golden calming down, but not with visitors

MEG126

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#1
as most of you know, i have a three year old golden retriever named penny. we've always been comforted by other golden owners that they do, in fact, actually start to calm down after a certain age, that age depending on the dog, of course. penny has just recently turned three and she is becoming what my aunt would describe as a "foyer dog" where they lay around (she still plays a lot, but she's also a WHOLE lot calmer than she used to be, as you could probably imagine).

anyways to my question. she's really great around us (being my parents, my brother, and myself) but whenever somebody comes over, she's excited beyond belief and she just bounces off the walls. my aunt and uncle came to visit this week and she was just turning around in circle after circle and she was just sooo excited she leaked on the floor. :p which she hasn't done in years! but i was wondering how we can get her to calm down more around guests. i mean i know she'll always be excited to see new people, but i was hoping we could get her to turn down the rowdiness just a smidge so she can stay in the house when guests arrive and not have to be banished to the back porch so the guests can make it up the stairs! (or maybe this is just something she'll eventually grow out of??)

thanks in advance! :)
 
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#2
Does she just do it when they get to your house? Like when the doorbell rings? If so I would maker her sit in front of the door why you rattle the door knob when she can do this have a friend ring the door bell. Be sure to treat her when she just sits and waits! Also maybe work on her down, stay so that when she gets really excited you can put her in a down until she calms down. Good Luck!
 

MEG126

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#3
well she can hear like car doors and everything, so she always knows when somebody is coming in the house and she always greets us at the top of the stairs. if we open up the door and there's a new person there, she'll get very excited and be waging her tail so hard that her booty goes back and forth (i figure goldens are famous for that!) as she goes down the stairs to greet them. and it's really funny because she'll just go down the stairs and back up, and down again and back up. it's so funny.

that's not what the problem is really- it's just we can hardly open the door without her escaping, and she does calm down eventually, but the first 10-15 minutes are pretty action packed, you could say. she doesn't jump anymore, just she can't contain herself and her excitement and it's kind of irratiting to people who aren't as incredibly fond of dogs since she's all over them licking their clothes and just being like "pet me pet me pet me!!" i'm thinking it's something she'll get better with with age...
 

Brattina88

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#4
Perhaps it will get better with age, but your best bet is to teach her how you want her to act now. When you know company is comming over I'd suggest you leash her and have her behave like you want her to. Don't let the guests pet her unless she is at a sit or down stay. She'll learn that's what she needs to do in order to get attention. Tell your guests that she is in training and not to pet her unless she is sitting. Use/teach the command 'that's enough' or something like this to get her to stop the mad licking, nudging, w/e. If you can't conatin he excitement then keep her at your side at a down stay until enough time has passed and she's calmed down. She should learn how she needs to act to get the attention she wants. Don't worry, you're doing something right if she doesn't jump on them in her excitment!
 
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#5
It all sounds like good advice to me. We had the same problem with Shiva, except at about two and a half times the size, if you can imagine! And she's a Fila! They are supposed to be suspicious and wary of strangers. Until she was about 6 or 7 months old she'd even piddle in her excitement sometimes. She's much better now, at 11 1/2 months, and she's beginning to develop the (in)famous ojeriza, or stranger aversion . . . finally. I've had to laugh and tell other Fila people that I didn't know if she had any ojeriza or not, as Shiva never met a stranger. (lol)

If you'll follow the good advice you've gotten here, with training and time, Penny will be okay. She may even turn into a regular Miss Manners.
 

MEG126

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#6
haha ok sounds good!! i hope she does get really good because my mother is convinced she's going to be the perfect dog by the time i go to college (fall 2005) and that she's going to be her main source of comfort (no more kids in the house!!). plus my mom and i decided my dad is going to love having penny (we mainly got another dog for me and my mom) around once she fits the stereotypical golden! lol
 

fantabbydozy

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#7
Same problem

Hi I have a similar problem with Alfie, our 8 month old labrador pup. I know he's still young but with everything else he is so well behaived. It's just he goes mad when people come round to visit. I take him to training classes to socialize him with other people and dogs but so far they don't seem to have taken effect. The problem is when people visit or I take him to other people's homes he jumps up and he is a big lad now and I'm worried he may hurt someone. He loves people but he is so excited it's like he goes into a frenzy. I've tried to keep him on a lead but he just strains and pulls. I've told people not to pet him until he's calm but the second he's calm and gets a cuddle, he is so excited again and lunges up at people to lick their faces. Is this normal?!! Do you think there's anything else I can do or will he grow out of it? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
 

Doberluv

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#8
I think Brattina gave you excellent advice....."naughty" behavior=no payoff (attention) Good behavior = praise, pats AND treats. Those treats will speed up the learning. But only when she's being "have." LOL.
 

bridey_01

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#9
You could also make strangers a more frequent occurence, so there is less excitment.Have a stranger come in, ignore her frantic attempts at socialization and walk out again, about ten times.
 

Doberluv

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#10
LOL. I can just picture this: You see a stranger at the grocery store or on the street and you say to them, "Hi, could you come to my house and come in and then go out 10 times? No....I'm not psychotic. I'm training my dog and I neeeeeeed you to help me." LOL.

I'm not making fun of you Bridey. It's true. That would really help. I wish there were more strangers around here.....tall, dark and handsome ones. :cool:
 

Fran27

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#11
Lol

It's a problem here too really... We never have any visitors, except maybe once a month... The dogs get totally bonkers when it happens, just when we ordered pizza two days ago Boris was bouncing all over and barking like mad because we didn't let him say hi...
 

Doberluv

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#13
I asked the visitors to simply ignore him completely and not fuss him even when he sat down (as this just seems to excite him all over again).
I know it's easier to have him sitting and calm and have the visitors continue to ignore him so that he doesn't get all excited again. BUT.....he won't learn the difference in behavior....which is rewarding and which is not. You see, to him the attention from the visitors IS his reward. He should learn that if he remains calm and sitting, he gets that reward. If he is leaping around and acting like a nut....he is ignored and held fast with a leash. They can give him the attention when he's calm but tell them to keep it VERY low key. That's what I'd do anyhow to teach my dog.
 

Becca_

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#15
Princess is that way. When I know someone is coming I put the gate up. After they have been here awhile she calms down and can be allowed to be around the visitors. Yesterday of all things, we had someone over and to my surprise Gracie even started jumping getting excited wanting attention! This guy is 100% dog lover, she must sense it because this isnt her normal behaviour when company comes.
 

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