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Leia's still pretty young (she just turned 1 a few days ago) but she's way too excitable when people come over. She gets so excited at the prospect of new friends that she'll jump all over them, try to climb them when they're on the couch, etc. I've tried a few things to curb this behavior:
1) Providing her with a stuffed Kong or other interesting, long-lasting toy
2) Tiring her out before guests arrive (dog park followed by a long walk)
3) Putting her in time-out in a spare room
4) Putting her in time-out in her crate
5) Having guests only give her attention when all four paws are on the ground
6) Having guests greet myself before the dog, followed by #5
All of these have worked with varying degrees of success… #1 entertains her for a while... then she goes right back to being crazy; #2 seems to help reduce the energy a bit, but she's still nuts; #3 and #4 cause her to find something bad to chew on and/or bark; #5 doesn't really work because she'll just keep jumping until they pay attention to her; and #6 is about as effective as #5.
The best combination so far has been tiring her out before guests arrive and then giving her a special toy while they're there, but she'll eventually get the crazies again.
I don't know that I'm necessarily doing anything wrong with the training, but I'm not sure that I'm doing it all right, either. Leia is great overall, but I'd really like to get her some better manners for when guests come over. What are your suggestions for doing this?
Here's my two cents. Never put a dog in a crate as punishment. The crate should always be a place where a dog feels secure and shouldn't be associated with anything negative. Putting the dog in another room is just a short term fix and won't teach the dog anything.
You should start with your own comings and goings. You should leave the house and come home without any excitement at all. Completely ignore the dog until the dog has all 4 paws on the ground. This will take time. Do not even acknowledge the dog by looking at him/her. Do not speak or yell at the dog as this will only feed into the dog's frenzy. If the dog jumps on you completely turn around with your arms crossing your chest. Do not knee the dog. Let your guests know that they need to completely ignore the dog as well. Again this will take time. Practice coming and going over and over and over.
We have the same problem, but with two dogs, and it's so embarrassing. I know what to do, which is txdemo describes above: ignore, ignore, ignore them with my back turned. Our dogs never jump up on me when I come in after being out for a long time. But they're only well behaved with ME. A big part of the problem is my husband, who delights in having them go crazy over him when he comes home. Then when the dogs jump all over visitors, he acts all embarrassed and gives me the stinkeye afterwards, as if it's MY fault.
In puppy class Chaos and the others had to sit to get attention, you did not give attention to any of them unless they were sitting each class would start out with the trainer walking past each puppy the puppies that were sitting she would stop and pet and give them a treat. Chaos picked up on the fact there was a treat involved and you bet her little puppy butt was on the ground. Some of the puppies just never got it! There were a few over excited types in the class that just could not settle down and sit. When we exchanged puppies so you got to work with someone else's pup for an exercise I will admit they were difficult as they as they were just too excited about someone else working them
You could try leashing her and only allowing them to interact with her when she remains calm as that at least gives you some control verses a crazy pup zooming around.
I'd have a leash by the front door and use it while the visitors are over. Keep some tiny hot dog pieces in a baggie and every time your dog does as requested or you catch her being good, drop a treat. This is a bit labor intensive but maybe have a good friend or family member stop by frequently for a week or two; the idea being the more you practice, the better the behavior. I also train my dogs to find "their place" and work on a rock solid "down stay" . 1 year olds are a lot of work, but with consistent training, you'll get the behavior you want.
We have a similar problem with our dog. She's about a year old, and she's been with us for almost a couple of months.
She wants to jump on anybody who comes near her. She loves people. She gets so excited that she scares other dogs.
We took her to a trainer, and right now we're working on focusing her attention to us, and away from the things that stimulate and distract her.
The idea is that when she sees a person or a dog (or a squirrel, etc), she is able to give us her attention.
But right now, during the training, we have to avoid letting her greet people and dogs.
It's slow going.
Same problem.
They don't jump on ME bc they know I don't like it/tolerate it. So when I come home, they come to me, wag their tails, and one of them actually sits down.
They know my wife hates it, so they don't do it to her, either.
But everyone else they like...jump jump jump, pant pant pant...
It's like off-leash training. How do you train off leash while on leash when the dog clearly knows when it is and isn't of/off leash?!!
Is your dog young/puppy? If so, it will take some patience. Make sure that dog is exercised at all times as well.
The behavior needs to start with you. Never give your dog attention when it's freaking out. Don't even make eye contact, completely ignore. Once she stops, you can pet her. It might take weeks/months of consistent practice, but the dog will get it. The trick is to not make a big deal out of her behavior.
Let me guess, she whines like crazy and loves it when you get home. Do you give her attention immediately? When I get home, my dog gets let out of her crate (so she doesn't soil!) but other than putting her collar on and getting her to pee, I don't play with or pet her until at least 10 minutes after I've walked in the door. She goes nuts around me and I just ignore it. THe past month I have started to notice a gradual decrease in her hyper tendencies. She is still a bouncy puppy, but it's much more palatable.
Start small and go bigger. Make sure your guests know the "rules" of your doggy. No petting until dog is calm, and maybe no petting for the first 10 minutes at least to let her calm down.
Have you enrolled in obedience training? This is another way to mentally exercise your dog. My dog is personally ZONKED after a training session. Do several 2 minute spurts a day to keep her in "training mode". I believe this has helped with her confidence and calmness.
Good commands to teach:
Sit
Stay
Down
Wait
Come up with a code word (ours is YES!) when your dog has completed the task you required. Training takes several weeks. We worked on "wait" for about 2 before she REALLY got it. We are still working on it to get it applicable to all situations.
Youtube probably has some good videos. I got a groupon for 6 training sessions for $70. Best money ever spent!
I should have clarified about the crate: I don't yell at her and put her in there, I lead her in with a treat and give her a toy. She'll be good for a few minutes until she figures out that everyone is hanging out without her.
I'll start with completely ignoring her when I come home (with the exception of taking her out to eliminate) and have guests do the same. I did notice that when I came home yesterday (my SO was home with her all day) she went crazy like usual, but a few times that she tried to jump, she'd "catch" herself and sit and wait for me to pet her, which I encouraged. Good start I think!
Well, one part of the problem is that some friends and visitors LIKE to be jumped on. "Oh, they're just saying HI!", they say. And I have to play bad cop and ask them to turn around and ignore the dogs. Since our dogs aren't allowed in the kitchen, I often usher guests straight in there and the dogs stand outside of the kitch with their butts wagging. Once they sit, we come out and pet them.
This got me into trouble years ago. Our next door neighbor whoi was also a good friend, always encouraged our dogs to jump all over her and to run over to see her in her yard. I needed her help training them, and she refused. She said she could never tell them to GO HOME when they came to see her in her yard. She said she could never firmly order them to GET DOWN when they jumped on her. I tried so hard to get her to cooperate, and then she stopped talking to me for many months.
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