One may believe that these cute short dogs can mean no harm when they jump on people or other animals, but in fact, this is annoying behavior, in some situations embarrassing, and in others dangerous. Like other inappropriate behaviors, such as biting, the sooner this is corrected, the better. In most cases, the puppy does not intend to do anything bad, and this is simply how he behaves. As well as all dogs, pugs may have not yet learned to control their agitation and excitement and therefore they can scratch, injure, or even tear down their owners when jumping on them all of a sudden.
Why do they jump on people?
Just like looking into all pug behavior problems, the most effective way to deal with it, pug jumping included, is to find out why he manifests this specific behavior. Once you understand why he’s doing it, you will be able to come up with solutions for each particular reason. It is a sign of excitement and joy. They are so excited to greet you when you get home that they don’t know how to prove it better. And they also know they are about to receive attention or food and you will caress them.
Jumping is a behavior in the gene of each quadruped. Jumping is also an act of welcoming, of getting to know each other. Dogs, when they meet, they smell their facial area to gather information about each other. In our case, the figure being at the upper extremity of the body, it is necessary to make a jump to get closer.
To a much lesser extent, jumping on people is also a gesture of dominance. Jumping on furniture can have the same intentions. If your pug is perched on the couch, he wants to emphasize that he is the leader. If we encourage this behavior by showing affection or giving him food and treats, pugs will take this for granted and will jump on us because they know they’ll get something in return.
Usually, this happens without us being aware of it, but in time it becomes a habit and their intention will be to be given something at all times (food, attention, treats, love, etc.). If this has turned into a bad habit and some may be offended by their particular reactions, you need to take appropriate actions and unlearn your pug of this improper behavior.
How to correct pug jumping
You may have gotten used to it, especially if you love dogs and don’t really mind them jumping on you, but others may regard it as a problem and think you did not do a good job training them. Therefore, here’s what you can do when your pug jumps on you or others:
Avoid showing him attention when you get back home
Turn your “back-home” moment into a normal thing, without too much consideration and attention from you, as your dog will be very happy anyway just to see he’s no longer alone. You can wait for 5 minutes to pet and caress him, when he has calmed down from his excitement, preferably when he’s sitting. Thus he will learn that agitation and implicitly jumping does not give him the attention he seeks.
Ignorance
When he jumps on you, he shows you that he wants to receive something (attention, something good to eat). If you anticipate his jump when it’s about to happen, you can take a step to the side, enough to miss you, so he’ll land on his feet. You should avoid eye contact during this movement. Even eye contact can be interpreted as a positive, encouraging gesture.
Also, don’t use any expressions, such as “NO”, or “DOWN”. Ignorance hurts him the most and so he learns that jumping on people is something bad, which does not bring him benefits. After he has calmed down, you can offer him rewards or pamper him. Usually, this method is proven to be very effective in correcting this kind of behavior.
Use commands like “Sit Down”
If your pug has already gone through training and is obedient, you can also use certain commands to get his habit of jumping out of reflex. “Sit down” is simple any dog should understand. A well-trained dog will execute it under any conditions.
Praise and reward him when’s behaving
If you see that he listens to your commands and doesn’t jump anymore, you need to make him aware that this is good behavior and give him treats.
Conclusion
Your pug might require a lot of attention and this is often conducive to developing habits like jumping, which is not essentially a bad thing, but it becomes to be considered an issue when it annoys everyone.
However, through proper training and persistence in your attempts to prevent your pug from jumping all the time he gets excited or manifests any sort of caprice, this behavior can be fixed and your dog will learn to behave properly.
