Why Dogs Jump

Dogs greet each other nose-to-nose. The problem is that your nose sits five or six feet up, so your dog does the only logical thing: it climbs. Jumping isn't a power play or bad manners. It's your dog trying to reach your face the same way a puppy reaches its mother's.

Jumping sticks around for one reason: it pays off. The instant your dog launches at you, something happens. You push it down, you say "no," you make eye contact, you laugh. Every one of those is attention — and attention was the whole point.