# 3 year old still goes bananas around other people



## AshleyR (Sep 4, 2008)

I haven't posted here very much, so not sure if any of you would remember this - but we've had a wild ride with our 3 year old golden, Tessa.

First of all, we live in a very tiny remote town with no access to obedience training. We did plenty of research on how to train her long before we got her, but apparently we didn't do enough. We have had problems with her behaviour from the get go (she is a wild child!!)

Up until now, we've been able to pass off her behaviour by saying "she's still a puppy!" whenever she's acted up around other people. At 3 years old, that excuse doesn't really work anymore.

I do have to say, for the past year or so her behaviour has improved dramatically. We now have her to the point where she listens VERY well when she's at home, with just my husband and I here. She will do whatever we tell her to - she no longer chews anything in the house - she doesn't bark - is fully house-trained - walks perfectly on a leash..... I can honestly now say that she is a "little angel"...................... until she sees someone new.

I will preface this by saying that my husband and I have pretty much no social life. We do not know many people where we live so we very seldom have people come over. She has never been well socialized with people and I know this.

When people come over, she turns into an absolute nightmare. She jumps on them when they come in (she doesn't do this to us), she completely ignores any commands we give her, etc. The only way we are able to get her off and away from people is if my husband literally picks her up and puts her outside. Otherwise she will flop on the floor on her back and goof around so she gets her way. 

She does this same thing when we meet up with people on walks, or if anyone ever comes up to her while we're out in public. She instantly tries to trample them and will start spinning and twisting and flopping on the ground trying to get out of her collar.

...... it's really a pain and very embarassing. 

She isn't aggressive at all - just very, very excited to see new people and wants to love them up like crazy.

Now, I know the first thing people are going to say is that she needs to be socialized more. I know this, but as I said above, we don't know many people at all, and there's no dog park or anywhere else we can really meet up with other people/dogs. I do take her for walks every day (sometimes twice) and we do meet up with people along the way often.... but she still freaks out every time. It doesn't get any better.

One thing that I will admit was a mistake we've made with her (which is the reason I think she might be like this) is that DH and I have always made it a 'big event' whenever we've come home from being out. Whenever either one of us comes in the door we say "HI BABY!!" (or something like that) in a very happy and excited voice, and give her tons of love and attention. We do this EVERY TIME we come home. Even if we're only out for a few minutes, when we come home, the first thing we do is acknowledge her when we come in the door (maybe not such a big event every time, but we always say "hi!" and give her some attention). I'm thinking she expects this of everyone so that's probably why she acts the way she does when other people come to the door.

Also, we give her a LOT of attention. She knows she is our little princess and I think she might feel like everyone should be as excited to love and play with her like we always are.

Anyway, I understand why she's gotten this way.... but I need some advice on how to change it. Without knowing many people or having access to a trainer, no dog park, etc. I'm not sure what to do besides walk her a lot (which we already do).

Can anyone help?

She is so close to being the "perfect dog" at last - I wish she would learn to behave around others so that they can see what a good dog she can be too. Her behaviour is embarassing to us as people must assume we haven't spent an hour training her - little do they know! :\


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

Do you have friends or people you meet on your walks you can ask to work with you on training him? We're in somewhat the same situation - living in an area where we know nobody - but we are able to take classes. Last night in class I saw how it is supposed to be done: the teacher came toward us and as soon as Ben started pulling to greet her, she backed off, waited until he was sitting calmly and came forward. When he got up and wriggled toward her, she backed off again, waited until he was calm, then came over. He only got his greeting when he sat calmly. 

When we first got Ben, we had a trainer come to the house to work with us. She had us keep Ben in the crate when she first arrived. Then we let him out and she totally ignored him until he was able to be calm. Then she quietly greeted him. If he got excited, he got ignored again. It seemed to work. In a few minutes, he lay quietly on the floor at our feet. 

What we want to do to continue that training outside of class is try to ask people at places like PetSmart or on our walks to help us by waiting until he is calm to greet him. Sometimes he is great at greetings, but other times he jumps or pulls like crazy. The more we try to restrain him the wilder he gets. Some people make it worse because instead of backing off when he gets wild, they say, "I don't mind." Our teacher said that if we say, "We're in training," they may be more helpful about waiting to greet him until he's calm.


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