The keys to altering this kind of behavior are to divide the process into small steps that make it easy for your dog to do the right thing and to use an effective means of preventing your dog from jumping. The goal is to teach your dog to voluntarily stop jumping up. The first step is to teach her to respond to commands. Using rewards like food and attention, most dogs can quickly be taught to obey. The next step is to practice commands like sit, down, or stay near the door, but without visitors. Give lots of praise, petting, and food treats for prompt obedience. Once she’s mastered that step, start having family members/friends be practice visitors. Have her sit near the door while a family member/friend goes outside, knocks, then enters like a visitor. As long as she remains sitting, continue with praise and occasional treats. Practice this several times in a row each day until your dog readily stays sitting while someone enters the house.

   If you find that she keeps getting up when someone enters, use a leash and collar to help her obey. One of the best collars for this purpose is a Gentle Leader. It fits like a halter and gives you much greater control over your dog’s head than a regular flat collar. It’s also more effective and more humane than a choke chain or prong collar. The Gentle Leader collar has two flat nylon loops, one that fits around the neck like a regular collar and a second that fits over the bridge of the nose and around the mouth. The leash is attached underneath the dog’s jaw, so when you pull on the leash the dog feels pressure on the back of the head. Since dogs tend to pull against where they feel pressure, pulling up and forward on the leash causes your dog to pull backward and stay sitting. Gentle Leader collars are available from the Animal Humane Society and also from many local veterinarians.

   The final stage is to work with real visitors. By now your dog should be used to the routine of sitting when someone comes in the door, since she’ll know that obeying the command will lead to a great pay-off of attention and treats. If she does get too excited, use the Gentle Leader collar and leash to prevent her from jumping up. As long as she remains sitting, praise her and have the visitor approach to give her a treat and pet as well.

   With some dogs you can use a simpler approach. Dogs are very social and thrive on attention. If you give your dog any attention (including talking to her or even just looking at her) when she jumps, he’s likely to continue trying. On the other hand, if you completely ignore your dog by not looking at her or even turning your back whenever she jumps up, then she may quickly lose interest and stop trying. If there is no pay-off in the form of a response from you, then your dog may decide that jumping up doesn’t work so there’s no reason to keep doing it.