Stop Your Pomeranian Puppy From Jumping Up

You have a beautiful Pomeranian puppy – a tiny little ball of fluff. He’s cute and snuggly and adorable, but every time he sees your or a guest he runs over and jumps up on you (or them) clambering for attention. Now while a Pom doesn’t weight much and you may hardly even feel him jumping, this certainly is not “good behaviour”. But how to get him to stop? The main reason you're likely to have a problem with your Pomeranian puppy jumping up is that you actively encourage it yourself!

Sure, admit it, you get a warm fuzzy feeling when your new Pom excitedly jumps up and makes a fuss of you, doesn't you?

And what do you do in return? That's right, you make a fuss of him right back, don't you?

Unfortunately, the signal you give to your fluffy furry Pomeranian puppy by doing this is that he's pleasing you and winning your approval. This is, of course, just what he is looking for so you won’t be surprised when I tell you that this reaction only reinforces the behavior of jumping up.

So How Do You Stop Your Pomeranian Puppy From Jumping?

Your first reaction might be to push him down, but pushing him isn't an answer, because he'll see this as a game. Remember, play fighting is a part of a puppy's natural instinct and learning process.

Shouting at your little pomeranian isn't an answer either because he interprets that as getting attention, which is just what he wants. Plus it’s sooo hard to yell at a fluffy puppy, isn’t it?

What you really need to be doing to break the jumping up habit of your little Pomeranian is the exact opposite of what you actually are doing.

That's right. Ignore your puppy. Completely ignore him. Pay him no attention whatsoever. Yes, I know it's hard but it's the only way you'll ultimately break this antisocial habit.

Ignoring him means no verbal interaction (don't talk to him) and no touching. Turn your back on him and pretend he isn’t even there.

If your puppy jumps at your from behind, take a step away from him. If he comes around the front of you, turn your back on him again.

Don’t acknowledge him at all while he is jumping up on you. Not even a little bit. Nada. Zilch. Nothing.

Once he gets down on all fours and stops jumping at you it’s your chance to make a fuss over your little Pom puppy. Get down to his level – or as close as humanly possible anyway and make pet him and tell him what a good boy he is. You can even give him a treat to let him know how pleased you are with his behavior. In other words, reward your Pomeranian for doing what you want him to do, and give him nothing he can construe as a reward when he's doing what you DON'T want him to do.

So, to sum up, you want him to understand that four feet on the ground is what will get your attention, two feet on you will not.

It's also important to make sure that any visitors to your house also understand this drill.

It may seem an impossible task now, but if you're consistent with the above exercise, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your Pomeranian puppy gets the message that remaining on the floor is what will get attention.