Because golden retrievers are friendly and a very people focused breed, this makes them very enthusiastic about looking, licking, kissing and jumping onto people. This usually isn’t motivated by aggressive or dominant behavior, but instead it is part of their friendly temperament. First you will need to identify the causes that motivate your golden retriever to jump onto people, only them you can tackle this behavior and effectively stop golden retriever jumping.

Identify the Causes for you Golden Retriever to Jump
One the most common reasons for dogs to jump on their owners and family is because they are happy to see you, or happy with something else they wish to share. Its a form of welcoming greeting dogs love to give and take part in, however a greeting of this kind can be problematic in some situations, if your dog jumps on a young child or senior visiting, it can cause some injuries.

While other dogs jump because they are happy, bored or trying to show dominance over any stranger entering their territory, golden retrievers jump for the most part out of happiness, greeting, excitement, boredom or lack of attention. Some dogs jump as a way to obtain the attention they require, this is particular to breeds like golden retrievers and others of a kind, puppies require more attention and discipline than adult dogs, when the attention your dog receives decreases, it increases the chances he will do something to have your attention, being jumping one of them.

How to Stop Golden Retriever Jumping
Stopping a golden retriever from jumping onto to people can be challenging, be patient and keep consistent through the training your provide him.

Depending on which reasons motivate your dog, you will have to act accordingly, for example, if your dog is jumping because his bored, preventing him from being bored in the future is the easiest approach available. If your dog jumping was motivated by him feeling neglected, then providing him with more attention will help thwart this behavior in the future.

However if you have read other articles I’ve wrote on this site, you are probably wondering if this will not enhance the behavior itself, by enticing him to repeat the jumping whenever he wants attention or is bored since on this view it worked so well in the past as the means to have what he wanted, of course it will, that’s why these measures mentioned before are only to be engaged as a preventive measure, something to do before or long after jumping occurs, when jumping is occurring then things are different and must address differently of course.

While you’re training your dog, make sure nobody plays games where the dog is allowed to jump, it will also probably be best to restrain yourself and others from teaching or practicing anything that encourages your dog to jump or place pawns on people, because this will encourage jumping behaviors and would surely counter your efforts to stop golden retriever jumping.

When training your dog to deal with this behavior, depending on how well your dog already responds to your commands, you might consider using a leash if he isn’t too responsive to you yet, or if you already tried without a leash and had a tremendous failure in training this, however if you never used the leash for other training exercises, using it might actually be counterproductive.

You can practice entrances with your dog, when people come over to your home, have him sit right next to you when you open the door. If you notice he’s about to jump onto your guests, you can stand on the way between him and your guest, and quietly say to him “No”. There is no need to yell, doing so will only add excitement to an already exciting situation for most dogs, specially a golden retriever.

If you have chosen to leash your dog as suggested earlier, then you should realize the leash is to be used as a way of interrupting any unwanted frame of mind or thoughts your dog might have, be sure the leash doesn’t become a ticket into a tug of war, where the dogs is dragging you towards the guests, and you are doing the exact opposite.

Timing is important in this matter, if you’re hauling back when you dog is already jumping, then you will both end up in a tug of war, this won’t help of course, as the dog will only become more excited about doing it and will keep on doing it until you defuse the situation.

Besides engaging in a tug of war, there another two common mistakes, one is yelling at your dog and the other is confusing voice commands, these mistakes are very counter productive when your trying to stop golden retriever jumping. Voice commands should be clearly given with a sound and calm voice, otherwise your dog might misinterpret them for something else and become confused, which can sometimes make things worst. Then we have confusing voice commands, words used in commands should be simple and distinct, usually no more than two words by command, and if possible keep only to one word. For example, people who have this behavioral problem with their dogs, when the dog is jumping, owners often say or yell “down”, this word can be confusing if the dog already knows another command like for instance “lie down”, although they are similar, a dog will not guess what exactly you want of them, and will most like be confused with it and won’t perform either command.

Another useful thing to do is training your guests, therefore whenever a guest arrives, he shouldn’t pay attention, talk to, talk about or even look at the dog, until he has settle down for a few minutes, then when the dog is more relaxed and calm, people can then interact with him.

While you are still during the training stage to stop golden retriever jumping, crating your dog when unprepared or fragile guests are present is advised, when more sturdy and calm guests are present, you can use their present to help during the training process.

Guests shouldn’t react excitedly to the dog’s jumping, doing so will confirm the behavior and motive to dog to keep on doing it, try having your guest not minding the jumping as much possible.

With all this taken into account you should be well on your way on how to stop your golden retriever from jumping onto people, as always, be patient, calm and enjoy your times with your golden.