What Command Do You Give When Your Dog Jumps? “Down” or “Off”?

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A short while back I wrote an article about 6 common dog training mistakes.  However, after observing people with their dogs over the past few days I’ve uncovered a few new common mistakes dog handlers often commit.  The first being: what command to give when your dog  jumps up on people.

Just the other day I was at the Veterinarians office for Stetson to check on his skin allergy and for annual vaccinations.  While I was at the Vets office I watched a lady with a large Golden Retriever who jumped up on the counter, on the lady, and on the benches.

After training Apache, working with Reggie and Varrick (all Golden Retrievers) I know first hand that Golden Retrievers will sometimes jump up on people even after extensive training. However, the thing that caught my attention was what this young lady was saying to her dog.

What Command Do You Give When Your Dog Jumps?

If you’ve been following us on Facebook then you’ve probably seen some pictures of Toby an 8 week old yellow Labrador Retriever who we are puppy sitting for a little while.  He’s a great puppy, but one thing we have noticed is that he likes to jump up on people and things.  While this may be cute when he is a little puppy it will be no fun when he becomes an 80 pound dog so we’d like to nip this one in the bud from the very beginning.

How do we stop a puppy from jumping on people?  Fairly simple we give a small downward correction on his leash while simultaneously saying the command “Off”.  Another simple trick is to just take all the slack out of the leash and stand on it.  When your pup stops jumping give lots of praise.

Back to the story about our visit to the Vets office.  Every time the lady pulled or pushed her dog off she would say “Down”.  I hear lots of people say “Down” to their puppies and dogs in this situation.  However, if you use “Down” as the command to tell your dog to lie down then it is incorrect to also use it when you want your dog to get off of a person or object.  The proper command would be “Off”.

This is a very common mistake I see many people make during puppy training.  I have to admit that I made this mistake in the past and will from time to time inadvertently make the mistake even today.  I can see why we as humans make the mistake.  In our minds we understand that “down” has multiple meanings:

1. Lie Down
2. Get Down (Off)

However, our dogs do not know that it has multiple meanings so when we associate the word “down” with to lie down and then try to also associate “down” with get down (off) we are confusing our dogs.  That is why it’s a good idea to use separate commands.  Therefore if you need a little chart:

• “Down” = Lie Down
• “Off” = Get Down (Off)

I hope that all makes sense if not just ping me in the comment section below.

So that brings me back to you? Do you have problems at all with your dog  jumping up on people? What command do you give when your dog jumps? “Down” or “Off” or some other command we haven’t heard of yet? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

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