[Amberbark]

Amber (5 mos.) is a sweet, energetic girl that is calming down at home and learning her basic obedience commands (e.g., sit, down, heel, OFF, stay). She is also in her 4th week of a Puppy Class (socialization and some basic commands). She literally goes ballistic when new people or my family/grandkids come over. I have had dogs, big and small, and she is a real handful for me at 43 lbs. My daughter came over last night and even with Amber on a lead, I was unable to control her lunging/jumping. Finally, my daughter and I were able to get her into a very wiggly sit for a minute or so. All of my friends and family want to see/meet Amber, but she is almost uncontrollable in her excitement. She loves everyone and wants to jump on them and kiss them. I have had Irish setters which I showed in conformation and obedience. I'm figuring out that the difference is that the show pups were taken out into public to specialty shows and handled by the breeder and myself from a very young age (stacking on the table and in the puppy rings). Amber is exercised twice a day and we have a dog sitter come at lunch to feed and take her outside. My trainer says, "Oh they settle down at about two years old!" Yikes...really. She is a love, but oh so energetic and easily distracted. Any and all suggestions are appreciated! :wavey:

 

[Discoverer]

You can try this trick - advice everybody who is coming to your place to bring some small treats and when they came inside and your dog starts running towards them, they'll have to stay calm and hand feed her, so she stays on four legs at all time. It's very important your visitors stay calm or better yet ignore your dogs for the first couple minutes or so. I know it's very difficult, but give it a try.

 

[Zazoo]

Good Idea.. I have the same problem with my female.. My mom thought it was because she is a Golden Mix, because my purebred is more laid back and listens more.. Maddie is just ecstatic to see people.. It doesn't have to be new people it could just be my hubby or my kids coming home, or just come back inside from outside.. I think I am going to get my hubby to do this trick with down sit command then treat.. Thanks for that!!!

You can try this trick - advice everybody who is coming to your place to bring some small treats and when they came inside and your dog starts running towards them, they'll have to stay calm and hand feed her, so she stays on four legs at all time. It's very important your visitors stay calm or better yet ignore your dogs for the first couple minutes or so. I know it's very difficult, but give it a try.

 

[Discoverer]

Here is pattern that happens almost with every dog: Visitors came and saw a dog, who is the cuties creature on a planet - Ow, aw, sweety, pumpkin, blah, blah ... and start petting the dog like crazy. Their excitement transferred to the dog, he starts wiggling his tail at 50mph and eventually jumps on people to give them kisses. And after we taught the dog to be excited and jumped on us we try to teach them not to do so, right? We humans are very complicated and I admire the dogs who can understand what exactly we want from them Guess what? I had the same issue with Oscar! I came home after work and he was jumping and licking my face. I personally didn't mind, but after some incident on a trail (he jumped on old Chinese lady, who got scarred and though the dog is attacking her) I had to stop his jumping habit.

 

[lvlogan]

We have had the same issue, here is what we did.

First, every guest coming into your home (and you) must walk in and ignore her. I have my guests come in and sit down at my kitchen table and make no eye contact and keep their voices level and calm when talking to me.
My girl doesn't get any attention until she is showing manners. Once she is in a calm space (and this takes a few minutes), my guests reach into a treat container on the table and hand feed her a treat.
You have to remember that greeting your dog is "like totally awesome" to them and when they realize there is no greeting until they have manners, they catch on quickly.
Just make sure you keep every interaction calm and quiet until you are sure that she is stable and settled down. Even at 2 years old, my girl goes bananas if someone bends down and uses a high/happy voice to talk to her, she just can't control herself. So we make sure our family and our guests don't give her any reason to react that way.

Hope that helps you, it did wonders for us. (I struggled with not being able to pet her when I come home from work or talk to her...but it is what has to be done until she is calm or it is a never-ending cycle of crazy)

 

[jluke]

Maisie Must Sit

I agree with the prior post. We've insisted that Maisie sit to receive greetings from an approaching person (or to go into a down for a child). When meeting a child, I tell him/her a "secret" that to get a wiggling puppy to be quiet -- s/he must be very quiet, too. (When my daughter was little she liked being in on "secrets" and this seems to work still.) Until Maisie sits or goes down, there's no interaction.

I know you have a tough habit to break with your pup, but I think with treats and lavish praise, as well as cooperation from your visitors, you can do it pretty quickly.

 

[softballmom]

Our last golden was like this and never seemed to "get" it. Her crate was in full view of the living room from our porch so when people came over, (especially friends of my child), we'd tell her to go to her crate where she would get her special treat and after she finally calmed down, would let her out to greet the visitor, again when they were sitting down at the table. It got to the point where the doorbell would ring and she would run to her crate. With young children coming over, there was no warning at times and this was a solution for us that worked.

 

[Luccagr]

I have the same problem with Lucca, even till now when he's going 11 months. I usually get him into a sit-stay position when there are people coming to my place. He usually can't sit still for more than 10s and when my guests come in, he would jump around them like he hasn't seen them for a million years. Urgh. I'm still trying to curb this habit. And when we go outside, he sees someone, he'll be so excited he wants to lung towards the person. So what I do outside is to get him to sit and stay when I see someone/dog approaching and let them approach my dog instead of my dog approaching them. Strangely when other dogs/humans approach him outside, he can remain calm but not the other way.

 

[Amberbark]

Luccagr,

Lucca is adorable! Love his cute face with the little wrinkle between his brows......soooo cute!:wavey:

 

[Luccagr]

Thanks! And oh, I've heard from almost everyone who has a golden or lab that they'll tone down by the time they're 2 yrs old. I wonder how true that is.

 

[Amberbark]

@Luccagr,

My trainer told me that, too! Two years.......SERIOUSLY! We are only 20% of the way there. Wouldn't have it any other way, though.....love Lucca's little face :smooch:.