Rambunctious greeter!!

[Elzz]

Hi All
I have question about my new pup. She is about 7 months old or so and is catching on pretty well to the things we have been teaching her. I do have one trouble area. She goes crazy whenever she sees new people. A lot of jumping up on them and whatnot. Not too bad when she sees my wife and I after a while away, although there is room for some improvement there too. what can I do to discourage this kind of behavior??? Thanks!!

 

[emc]

When you are expecting company put her on a leash and when she starts to jump yank her back while firmly saying "No!" She'll catch on after a while and know she's not suppose to do it. If someone drops by unexpectly grab a hold of her while saying "No!" firmly. By the way, teaching a dog the meaning of the word "no" comes in real handy, and it can keep poochie out of trouble.

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[Elzz]

Thanks for your advice. She has learned the meaning of no and that is kinda what we have been doing. She also knows "Off". When she jumps up on people we have been saying off and moving her off that person. The problem is she just gets so excited and hyper acting that it is hard to control her. But we havent tried it with the leash, I will see how that goes as we are having a picnic tomorrow. This will only be her second time around a lot of people. Unfortunatley we dont get a lot of opportunity to socialize her around a lot of different people. Thanks again.

 

[Renee750il]

If you'll put a soft harness on her during the day, you'll be able to pull her off with that if you don't have a leash on her when someone comes. It also might keep her from associating her leash with discipline instead of walks, or figuring that the only time she has to be "off" is when she's on the leash.

Our Shiva is an "enthusiastic greeter," too. The real problem is that at 9 months old she weighs over 120 pounds! She's gotten sneaky about it, too, since she knows she's not supposed to jump up on people. She waits until we're not looking and pounces, usually managing to get a couple of her patented "nose noodges" in before she's caught. For some reason Shiva just loves hugs, which is pretty strange behaviour for a dog. She doesn't do it to everyone; she seems to have her own criteria for deciding who she wants to hug. Fortunately, all our friends love dogs and love her especially. A couple of them actually encourage her (aaarrrrgghhh!). They're also glad she's so friendly when you consider the alternatives!

I've pretty much given up on all the usual training methods with the Filas; They don't work with these dogs. I've found that the only thing that really is effective is talking to them seriously, nose to nose, eyeball to eyeball.

You don't say what kind of dog you have, but if you're not having much success with regular methods, you can always try the heart-to-heart talk. It seems to work best with working (and I include any breed that works in cooperation with man to achieve a result in this category) and herding breeds, probably because they have been bred to have to concentrate and communicate directly with us for countless generations, but I don't think there's any reason it wouldn't work with any dog who is strongly bonded to its owner.

 

[JASPERSTONE]

RENEE & ELZZ...WOW join the enthusiastic greeters club! My 8 month old Golden Ret. only jumps on people if he's off leash. I have tried everything too. I cannot seem to get to a leash quick enough if someone pops by. And This big boy has had 2 training classes already and will be starting his 3rd~! Very frustrating...because truthfully it is his ONLY bad habit. The trainer keeps saying I just do not have good control (alpha-authority) w/ him...but he does everything else he's told! I seem to have to just hold onto his collar and say no...but as soon as I let go he jumps again...at least for 10 min. until the person (and he!) settles down! Anyone have the Magic Bullet??

 

[k9rotehexe]

greeting a friendly stranger

I am sure that this point you have a training collar. Have your wife and friends practice with you. Put her on the leash and walk up to people, or let them walk up to you. Tell her to sit and don't allow anyone to touch her until she is sitting. If she sits praise her and allow her to be petted. If not tell her sit again. You can also change this a little. Have her sit before they walk up to you, repeat the command if she goes to get up. If she does it pet her and allow others to pet her. That is her treat. Have your friends and family ignore her and turn away until she sits to be petted. All it takes is patience and time. Depending on how subborn your dog is it could be weeks or months but after a while she will get the picture.

 

[Ratboy]

King wants to stand up on his back legs and from people he knows, get a hug/kiss, and from someone he doesn't know, he wants to smell their breath. And with me, he wants both. He loves little kids, they have good tasting faces! It's done in 10 seconds and usually sits down, or runs and gets one of Molly's balls and brings it to the person. He doesn't want to play with the ball, he wants Molly to "try to get it" so he can start the usual wrestling.

If my breath is really bad, and it is sometimes, he looks truly shocked and with "chatter his teeth" for a couple of seconds (I wish I could get a pic of this) . I tried to break him of doing this with me and other prople, but he was so miserable when I corrected him, I couldn't take it anymore and now I just let him do it. He hates being corrected and is very sensitive about it. It's the only thing that truly gets him shook up, he seems to take it personally. When he and Molly killed a skunk and I had to wrestle with them in the bathtub, he got so worked up he threw up and was pretty squirelly for a day or so.

At 62 pounds (looks about 45), he's not all that big to really worry about it.

 

[Renee750il]

Oh, Ratboy, you've given me my laugh for the day! It is sooooo funny when they chatter their teeth like that! It sounds like this is just part of his personality and how he relates to people, so I have to agree with not taking it away from him. Our dogs have unique personalities and sometimes we go overboard trying to make them fit into the 'ideal' dog image we have in our minds.

 

[Ratboy]

I'm glad you liked it. The funny part that I'll never be able to get a pic of is how his eyes bulge out in what I'm guessing is disgust. The eyes give away all his moods. If you put his food down and try to get him to eat(he's a lousy eater, first one I ever had), and we sometimes would nudge him and he didn't like it at all, his eyes would bug out, and he would stiffen up. Now we just tell him Molly is going to eat his food, and sometimes it works, sometimes he just walks away. If it's something he really likes, like hamburger and rice, I have to watch him, as he will make Molly decide "she doesn't want any". I had a very dominant Beagle in the past, but no dog anywhere near as dominant as King is. Or as smootchy, but my last two male dogs were that way.

When he starts tormenting Molly, he gets this grin on his face, it's a look of evil (A friend said it, and it kind of fits) pleasure. When Molly sees that smile, and those ears go up, she looks like "Oh no, now what is he gonna do to me?" What kills me is after being together their entire lives with one day apart, how she falls for all his tricks, but all the dogs he plays with seem to also. He's chewing on her, and she turns around and looks at him, and he stops and looks up in the air, and SHE LOOKS WHERE HE'S LOOKING! Of course, that's what he wants, and he chomps on her again, and this repeats, until Molly gets fed up and snaps at him, or she bails out and runs. Since he can outrun her anytime he wants and is smaller, so he out turns her too, it doesn't help. After a couple minutes, he's done for a while, until the urge strikes him again. He does it at least once a day, and once in a while, it's an all day thing. Molly is pretty angry after the second or third time, but still falls for the "look at that!" decoy every time.

I tried when they were younger to stop him from doing this, but when I did, she seemed to get way more upset than he did, and was so nervous anyway, so I just let him do it. The male pup next door does the same thing to the older female there and she doesen't seem to understand it either. He's as rough a player as King is, and has shown signs he's thinking about coming over the fence. I wonder what Molly will do, follow him around and glare at him, like the other dog from next door when she started visiting, or just ignore him. King and he are really good buddies, so I doubt there will be any problem there. King isn't territorial like Molly is.

 

[Debi]

All I know is that I've been working on that with Addie for 3 years..without success. My problem is we don't see people very often. It isn't effective to try and train her not to jump just using us...she doesn't jump on US.....it's anyone who comes to visit. She just gets so darned excited. Seeing another person is a BIG deal. The UPS man started giving biscuits when he comes..that's nice and it does make them comfortable with him...but it also makes them think anyone pulling in the driveway could mean a treat or something to get wild about! Hammie is doing well sitting on command, but if Addie starts going wild it tends to make him get worked up too. He'll still listen and not jump on people, but I've given up on Addie and just put her outside after a quick hello to the person. That's sad because she loves people........but you know..some folks don't think that jumping thing is cute at all.

 

[Renee750il]

Most people who visit either love Shiva's antics and unfortunately encourage her, or they just deal with her like we do and push her down and tell her No when she gets too overwhelming. Of course, then they have to cope with watching her sit and watch them with tears brimming in her eyes for a few minutes - until she spreads herself out on the floor with a huge, heartrending sigh. Then she rolls her eyes and looks up at the object of her attention and blinks until she manages to squeeze some 'tears' out. Kharma's got it made because she's got a longer, more melancholy face than Shiva and her eyes are bigger and rounder. She's able to go into 'the look' without any notice at all, making whoever is the recipient of 'the look' feel like a heartless louse. These girls are gooooood!

Poor little Bimmer doesn't even try to horn in on the attention unless it's someone he's extremely fond of, then he does the jumping, elevating above the girls and reaching over them to lick the object of his affection in the face. There are only two or three people who get that attention from him, though, and they know how honored they are. Bimmer's been pushed away by most people so that they could pet the big, sad looking girls and now he just doesn't bother with most people. Kharma, the loyal little sweetheart, is reaching an age where she notices things like that, and since she adores Bimmer and follows his example, won't have much to do with anyone who won't pet him.

I guess it's safe to say that our house is our dogs' house and they get to do things here that they don't do when they're out visiting. They understand the difference and definitely have different manners when they're away from home.