Why does my dog jump on me when I sit down?

If your dog has been jumping on you when you sit down, you might be wondering why and what you can do about it. This post will show you a number of common causes and what you can do about them.

So, why does my dog jump on me when I sit down? Possible reasons why your dog jumps on you when you sit down are that it knows it will result in it getting extra attention, you have rewarded the behavior, it wants something from you, boredom or a lack of training.

There are a number of reasons why your dog might have been doing it but there are some things you can consider when figuring out the main reason. There are also a number of things you can do about it.

Why your dog jumps on you when you sit down

Below are a number of reasons why it might be doing it and what would make them more likely.

It wants attention

The reason why it does it could be that it is trying to get attention from you. This would be more likely to be the reason if you tend to give it more attention when it does it and if it tends to do it more when you give it attention.

To prevent this, it would help to give it attention when it is behaving the way you want it to. But, it would also help to avoid rewarding it with attention when it jumps up by not letting it jump up and ignoring it until it calms down.

The behavior has been encouraged

It could also be the case that you have encouraged your dog to jump on you by giving it things it wants when it does it. If you give it things such as extra attention, toys or treats when it jumps then it will likely do it more in order to get more rewards.

Instead, it would help to give it rewards when it is behaving the way you want it to and to avoid rewarding it when it misbehaves.

It wants something from you

The reason why it does it might be that it wants something from you. This would be more likely if it tends to do it more at around a certain time such as when you would normally feed it or give it exercise.

Boredom

The cause could be that it is bored and it is looking for a way to stimulate itself or to get you to give it exercise. This would be more likely if it tends to do it more when it has not already gotten exercise and if it tends to calm down after getting exercise.

Not enough training

If you have not given your dog much training, it will likely behave the way that it feels like behaving. The way that it feels like behaving is unlikely to be the way that you would like it to behave. This is why it is important to give it lots of positive reinforcement training by starting with the basics and building up from there.

Dominance

Many people jump to the conclusion that their dogs do it because they are trying to be dominant. However, the alpha/beta dynamic has been disproven in studies showing that wolves take turns in taking the lead.

With that being said, it could be doing it due to bullying behavior which would be more likely if it tries to get you to move and if it shows signs of aggression when doing it. In this case, it would help to avoid giving it reasons to feel threatened and to get it to learn to behave the way you want it to with training programs such as NLIF (“Nothing in Life is Free) dog training.

Things to consider

Below are some things you can consider when figuring out the main reason why your dog has been doing it.

What else happened when your dog first started jumping on you when you sat down

If your dog did not always jump up at you when you sat down, it would help to consider what else happened when it first started doing it. If your dog started doing it suddenly, it would be more likely to be due to things such as it learning that it gets rewards when it does it, suddenly giving it less attention or if you started getting very emotional around it causing it to become very reactive.

What is different when it does it

It would also help to consider whether or not there is a certain time that it tends to do it more since the timing might have something to do with it.

For example, if it does it more when you have not been giving it much attention, in a while, it would be more likely that it is trying to get attention from you.

What to do about your dog jumping on you when you sit down

Below are some options you have when getting your dog to stop doing it.

Avoid rewarding the behavior

As mentioned above, it might be the case that you have been encouraging your dog to jump up at you by giving it things it wants when it does it. Instead, it would help to reward it when it does not jump up at you, to stop giving it attention when it does it and to wait for it to stop before giving it any attention. It would also help to try to redirect its focus on to something else when it seems likely that it is about to start jumping on you.

Train it to sit elsewhere

Positive reinforcement training is where you get your dog to behave the way you want it to by rewarding it when it shows signs of behaving that way and avoiding rewarding it when it does not.

To use it to get it to stop sitting in your spot you could reward it when it does not sit in your spot and train it to sit somewhere else as shown in this post.

Ensure that it is getting sufficient exercise

It would also help to ensure that it has been getting the right amount of exercise for its age and breed so that it is less likely to look for ways to stimulate itself.