Rottweiler Jumping Behavior

Many Rottweiler owners think that their puppy jumping up is cute, but with Rottweilers growing to be often over 90 to 100 pounds or more, you do not want to encourage such behavior. As an ambassador of the breed, it is in your best interest to have an adult Rottweiler that does not jump on everybody he encounters. Many people feel intimidated by a large jumping dog that cannot contain his excitement and feels compelled to greet everybody this way. Not to mention, the upset created by making people’s clothes dirty after Dante’s romp in the muddy yard!

You can start early to teach your young puppy not to jump by simply turning your back and withdrawing all the attention when the puppy is jumping.  Like bite inhibition, this method is based on negative punishment, you are removing your attention from your Rottweiler when he’s acting in an undesirable way. If your Rottweiler puppy still attempts to jump on your back, leave the room. Your puppy should soon catch on that his jumping behavior makes people turn away and even leave the room!

As always, we often tell dogs not to do, but they also need to know what to do instead. You and all your family should strictly abide to the basic rule that puppy gets pet only when all four feet are on the floor. Make sure you tell your visitors to do the same upon meeting your puppy. This is the biggest challenge: most people feel compelled to give attention to a dog while it is actively jumping. “Hello!” followed by lots of pats will encourage jumping through positive reinforcement.  The pup jumps up and gets all the nice attention. Behaviors that are positively reinforced, continue and put roots, so expect to see more and more jumping behaviors in the future. It’s not a bad idea to tell your guests to act pretty boring when entering the home.  If they act too exciting this may elicit jumping behaviors as to a dog’s eyes it’s as if the people are asking to be jumped on and greeted. Yes, you can add excitement into the mix eventually as your puppy learns more impulse control, but for the first tries, better help him succeed by keeping your guests calm and quiet.

Once upon a time, dog jumping up was thought to be an act of dominance, but more knowledge on dog behavior, reveals that dogs jump simply in an attempt to say hello and lick their owner’s faces. It starts as an innocent behavior during puppy hood, but persists into adulthood if allowed to flourish. Your Rottweiler therefore is likely simply trying to get closer to your face and say hello, (of course, if he’s barking and growling while jumping he’s likely not saying hello, consult with a professional if that’s the case!) but this is one of those behaviors frowned upon and highly discouraged. Best to nip dog jumping in the bud during puppy hood before it gets more persistent and difficult to eradicate!

 

→Did you know? Dogs tend to chain behaviors together. So if your dog jumps on you and then you tell him to sit and reward the sit, you may be teaching your dog to jump first and then sit. Not good! To break this behavior chain, prevent your dog from jumping in the first place or refrain from rewarding all those jumps followed by sits.