People use the “down” command for different things. To me, the word “down” is used to make a dog lie down and only lie down, not to be confused with trying to stop a dog from jumping up on my leg.

Quite often when I see someone’s dog jump on their leg they tell the dog “down”. But really they just want the dog to not jump on them. To me this isn’t good for the dog who you have been trying to teach to lie down using the command “down” because you have been teaching your dog to lie down flat on his stomach when you say “down”.

When I teach the “down” command to my pup I put a collar and leash on them. I get my foot up by their neck, over the leash, and say “down” while pushing them down using my foot on the leash. When they go to the ground I say “good pup” and lean over and pet them. After a few times of this, if done right, they will start laying down when you say “down”. Then you have to make sure that when you tell them “down”, they lay down.

For the dog that jumps up on you, use the “NO” command. This is what I do to keep a dog from jumping on me or someone else. When they’re a puppy I teach them that when I say “NO” they cannot do whatever they’re doing. When they try to jump on me I say “NO” and stop them either by stepping on their back foot when they jump at me or else I knee them in the chest and say “NO” at the same time.

After a few times when my puppy tries to jump on me or someone else, I say “NO” and they don’t jump, or if they’re starting to jump, they stop.

I feel a lot of people have difficulty telling others that their dog is in training and they’re not allowed to jump up on people. You have to be up front with people and tell them the dog is in training and not to encourage him to jump up (which a lot of people like to do, especially with puppies). Otherwise your pup is going to become confused – like why can he jump on some people and not on others!

Doing some of the things mentioned above will help your pup understand they’re not allowed to jump on anyone, that the word “NO” means stop doing whatever it is they’re doing and that the word “down” only means to lie down.

For more on these training techniques such as how and when to use the word “NO”, keep checking my recent posts. You can also drop me a line or better yet, order my dog obedience training video.

Thanks a lot and good luck,