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a behavior I want to modify and need some ideas


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KristenE

Ok, when we have company over Biscotti and Isabella go crazy with excitement and are totally obnoxious for about 15-20 minutes. Then they calm down and act normal for the duration of the visit. I really hate it, and haven't been able to get them to stop so I'm coming here for suggestions. Right now what we do is I just having myself or one of my daughters (or 2) hold them until they relax, then put them down. Obviously that is not really dealing with the situation. So what should we be doing?

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Seastar

Tell the guest to utterly ignore the dogs until they have settled down and are behaving civilly. Only then do the guests acknowledge them and maybe even give them a cookie or two. Mine all love having guests come in, they have a big greeting party for about 3 minutes, and then it's normal behavior. I don't mind it, so we don't bother to correct it.

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kcsheperd

Most of the trainers that I've watched teach "Go to your place"..Meaning a matt, a crate, a bed, etc..Until the guests get settled..then when you released them they get to go over and greet nicely and patiently..If they are still acting wild and obnoxious, then like Paula said, have them ignore until they are calm..then offer a treat. I do what Paula does..When guests come in, mine raise hell for about a minute..the guests say Hi, give a pet, then they are tired of them and have moved onto something more fun..But Payslee has a tendency to bark for awhile, so I keep liver bits on hand, and tell her "SHHH!" and ask her to "watch me" until she stops barking..then treat. Hope that helps!

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tzuhouse

Yea Kristen, I have the same problem....mine are like up and down yo-yo's for a couple of minutes....it is so embarrassing....I just hate it. We get so few guests so it makes it very difficult to work on. I have tried about everything and the only thing that works IF we know company is coming...is to put a leash on them and step on it pretty close to them so they cannot go ANY place or jump AND I tell the guests to TOTALLY ignore them....when they calm down, I let them off....sometimes that is all that is needed, other times, I still have to tell them off and MAKE them stay down...but it only ever lasts for a couple of minutes but a couple of minutes tooooo long. If they vocally greeted or jumped up and down NOT on the guests, I would be ok with that, but they jump up and down ON the guests and it is maddening.....so whatever suggestions you get here....we will try to.

Good topic...thanks.

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mr.coffee

I guess I'm closest to that last category - in that we have very few guests, ergo very few opportunities to train. Problem here is not so much that Harley ~loves~ guests and is excited, but rather he doesn't like people on HIS TURF. Moot point, the training in theory should be pretty much the same.

-m

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Carolina Girl

We kind of have this issue as well, only Ozzy's excitement is not "I'm glad you're here." it's more like "Why are you here?" Our trainer taught us and him the "place" command. When people come to the door, we say place and he lays on his bed until we release him. Sometimes we release him while the guest is here, and sometimes he stays there the whole time they are here. It just depends on his behavior. I've left him there for up to an hour before. If Ozzy's was more of a happy thing, I wouldn't care. I would let him loose! It's annoying when the kids have friends over and they are in and out......

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tzuhouse

We kind of have this issue as well, only Ozzy's excitement is not "I'm glad you're here." it's more like "Why are you here?" Our trainer taught us and him the "place" command. When people come to the door, we say place and he lays on his bed until we release him. Sometimes we release him while the guest is here, and sometimes he stays there the whole time they are here. It just depends on his behavior. I've left him there for up to an hour before. If Ozzy's was more of a happy thing, I wouldn't care. I would let him loose! It's annoying when the kids have friends over and they are in and out......

Ugh, mine will "place" anytime BUT when company comes and then FORGET ABOUT IT !!!! We have a LONG way to go to accomplish this one I'm afraid. I always say, if we only had one dog it would be easy, cause you could just hold them in "place" til they get the message, but not with three, I only have two hands....and I need 10...

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Carolina Girl

Ugh, mine will "place" anytime BUT when company comes and then FORGET ABOUT IT !!!! We have a LONG way to go to accomplish this one I'm afraid. I always say, if we only had one dog it would be easy, cause you could just hold them in "place" til they get the message, but not with three, I only have two hands....and I need 10...

I trained one at a time. I would put Daisy in my bedroom with the door closed. I would work with Ozzy for 15 minutes. I had my kids ring the doorbell. Once I got him trained, I worked with Daisy. She has to be put in "place" when people come over because she tinkles a little when people come in. I love it now. I can say place now and they both run to the bed. If you really want to do it, you should do it one at a time. We were trying to do both at first, but it became clear real fast that wasn't going to work. It only took 2 weeks of working to get this perfected.

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