Jumping = Dominince

Okay so I was at the dog park today and was making my way in when this woman asked if she can pet Duke. I said sure but warned her that he sometimes jumps up. He doesnt usually do this with strangers but I still give the warning. So anyways her responce to that was he wont jump on me, he knows better. Firstly he's never meet this woman before. Then she goes on to say well he jumps because he is trying to dominant the person. Ive heard alot but Ive never heard that a dog jumping on people is dominance. To me its just my dog being rude about greeting people. Especially people he knows really well. I didnt even respond to what she was saying I just started to walk away.

If Im the one whos wrong then let me know but never in my live have I heard this before.

Jumping can be any number of things. It can be dominance, it can be that it's fun and he doesn't know better, it can be stress relief.

Eh, sounds like more dominance-theory dribble. I'd say that 99% of the time, jumping up is not dominance. It's just a dog who hasn't learned proper people-greeting etiquette.

Generally, that's bunk, though I've heard it before. Jumping could mean dominance, but usually it means stress relief, doesn't know better, poor self-control, overstimulated, or any number of other things that make one tend to bounce.

The jumping=dominance thing is just another one of those "I don't like the behavior, so my dog must be dominant" pieces of crap that are so in with pop pyschology training . . . its the the belief that if you dog is doing something unwanted, it must be willful defiance, or an attempt to wrest control from you, as opposed to . . . well, any number of more likely possibilities.

I agree. I think the only time jumping is dominance is possibly with other dogs (though even then only about 50% of the time), or when they jump and grab you with their front legs, like they're about to hump. And even then it's not always dominance, could still just be ignorance about proper greetings, or hormones.

In fact, sometimes jumping is submissive. Most of the time when a dog licks your face he's being submissive, and sometimes when they jump they're just trying to lick your face.

Or he's wondering if you really swallowed that last piece of cheeseburger.

Jumping from dominance generally involves a lot of body language and posturing.

My sister had a big dog named Toby-- he was a really messed up pup. He was mistreated, In my opinion. Anyway, he did that. He jumped up on people, with lots of posturing, just to get higher than them-- to dominate them. He went as far as to attack one of the people he jumped on one day.

*Edited to add*
Before anybody mis-understands the meaning behind my reply:
I don't believe that dogs do that primarily in the name of Social standing. I hear that all the time. Toby is the only dog I've ever seen in my life that did that, although just about every dog I know wants to jump on you Usually because they're trained to (whether it was intentional or not), Stress relief (as above mentioned) or just plain psychotic happiness

LOL! That's got my vote for most likely reason to jump

It depends on the breed, too. Terriers jump. That's what they do. It's part of the Frenzied Terriers' Creed, part of their spiritual quest. JRTs are the High Priests/Priestesses of Jumping. They will do it repeatedly, in a state of euphoric trance, for long periods of time without surcease in their neverending quest for entitlement . . . and to check and see if you really did swallow that last piece of cheeseburger.

No I dont think so...
Uh! My MIL would give mary a treat everytime she got home so Mary got into the habbit of jumping on her..She would always get ticked off when she wouldnt stop jumping but still give her the treat...
I was like HELLLLLLOOOOOOOOOO! Dont you realize youre rewarding her?!?!
She doesnt listen though...she still gives her treats to this day for jumping on her.

No matter what the reason (and i think it is bunk too) your right about it being a young dog's untrained behavior. Now Victor will try to stand over a person (if they are sitting down on the ground) and i know he is declaring them as his, i won't let him do it. THat's bad manners too and it would let him get a bigger ego then he already has. I had a terrible time with him jumping, pepper too, I always put them in a sit stay when people approach and if i feel them start to jump i back them up and sit again until they remained sitting. Pepper is doing a thousand times better but she still has to get in the lick, not as bad as before, but we are working on it. No one needs a head shooting up to their lips and a tongue bath. SHE is learning to shake a greeting instead.