Training 1yo not to jump up

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Hi! I have a 1yo cavalier who’s first instinct is to jump up on everybody he walks past or comes into our house. For months I’ve been telling him no, and holding him back on the lead/houseline when he does this. I tell him to sit as soon as the doorbell rings or I see someone approach, and he’ll do it as long as he can see I’m holding a treat. Two or three treats later he’ll decide the payoff of jumping up is better than the treats for sitting, and he’ll go back to pulling on his lead plus whining/barking to try to get to the guest. I’ve found that keeping him sitting at my feet (using the houseline) for twenty minutes or so can make it appear like he’s calmed down, but no matter how long the calm down period, as soon as I give him some slack on the lead he immediately pounces on my guest. This is even with my nanny and members of my family who come round regularly, so they know to ignore him unless he’s sitting.

I’m at my wits end with this! What do I need to do differently?

P.s. He’s a very friendly, loving little lad. There’s no aggression in his jumping, he’s just desperate to try to reach your face for a good lick! He knows better than to jump on me, but he jumps up on everyone else constantly. Obviously not everyone wants a dog all over them, and when my 5yo DD brings friends round I have to hold him on the lead constantly or put him outside (if I need to make food or something). I just want him to settle down, then we could all give him the attention he’s dying for!

P.p.s I work from home so he has company all day every day. He has a walk in the park opposite our house everyday as well. We’ve had him since a puppy and I will confess that while he was tiny and I was focused on house training I wasn’t as consistent as I should have been with training good manners. I’ve been focused, and consistent, on the jumping up for at least 6 months now though!

Have you taught him "down" yet? it's very useful and guests can use it to if he approaches them too exuberantly

I''d have him on the lead when guests arrive so you have complete control. Ask the guests to ignore him unless he's sitting nicely and then treat him. Once everyone is settled (people still in one spot are less stimulating then when they are all milling around taking off coats etc) let him off.

If he jumps up then straight back on the lead and ignore for a while before trying again. I'd treat him also for sitting nicely at your feet whilst on the lead. When he manages not to jump up loads of treats, praise and attention.

I have a 1.5yr old Cavalier - Not jumping up people has been the hardest part of his training. I think you need to break up the things you want him to do into seperate tasks initially.

Firstly teach both the wait command and to settle on the floor/in a dog bed, next to your feet (Kiko Pup on YouTube has good videos on both). Keep working on these.

Then, whilst working on the above, I would get a willing 'visitor' and scrap the houseline. Pick dog up when you answer door, so he can't run out. Once visitor is in the lounge, dog on floor. If dog jumps ignore. The second dog stops (or even pauses) loads of fuss and the second he starts jumping again ignore. I actually find my Cavalier responds quicker to being ignored if you make a point of turning away. Keep doing it over and over. Then when visitor leaves pick dog up again, so he can't run outside. Do this regularly and with as many willing 'visitors' you can get.

Once the jumping up has stopped in the above situation and you've separately got a good wait and settle command going. Then start to link it all together. My Cav will now lie on rug in lounge (can see front door from there), and wait until he is told he can move. He doesn't jump up 99% of the time now. He gets a big fuss as long as all four paws are on the ground. Then he is told to settle in his bed and he does.

Also when training I taught my Cav the command 'floor' to mean all four paws on the floor.

Also I didn't explain why I'd stop using the houseline. In my experience with Cavs - if you try to each them something whilst on lead, they don't seem to learn that you want the same behaviour off lead - which appears to have already started happening with yours too (you said he can calm down on lead but as soon as it is taken off he's straight back to looney behaviour).

Also do you allow your cav to jump into your lap? I've taught mine to not jump up onto sofa/my lap unless invited. It means if he wants to jump onto a visitor's lap he sits and waits next to the person's leg. Some visitors I have are happy to ask him up, with others I either call him up to my lap or tell him to settle in his bed.

Thanks! Especially the point about training on the lead not translating to off-lead behaviour - that’s been true for other things as well. I’ll definitely give these tips a try! Thanks for giving me hope...!

I thought of another point too - hand signals as well as command words. My Cav always learnt to respond to hand signals more easily than words, so when teaching a command word I've always done a hand signal at the same time. It helped him learn far quicker. I think it's common in Cavs from a conversation I was having with a dog trainer who owns a few Cavs.