The behavior of jumping starts in puppy-hood, when he try to attract as much attention as possible. Puppies of Malinois are so cute, that it’s difficult not to respond to the jumping by petting. But, it’s not good idea at all. Puppy will learn, that acting this way he will get attention and jumping will continue for as far as it is tolerated. But, a day will come, when jumping will become “too much” for you, so it’s important to contain it now.

Eventually you will try to forbid your Malinois to jump and will probably see a great surprise in puppy’s eyes. It’s not fair to a dog, who watches over his owner’s reaction to understand what behavior is right or wrong. That’s why, it’s important to teach your dog not to jump from early puppy-hood.

How to stop your Malinois from jumping
Of course, preventing your Malinois from jumping, when he is a puppy, is the perfect way. However, if your Malinois already developed this habit, you have a hard work to do. Following are some strategies to eliminate or, at least, reduce jumping behaviours.

Manage your Malinois
The best way to prevent jumping is to prevent it from happening. The more your Malinois jumps and is rewarded for it, the more difficult it will be to contain it. If your Malinois is around people, who make him too much excited, take him on a leash, so you may easily walk away and prevent jumping.

Remove Rewards
The dog consider the removal of treat or his favourite toy as a negative punishment. For instance, if your Malinois jumps to attract attention, remove the reward (in your case attention). You may ignore Malinois, or turn around. Absence of reward will result in reducing undesirable
behaviour.

Be consistent
If you quit paying attention to your jumping dog, after doing it for months or weeks, you may feel like nothing is working. When Malinois notices, that he doesn’t get attention any more, he may jump even with more intensity, to understand why the jumping doesn’t bring the desirable result. It’s a normal process. It’s very important to be consistent and keep ignoring. This phase means your training is working.

Talk to friends and guests
Even if you stop paying attention to your dog when he jumps, other people may not. If you allow people to do this, your dog will understand, that you don’t like such behaviour, but others enjoy it. This won’t help to solve the problem at all. Talk to friends and guests and explained to them, that jumping shouldn’t be encouraged. If other people ignore Malinois, when he starts jumping, he will understand, that “no jumping behaviour” applies to all people.

Jumping may cause many problems. For example, your Malinois may damage somebody’s expensive suit or scratch a child with his nails. Learn your Malinois not to jump! In case he already has this habit, do everything to reduce such behaviour. A dog that doesn’t jump is a great member of human society.