How To Stop Your Whippet Jumping Up

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The Whippet is a small, athletic, lean hound dog from England that is known for its love of running and exercise.

This fast, agile dog, descending from its larger cousin, the Greyhound, excels in sports like agility, racing, lure coursing, dock diving, as well as fly-ball.

Moreover, Whippets also make wonderful family pets, being affectionate, gentle, and friendly companions.

However, Whippets are known to always be in action, and they are indeed big jumpers. This ranges from jumping at their owner for attention or in excitement, and at visitors.

In short, the best way how to stop your whippet jumping up is to ignore him completely when he does it and show no reaction. this way, he will learn that jumping up will not get him any desired attention and he will stop the behaviour.

If your whippet jumps up at visitors, command him to ‘sit’ or ‘lie down’. Then reward him if he listens. If this doesn’t work for your dog and he won’t obey, make sure to keep him on a leash around new people, and have a spray bottle of water around.

Whenever he jumps up, spray him once with the water from the spray bottle. If this is repeated each time your whippet jumps, it will alarm him, and as a result, he will stop jumping, because he will link jumping to being sprayed and see it as a negative experience.

If you are considering getting a Whippet, in this article you can find out not only why whippets like to jump, but also what can be done to stop this behaviour.

Let’s get to it…

Why Do Whippets Like To Jump Up At Their Owner?

Whippets like to jump up at their owner for a number of reasons. These are some of the most common reasons why your Whippet may jump up at you:

  • They are excited to see you
  • As a way of greeting you
  • They want attention and to be noticed
  • They want to go outside
  • They want to play
  • They are hungry and want food
  • To try and establish their rank over you
  • They have a lot of pent-up energy.

The high energy levels of the Whippet will compel him to do things like running, climbing, and jumping.

Exercising your Whippet on a regular basis may help in reducing the desire to jump due to their bursting energy.

Why Jumping Up Is A Bad Behaviour

Jumping up can become a very problematic behaviour when it gets out of control.

This is especially true if your Whippet keeps jumping up at guests and visitors, as this could scare, or even potentially hurt small children or people that have disabilities.

Your Whippet could knock the child or person over by jumping up at them. The dog could even accidentally get his claw tangled in the lining of the person’s clothes and rip it.

If their top is of a thin material, your Whippet’s claw could even accidentally scrape them.

Jumping is also bad behaviour because often dogs instinctively jump on others to assert dominance. This can come off as the fact that your dog is badly trained, unsettled, and out of control.

You might find that you are not even able to have anyone come to your house without your dog being all over them, jumping, and not letting them sit down.

Steps To Stop Your Whippet Jumping Up

There is a bunch of tried and tested methods to stop your Whippet jumping up and to teach him to remain calm and composed when guests knock at your front door.

One good way is to completely ignore the dog, and ask the guests to do the same. The point is that your Whippet will realize jumping up will not bring him any attention or notice.

However, this doesn’t always work, because your Whippet may just be very excited at the new visitors and wants to greet them and play with them.

Or it could also mean they are asserting height and dominance, which is a bad behaviour in dogs that could soon become completely unmanageable.

To stop your Whippet jumping up:

  1. Keep your dog on a leash so that you can prevent them from directly launching themselves on the person you are seeing
  2. Keep a spray bottle filled with water on hand
  3. When your dog tries to jump up, spray them with the water
  4. The dog will be surprised and may become startled. As a result, they will stop jumping
  5. When they jump again, do the same thing and spray them with the water
  6. When they calm down and stay on the ground, reward them with a treat.

Soon your Whippet will learn that jumping up will equal getting sprayed, so they will stop this behaviour.

The reward that they receive also compels them to keep up this good behaviour, as they know they will get a yummy treat if they remain calm around new people.

As well as that, each time you spray your dog you can add the command, ‘Get down’!

Now you can use this command every time you want your dog to stop jumping, as they will associate these words with remaining on the ground.

If you want to try something else, other steps you could take to stop your Whippet jumping up include the following:

  1. Order your dog or bribe them with a treat to go to their bed if they begin jumping up at visitors
  2. When they obey and do as they are told, reward them with a treat
  3. If they get up again, order them to go back to bed
  4. Now every time someone knocks at your door and your dogs gets in a frenzy and begins to jump up, order them to go to their bed
  5. If they lie down and remain calm without jumping and lunging, praise them and give them a treat.

This is a part of positive reinforcement training, a form of training where the dog will know that if it behaves well and do as you ask of them, they will get a prize in return.

It can be a very effective way of teaching your dog acceptable and unacceptable commands, new tricks, and a variety of skills.

Other Considerations

Whippets are intelligent dogs, and most likely good training will teach them how to behave well around other people.

However, other things to consider are that these dogs can not only jump a lot up at people and their owner, but they can also jump over walls and garden fences with ease.

This may poise a problem, because it could lead to your dog escaping the yard and getting lost or even injured.

If you fear this may happen to your Whippet, especially when you have just got him, ensure you supervise him for the first few weeks while he is outside.

Sometimes you may need to invest in a high net to put up around your yard which is taller than 5 feet. This is because whippets can jump as high as 5 feet, so a net higher than that will prevent them from getting across.

Alternatively, you could install a PVC pipe along the top of your fencing, which is another good way of making sure your dog does not escape.

In addition to their high energy and physical exercise requirements, Whippets also have a high prey drive, meaning they tend to chase smaller animals such as cats or squirrels.

However, they may even chase after cars, even if you are taking them out for a walk, which can be very dangerous for them.

If your Whippet is prone to this sort of behaviour, make sure you keep him on a leash in town or public areas where there is traffic or other potential threats.

Final Thoughts

As a final thought, Whippets are indeed a breed that jump a lot, and this may really seem like a problem to any new owner.

They do it for many reasons, including as attention seeking, in excitement, or because they want something.

Nevertheless, there are ways to combat jumping. This can be through training and taking steps to teach your dog what behaviour is appropriate and what is inappropriate.

As well as that, remember that your Whippet will surely need a lot of exercise, at least for an hour every day, preferably split up into smaller sessions throughout.

This will make sure the Whippet does not have excess energy and does not get bored, which will make him want to jump up to burn that energy off, and to entertain themselves.

You could even practice sports with him, like agility for instance, which does include jumping over obstacles. This could be one fun way to exercise your Whippet.

A good idea is to install obstacles such as hurdles or high wall fences in your yard, which your Whippet will love to jump up over.

At the end of the day, a Whippet will prove to be a perfect companion for you and the whole family, as long as you remember to give him the love and care he truly deserves.

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