Jumping Up

Jumping up is almost always a social behavior. Your dog is trying to get closer to your face — to greet you, to get your attention, to access the source of affection. It worked once, probably when they were a cute puppy, and so they kept doing it. Now they're sixty pounds and it's less cute.

Why it persists:

Because it keeps working. Any attention given to a jumping dog — including pushing them down, saying "no," or making eye contact — is attention. Dogs will repeat behaviors that earn attention, even negative attention.

What to do:

• When your dog jumps: remove all attention entirely. Turn your back, cross your arms, look away. Say nothing. The moment all four paws hit the floor, turn around and give calm, warm attention.

• Never push the dog down, knee them in the chest, or step on their hind feet. These are aversive, can injure the dog, and teach nothing useful.

• Ask for an incompatible behavior — a dog cannot jump and sit at the same time. If your dog knows "sit," ask for it when they approach you. Reward the sit heavily. Over time, sitting for greetings becomes the reflex.

• Be consistent. Every single person who interacts with your dog must respond the same way. One person who lets the jumping continue will undo everyone else's work.

• Warn visitors in advance. Ask them to turn away and ignore your dog until four paws are on the floor. Give them treats to reward the calm greeting.
  

Leash Pulling

Dogs pull because pulling works — it gets them to the smell, the dog, the fire hydrant, the blade of grass they absolutely need to investigate. The leash has never once communicated to them "pulling is how you go slower." That's a lesson that has to be deliberately taught.

What to do:

• The moment the leash goes taut, stop walking. Say nothing. Wait. When your dog releases the pressure — turning back toward you, offering eye contact, simply creating slack — mark the moment ("yes!") and begin walking again.

• Alternatively: when the leash goes taut, turn and walk in the opposite direction (about-face). The pulling no longer gets the dog where they want to go.

• Reward heavily for checking in — every time your dog glances back at you on a walk, mark it and treat it. You are building the reflex of attention toward you during walks.

• Use a front-clip harness, which reduces pulling without pain by redirecting the dog's momentum toward you when they pull forward. A head halter (such as a Gentle Leader or Halti) is also effective for strong pullers, but requires an introduction period so the dog accepts it comfortably.

• Practice "loose leash walking" as a dedicated training session in low-distraction environments before attempting it in high-distraction environments. You cannot teach loose leash walking effectively in front of a busy dog park.

• Give your dog scheduled sniff time where the rules are relaxed (a snifari) — a chance to explore and smell freely, on a long line or in a safe area. A dog whose sniff needs are met is easier to walk on leash.

Counter-Surfing

Counter-surfing is the dog's ability to identify that the kitchen counter contains amazing things, and their understandable determination to access those things. Once a dog has successfully surfed a counter even once and found food, the behavior is powerfully reinforced — because intermittent reinforcement (rewards that don't come every time) creates stronger, more persistent behavior than consistent rewards do.

What to do:

• The primary approach is management. Never leave food, food wrappers, or anything with a food smell on accessible surfaces when your dog is unsupervised. A dog who can never access food from the counter has no reinforcement for trying.

• When you're in the kitchen, use a baby gate, tether, or the "place" or "mat" cue to keep your dog out of the kitchen or on their designated spot while you cook.

• If you catch your dog sniffing or starting to surface: calmly redirect them to their mat and reward them for going. Don't scold — that tells them nothing about what you want.

• Train "leave it" and "off" as solid, fluent cues (see our Basic Obedience page). A strong "leave it" gives you a way to interrupt the behavior before it completes.

Destructive Chewing

Chewing is a normal, healthy, necessary dog behavior. Puppies chew because they're teething and because chewing helps them explore the world. Adult dogs chew because it's enriching, stress-relieving, and deeply satisfying. The behavior isn't the problem. Where and what they chew is.

What to do:

• Management first: puppy-proof and dog-proof your space. Items your dog should not chew should not be accessible when they are unsupervised. Crates, exercise pens, and baby gates are your allies here.

• Provide an abundance of appropriate chew outlets: bully sticks, raw bones, antlers, Kongs stuffed with frozen food, rope toys, rubber chew toys. A dog who has excellent chewing options available is less motivated to chew your furniture.

• If you catch your dog chewing something inappropriate, calmly redirect them to an appropriate chew and praise them for engaging with it.

• If your dog is chewing primarily when left alone and showing other signs of anxiety, re-read our Separation Anxiety and Stress & Anxiety pages — destructive chewing is often a symptom of a larger emotional issue.

Demand Barking

Demand barking — the insistent, often maddening bark that says "pay attention to me," "give me that," or "throw the ball again" — is another behavior that persists entirely because it works. At some point, the dog barked, and the person responded. Now the dog knows that barking is the on-switch.

What to do:

• Stop responding to demand barking entirely. This is harder than it sounds, because the behavior will temporarily get worse before it gets better — this is called an extinction burst. Stay the course.

• Do not look at, speak to, or touch your dog when they are demand barking. Any attention feeds the behavior.

• The moment your dog stops barking and is quiet — even for two seconds — mark it ("yes!") and reward. You are rewarding the quiet, not the bark.

• Build duration on the quiet: first reward two seconds of quiet, then five, then ten, then thirty. You are teaching your dog that quiet is how attention happens.

• Ensure your dog's needs are being met proactively — a dog who is demand barking for attention, play, or exercise may genuinely need more of those things. Meeting the underlying need reduces the motivation for the barking.
  

Begging at the Table

Begging is a natural result of proximity and intermittent reinforcement. If a dog has ever received food from the table — even once — they have learned that sitting near humans eating sometimes produces food. Intermittent reinforcement, as noted above, is the most powerful kind.

What to do:

• The simplest approach: give your dog a designated spot (their mat or bed) and teach them to settle there during mealtimes. Reward them for staying in their place with high-value treats while you eat. You are teaching that settling away from the table is what produces food, not begging near it.

• Alternatively: remove your dog from the dining area during meals. A baby gate or exercise pen is not punishment — it's management.

• Never feed your dog from the table, even once. Every time food is given from the table, the behavior is reinforced. Everyone in the household must agree on this consistently.
  

Door Dashing

Door dashing — bolting out of an open door before you can stop them — is one of the more dangerous unwanted behaviors, because the outside of your front door contains cars, other dogs, strange people, and every other hazard an unsecured dog can encounter. This one is worth training carefully.

What to do:

• Teach a solid "wait" at the door. Practice: approach the door, ask for "wait," open the door a crack, reward your dog for remaining in place. Gradually increase the opening. Over many sessions, your dog learns that the door opening is a cue to hold rather than to bolt.

• Teach "sit" at the door as a prerequisite to going out — the dog must be sitting before the door opens. This gives them a job and builds the habit of pausing at threshold.

• In the meantime, use management: a tether, a second door or gate inside the entry, or a leash put on before the outer door opens.

• Never practice "come" as a recall from a dash in the street — if your dog is loose, your voice may not be enough. Prevention is far more reliable than recall in a dangerous moment.