Any time a pup goes running up to us and jumps on us, we believe, "She really likes me, she is so happy to see me!" We feel very special and chosen and adored.
And who doesn't buzz to look at puppies jumping and leaping about in play? They are so carefree, so full of the happiness of life.
These are generally the reasons we need young puppies in our lives, to bring us that enthusiasm, that admiration of the daily things we take for granted.
Still clearly, 51 percent of our e-newsletter study participants has had more than enough of their young puppies' jumping on them.
Generally, when jumping up on individuals is a continual issue for a puppy, it will likely continue to be problematical as she grows mature and larger.
"A German shepherd pup jumping on you may seem cute," says Thinschmidt German shepherd breeder Diana Foster, "but a 120-pound German shepherd pup might in fact knock you right down and injure you.
" Puppyhood is the most beneficial time to nip this behavior in the bud.
Seeing as pups' most powerful skill is their sense of smell, and because their main goal during the 1st eight months of existence is to investigate and learn about every thing in their new world, they will naturally choose to check out and smell every person that comes inside their environment.
Being humans, the most powerful scents we project comes from our more private areas and from our mouths.
We've almost all had the experience of a less-than-well-mannered pup sniffing our crotch areas - although within the pup world, sniffing private parts is good manners! Young puppies need to stand up on his or her hind legs and set their paws on a person in order to become close to those areas.
Since we all choose to conceal our genital areas with clothing, the next strongest scent for a pet dog to check out is coming from our mouths.
Young puppies and smaller pups will want to jump up to get nearer to our faces and find out what's going on in that location.
It's a challenge for people not to see a puppy jumping on them as an "I love you," or even a "hug.
" The truth is, occasionally new puppies are just anxious, and they have discovered that if they hop up on the person, the human will pick them up and bring them towards them and calm them down.
A good deal of people state, "Well, as soon as I pick the dog up, he calms down.
" However, this is a Band-Aid solution.
The behavior you want to remove-stopping the puppy jumping-is not gone.
It's merely set on pause.
Whenever you stop a puppy and pick her up in the midst of a anxious moment, you are never allowing her to develop the important life skills of understanding to calm herself down, on the ground.
As always, I recommend that deterrence is the best medicine.
You can avoid a puppy jumping up problem from day one with your new pup, by employing the simpleness of the no touch, no speak, no eye contact guideline whenever you first greet your puppy.
This will send a calming signal and can help a puppy to be focused on her nose.
Her nose can keep her on the ground, and her eyes and ears will respond in a different way.
Chris and Johanna Komives took the prevention route with Eliza their puppy starting from day one, and the final results have paid off.
"We do not give love when she's jumping on us.
We hold out till she's sitting (or better, goes to her room), before acknowledging her whenever we get back from work.
"