Hi. My little LuLu is one year old. She's a Choxie, half chihuahua half doxie. She's a great kid but just a little stubborn. She takes most of her lessons well. She's house trained and is learning to sit, stay and walk on leash well. Our problem is she just adores humans. She's fine with us at home but, when someone visits, she gets so excited and is all over them. Her sharp little claws can be very painful.
We've used our tried and true methods but there's no getting thru to her when she's so excited. What can I do? It's about the only time we simply cannot control her and that sort of enthusiam, while cute for a second, quickly becomes annoying.

well you need to train your dog not to jump other people

Your dog needs to learn to keep all 4 feet on the floor. This is easier said than done, especially with small dogs.

If you want your dog to behave more calmly when guests arrive, you will need to start by teaching the dog to be calm in a less stimulating environment (ie. at home alone).

When training a dog, keep in mind that dogs will continue with behaviours that are rewarding for them. If the behaviour is no longer rewarding, they will eventually give it up.

Clearly, your dog finds jumping up to be a very rewarding behaviour. What reward do you think your dog is getting? Most likely that reward is attention. Rewarding attention for dogs can come in many forms. Touching and petting being the most obvious rewards, but any kind of interaction can be a reward, including eye contact and talking to your dog (even scolding, especially if it's done in a lovey dovey voice as it's the tone of voice that counts).

You need to STOP proving any form of reward to your dog when it is behaving badly. At the same time, direct the dog to perform an acceptable alternative behaviour and rewarding that behaviour instead. (You will have to decide what alternate behaviour you would prefer, but I suggest something like sitting quietly on his mat or going to his crate). Lavishly, but calmly, reward the good behaviour (if you're too exuberant, you'll just get your dog all excited again).

In order to teach your dog that being calm is a good thing. Make a point of catching your dog whenever it is being calm and reward that. (even if you didn't ask it to do anything) So, any time you see it laying down (especially in it's designated space like on it's mat or in it's crate) make sure you let your dog know that you approve of what it's doing. You can throw it a treat or just smile at it and say something in a loving voice like "what a good boy laying quietly on your mat". (it's the approving tone of voice that matters, so you can really say whatever you want.) It won't take long for your dog to clue in that good things happen when I just lay here quietly. Once your dog makes that connection, you should start seeing the dog volunteering this good behaviour more and more.

In the case of houseguests being jumped all over. It will help if you can teach your guests the fine art of not rewarding your dog's bad behaviour. This is easier said than done, so you will probably also have to take preventitive measures as well.

Of course one option is to simply remove your dog from the situation altogether, (lock him in another room or put him in a crate) but this robs the dog of any opportunity to learn how to behave in an acceptable way. It will also frustrate the dog even more as it is clearly wanting social interaction.(This is not to say that I think crate training is a bad thing)

A useful technique for dealing with excitable dogs without punishing with social isolation is to "ground the leash". Naturally you have to put your dog on a leash in order to do this.

If your dog is jumping up, completely ignore it (no looking, no touching, no talking), then step on the leash allowing the dog just enough leash to sit, stand or lie down. Your dog might get a bit perturbed by this at first (barking or chewing on the leash), but if you completely ignore it, eventually it will realize it can't do anything so it might as well lie down. When this happens, you praise your dog and reward it for being calm.

If you know that the guest is coming, be proactive and put the dog on a leash before you answer the door. Ground the leash and have the dog greet the guest at the door with all 4 feet firmly on the floor. Then you and your guest can relocate to the couch or kitchen table where you can ground the leash beside you (with the dog on the floor - not the couch) while you talk.

If you practice doing this regularly, you will soon have a dog that can quickly calm itself. Start out in the house when there's very little going on. Good times can be when you're watching tv or doing dishes. Once you're having success in the house, practice in all kinds of places and situations. If you're out on a walk and you stop to talk to someone or are doing some window shopping, ground the leash. Make sure to always praise and reward your dog for sitting or laying quietly beside you.

Soon your dog will realize that a grounded leash means it's time to settle down and that settling down can be a rewarding experience, too.

Good luck.

There are several ways to address this problem. One is to keep a leash on her, and when she's greeting people, tell her to sit and stay. Enforce it, if necessary, by taking her a short distance from the people she wants to greet, make her sit, make her stay, and she only gets to greet people when she's settled down. As soon as she starts jumping, take her back to her "place" (I use a small rug), sit her on it and make her stay until she settles. Repeat until she "gets it."

Another way requires some help from a couple of people who are willing to give you a hand. It's really pretty simple. As soon as she starts jumping and acting up everyone leaves the room, closing the door in her little face. Wait a minute and re-enter the room. If she jumps, everyone leaves the room. She has to settle down and behave before everyone stays in the room. And trust me, it usually doesn't take long before they figure it out.

The important point is this. She doesn't get any attention until she stops jumping.

[lil mutt]

you should enroll your pet to a obedience class...

I would say keep her on the lead when she is excited. When she is calm let her off always reinforcing her actions but calling to heel or to sit. If she becomes too ecxited agin then put her back on the lead.

[wishbone]

Ignoring and firm commands are good solutions too. Tell who ever comes in to ignore her completely and you could say the command "no" or "stop". If she won't listen, either drop a bottle or spray water on her face to stop.

[Piti Longstalking]

It depends. It depends on how excited the dog is getting. If the dog's emotions are so strong that you have to attach a leash to the dog...consider yourself in the worst possible training scenario. Not much learning can be had in the worst possible training scenario. You need to choose management if this is the case. Put your dog in a crate with a stuffed frozen Kong before guests arrive. It's much easier for you and your guest to ignore a crated dog than an excited and boisterous one who's practicing the behavior you want to stop. Given enough time in the crate and with the Kong, many dogs will settle, and in their own way become acclimated to your guests. This is the time for training, and I would teach sit when greeting. That means your dig needs to know sit very well when no guests are around and in different locations around your property. So insure your dog's sit is spectacular.

If your dog is not the one who's zooming around the living room when guests arrive, and if your guests are willing participants (meaning the training is planned), then yes, perhaps ignoring the dog and capturing appropriate behavior with attention is a viable option.

But if you can avoid using the leash I would do so because if you do attach a leash, you'll have to train the appropriate behavior twice. With the leash on and the leash off. In my experience this is time consuming, and owners want the behavior now, not when they have to find a leash.

I would also avoid presenting punishments that can be associated with your guests, like spraying them with a water bottle. This is a great way to cause anxiety and conflict in your dog when guests do come over. And I'm certain anxiety and conflict is not what you want to train in your dog.

Good Luck!

Maybe with the proper amount of consistent training you can teach your dog to stop jumping. Like, greet your dog on her level. You can also greet her in a stooped position, so that she doesn’t have to jump up to greet you. You can also use the “sit” command. The better she understands the sit command, the much less likely she is to ever jump at all.

Originally Posted by Piti Longstalking

But if you can avoid using the leash I would do so because if you do attach a leash, you'll have to train the appropriate behavior twice. With the leash on and the leash off. In my experience this is time consuming, and owners want the behavior now, not when they have to find a leash.

I have never, in 40 years of training, run into a dog that needed to be taught twice, once with the leash and once without. The leash simply gives you a little extra enforcement abililty.

And what is it with you and leashes? Your responses sound like you think one should never put a leash on a dog. A leash is one of the fundamental and most valuable training tools we have. If nothing else, it keeps the dog from moving away, out of reach, where you cannot possibly enforce anything.

To get my dogs to quit jumping on me, when they did jump up I got ahold of their paws and lightly squeezed till it was uncomfortable for them and said no at the same time. They caught on very quickly.

[Piti Longstalking]

Originally Posted by vetgroomer

I have never, in 40 years of training, run into a dog that needed to be taught twice, once with the leash and once without. The leash simply gives you a little extra enforcement abililty.

I guess we don't serve the same clientele. I see this every day on the job, and I'm constantly retraining owners how not to ruin their dogs with dependence on a leash. The fact that you haven't experienced this in 40 years is mind boggling. Heck, you average puppy class is mainly taught without leashes for this reason, where have you been?

And what is it with you and leashes? Your responses sound like you think one should never put a leash on a dog. A leash is one of the fundamental and most valuable training tools we have. If nothing else, it keeps the dog from moving away, out of reach, where you cannot possibly enforce anything.

I do not teach any new behaviors with a leash on, nor do I control the dog. I control the dog's environment, and that affords me the opportunity to reinforce the behaviors I want. The second you release your dog at the dog park, you won't have the leash/crutch to lean on. What then?

Originally Posted by Piti Longstalking

I guess we don't serve the same clientele. I see this every day on the job, and I'm constantly retraining owners how not to ruin their dogs with dependence on a leash. The fact that you haven't experienced this in 40 years is mind boggling. Heck, you average puppy class is mainly taught without leashes for this reason, where have you been?


I do not teach any new behaviors with a leash on, nor do I control the dog. I control the dog's environment, and that affords me the opportunity to reinforce the behaviors I want. The second you release your dog at the dog park, you won't have the leash/crutch to lean on. What then?

My goodness, Bearded Lady. It took me a while to catch on. I've had a lot going on in my life, and I just didn't realize it's you right off the bat. I should pay closer attention, I guess.

Really, if you get banned under one screen name, and return under another, you should change your modus operandi.

[Piti Longstalking]

Originally Posted by vetgroomer

My goodness, Bearded Lady. It took me a while to catch on. I've had a lot going on in my life, and I just didn't realize it's you right off the bat. I should pay closer attention, I guess.

Really, if you get banned under one screen name, and return under another, you should change your modus operandi.

I just reported you because I have no idea what you're talking about. I hope the mods discipline you appropriately. Otherwise, you're being foolish and vindictive on a public forum...shame on you.

[reeskujo]

This thread has turned into a war between trainers and is no longer productive....

It will now be locked.