see them. Border collies are always ready to play whoever comes in front of them, so they could well be asking your guests that “Can we play?” by jumping up on them.

Jumping doesn’t really bother most dogs loving people, but some of them may find it annoying. Therefore, you must train your dog to learn that greeting guests and strangers by jumping is not the right way to behave, and if you don’t teach, you’re encouraging him and he may continue to think that it’s okay to do so.

So How Can You Stop Your Border Collie’s Jumping Habit?

Even after consistent training and different ways you have tried but still your BC persist with jumping, then given below tips can help you correct this behavior problem:

Completely ignore and avoid your dog when you come home. As soon as he starts jumping to get your attention, avoid eye contact and ignore anything he does. Keep ignoring him until he calms down. Jumping is a way for them to get your attention and when you strictly yell at him to stop; he gets your attention, which surely won’t help you to correct this behavior. However, when you ignore him, it gives him the clear signal that jumping is not working to get his owner’s attention. With time and consistent practice your dog will forget jumping whenever you come back home.

Ask other family members, kids and your guests to help you by ignoring your dog when they come home and he starts jumping on them. It will help your dog learn faster that jumping is not the way to get attention from people. However, as an owner you have to be consistent with this training and make sure you’re not complacent; otherwise it will take longer for your dog to learn.

Sit and stay training helps a lot if you’re correcting his jumping habit. Get him to sit and stay and when he sits down calmly, immediately reward and praise him. That will help your dog learn that sitting calmly would earn him rewards, and jumping won’t work anymore.

All owners are emotionally attached with their dogs and when they leave or come back home they hug and cuddle their dogs with long hellos and goodbyes, which makes your dog excited and more anxious, and then they end up jumping all over you. Therefore, avoid making it such a big event every time you go out or come back home.