Train it in rehearsal with fake arrivals — not in the moment.
Most dogs who jump on guests know how to sit. The problem isn't the absence of the skill — it's that the skill has never been trained in the specific context of a guest arriving. The door opening, the new person entering, the arousal spike of an arrival — all of these create a state where trained behaviours become unavailable because they've never been practised in that specific emotional state.
Owners usually try to manage this in the moment: asking the guest to turn away, putting the dog away before guests arrive, holding the collar as guests come in. These all manage the symptom but don't build the skill. The dog never learns how to behave at the door because they've never practised it under arrival conditions.
The fix is rehearsal training: practise fake arrivals when there are no guests and the pressure is low. You step outside, ring the bell, come back in. You build the greeting protocol when it doesn't matter, so it's available when it does.
Before involving guests, teach your dog what you want them to do at greetings: sit, four-on-floor, or go to mat — pick one and build it to fluency separately from the door context. This is prerequisite work. The dog needs to have the behaviour reliably in calm settings before the arrival context is introduced.
Set up 10–15 fake arrival reps per session. Go outside, knock or ring the bell, come back in. Cue the greeting behaviour before the arousal peaks. Reward heavily. Your dog will quickly learn the pattern: door = arrival = greeting position = reward. Vary the pace, the time between knocks, who comes in. The goal is that the greeting protocol becomes automatic at the first signal of arrival.
Brief real guests before they come in: tell them to wait if the dog is jumping and only interact once four paws are on the floor. For the first several visits, keep a leash on your dog as guests arrive so you can prevent the jump and cue the greeting position. Over 3–4 weeks of consistent practice with multiple people, the pattern generalises. The most common failure is expecting guests to manage the protocol — the handler needs to be running it.
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