The short answer
Jumping is an excited, friendly behaviour, not a dominance problem, and it sticks around because it works: it gets attention. The fix is to flip that. Teach the dog that four paws on the floor, ideally a sit, is what earns greetings, treats, and fuss, while jumping earns nothing at all. When the dog jumps, remove the reward by turning away and giving zero eye contact, words, or touch until the paws are down, then immediately reward the calm. Practise calm greetings at the door, keep treats handy, and ask every visitor to follow the same rule, because a dog that learns jumping works on some people will keep trying it. Reward-based and consistent beats yelling or kneeing the dog, which can scare or hurt it and rarely teaches the lesson you want.
Why dogs jump up
Jumping up is almost always a greeting. Dogs naturally want to get to our faces, the way they greet each other, and as puppies they learn that launching at us gets a big reaction: we look down, talk to them, maybe pick them up. It is excitement and friendliness, not an attempt to dominate anyone, despite the old myths. The behaviour persists into adulthood simply because it keeps being rewarded with the thing the dog wants, which is our attention.
That is actually good news, because it tells you exactly how to fix it. If attention is the reward that keeps jumping alive, then removing attention for jumping and pouring it on for calm, grounded behaviour will shift the dog over time. You are not punishing a bad dog, you are changing which behaviour pays.
Teach a better way to say hello
Dogs find it much easier to stop a behaviour when they have a clear alternative to do instead, so give the dog a job for greetings. A sit is perfect, because a sitting dog cannot jump. Practise asking for a sit and rewarding it generously in calm moments first, then start asking for it in greeting situations. The goal is for sit-to-greet to become the dog's default way of saying hello, because that is what earns the attention it is looking for.
Reward heavily at first. Every time the dog keeps four paws on the floor or offers a sit when it wants to greet, mark it and pay it with treats, praise, and the fuss it craves. You are teaching a simple rule: calm gets you everything, jumping gets you nothing. A reliable sit is one of the most useful cues a dog can have, and it doubles as your greeting tool here.
Remove the reward when the dog jumps
The flip side of rewarding calm is making jumping completely unrewarding. The instant the dog's paws leave the floor, remove your attention: turn your body away, look up and away, stay quiet, and keep your hands to yourself. No eye contact, no words, no touch, not even a no, because to an excited dog any of those can read as the attention it was after. The moment the paws come back down, turn back and reward the calm.
Timing and consistency make or break this. The dog needs the jump to predictably switch off your attention and four-on-the-floor to switch it back on. Done a handful of times in a row, most dogs start to test keeping their feet down because that is what works. If the dog is too wound up to think, stepping behind a baby gate or briefly leaving the room resets the excitement so you can try again.
Get the whole household and your visitors on board
This is where most jumping training falls apart. If you ignore jumping but your partner pets the dog mid-leap and your friend says it is fine, the dog learns that jumping works on some people, so it keeps gambling. For the rule to stick, everyone the dog greets has to follow the same script: no attention for jumping, attention and rewards for four on the floor.
Set visitors up to help rather than hoping they will guess right. Keep a jar of treats by the door, and as someone arrives, ask the dog for a sit and have the guest greet only when the dog is calm. If the dog is still learning, having it on a leash or behind a gate during arrivals prevents the rehearsal of jumping while you coach. A few managed greetings teach far more than a dozen chaotic ones.
The doorway routine
The front door is the hardest place because arrivals are the most exciting moment in a dog's day, so give it a predictable routine. Before you open the door, ask for a sit. If the dog breaks it and jumps, the greeting pauses and you reset. The visitor stays boring and hands-off until the dog has four paws down or is sitting, and only then does the fuss begin. You are teaching that the door opening and people coming in is a cue to plant the bum, not to launch.
Practise this when the stakes are low, not just with real guests. Have a family member step out and ring the bell, run the routine, reward the calm, and repeat. Like all training, short frequent reps in easy conditions build the habit that holds up when a genuinely exciting visitor shows up. Be patient through the excited dog's slip-ups, keep the rule consistent, and the calm greeting becomes the new normal.
Further reading: the American Kennel Club training library, AVSAB on reward-based training.
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