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Originally Posted by Britster  Hmm... I'll see if I can help a bit. You say you've already tried the ignoring thing? Like, when your friends come over and she's jumping all over their legs, what do your friends do? ANY amount of attention that she's been given in the past for doing this sort of behavior has definitely made her think it's OK to do so.
You say she knows sit, stay, etc. What I would first do if it's possible to get a friend or someone to ring the doorbell so you can practice with her. Let her sort of become "immune" to the doorbell. Ring it over and over and over again until it just doesn't phase her anymore or mean anything special. In a real situation, when someone rings the doorbell, put her in a STAY position in a certain place. Maybe have a little bed for her semi-far from the door but close enough where she can see the person. Put her in a stay position and do NOT open the door until she is staying. Go to open the door and the minute she jumps up out of her stay position, close the door. Let her know that nobody is going to enter your house with her acting that way. You're going to need a patient friend to help practice this with you. When she's not staying in one place, the door does not get opened. I'd say an hour of doing this over and over again will help tremendously.
Also, holding her while she's in such a state of mind, you're actually probably encouraging the behavior. Without realizing it, you are probably petting her and soothing her while she's in your arms and that is NOT the correct state of mind for her to be receiving affection. I'm just taking a guess that may be what you do. Also, you're probably stressing out over the situation when she's acting like this but you are the key person here and must remain totally calm. Dogs definitely feed off of our energy and it definitely is a must to remain calm.
So, even though she knows sit, stay, etc, that does not make her a trained dog. If you can't control such a situation, your little dog is definitely thinking she's in control and can do whatever she wants and if you don't nip it in the butt right now, it's going to cause major problems in the future. You don't want an uncontrollable dog when guests come over - it's not fun for you and it's not fun for your guests. I'm assuming she's still young? So, if she's still just a young pup, you definitely have loads of time and she will learn fast! It's all about patience and consistency. Give her RULES and BOUNDARIES before giving ANY affection. Practice the stay routine especially every day. She needs to learn when you open the door, she must stay back. No one give her eye contact or affection until she is completely and 100% calm.
How many walks a day does she get? Walks would help greatly if not already getting them daily. She sounds like she has a ton of energy that needs to be released! I would recommend if you KNOW someone is going to be coming over your house, giving a nice 30-45 minute walk BEFORE they get to your house to tire her out a bit. |
I didn't imply Reese is trained because she knows some commands. I posted that so any imput I"d be given would know that she already knows those commands. We've tried the ignoring thing. Itell people when they arrive to not make any eye contact with her and ignore her until she calms down. It worked for a short while but now it just doesn't stop her from misbehaving. We walk her twice a day. And she spends a lot of time outside with my 3 year old son who definitely keeps her busy and tends to play with her until she's tired... and he'll be playing outside with her, and she's panting and tired, but if someone knocks at the door or rings the doorbell she gets a sudden burst of energy and just keeps up the behavior.
We DO notice that after about 15 minutes of being exposed to the new "visitors" she calms down and doesn't seem to be as interested in wanting their attention.
I will try the doorbell/knocking trick though. Very good idea! I put her in the stay position when we have guests arrive but she inches closer and closer to the door no matter how many times I remind her to stay, until she's finally at their feet and then she's back to hopping and jumping. I can say "Stay" or "Sit" and she does it for a few seconds then is back into her old ways.
I'll definitely try getting her immune to the doorbell and knocking. My 3 year odl would have a blast helping wit hthis.
ALSO, we notice she even does this behavior when my husband gets home from work in the evenings. Same behavior! He completely ignores her until she calms down and it seems to work when he does it,but with new houseguests, and doesn't care. She'll literally jump totheir waist-level so they HAVE to say something. It's very frustrating but i'll use the advice and see what happens!
