# Too Friendly



## kellyguy (Mar 5, 2014)

I've watched a few Zak George YouTube videos that are worthwhile. I have to admit that my Duffy is overly enthusiastic when he's not on a leash and people visit. We often resort to baby gates to keep him in the kitchen until he settles down. If I keep him on a leash he doesn't jump up on people at all, and if you anticipate he's getting ready to jump up to greet you a simple calm "no" or "down" will stop him in his tracks, but he's a work in progress still.
Our senior female, Zoe will tale wag and "happy dance" but never leaves her feet.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Videos are okay but you'll get better results if you find a good training club in your area and sign up for group obedience classes. The trainers will help you work with your dog to improve his manners and you'll get immediate feedback on how you're both doing. Many training groups offer the AKC Canine Good Citizen course which focuses specifically on the skills your dog needs to master. You'll be with other owners sharing the same frustrations and challenges, your dog will learn to be calm around other dogs and people, and the classes are fun. So much better than trying to go it alone.


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## acetheretriever (Oct 16, 2017)

jdavisryan said:


> Videos are okay but you'll get better results if you find a good training club in your area and sign up for group obedience classes. The trainers will help you work with your dog to improve his manners and you'll get immediate feedback on how you're both doing. Many training groups offer the AKC Canine Good Citizen course which focuses specifically on the skills your dog needs to master. You'll be with other owners sharing the same frustrations and challenges, your dog will learn to be calm around other dogs and people, and the classes are fun. So much better than trying to go it alone.


 I should’ve mentioned this but he’s actually been through various levels and went as far up as he could without taking the test (i’m holding off because of this problem) and im waiting for this class to restart again so we can go through it again but i was gonna supplement with videos at home to see if there are some different methods besides the ones we learned in our class


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Start with friends and family and dog people who are willing to help train him. It's so hard to work with strangers because half the time they don't even ask before petting your dog and then they don't even care when the dog jumps up (in my experience anyway). If you do it with strangers, maybe take someone else with you who can intercept and ask people if they are willing to help.

I'm not sure how your place teaches it, but this is how I taught Kaizer. I had better luck shaping the greeting. Basically, I'd stand with Kaizer on a 6' leash and let friends approach us. I wouldn't do anything but stand still and the friend would come close enough so that Kaizer could not jump up on them but was trying to. We'd just wait until he decided to sit (which doesn't take as long as it sounds). Kaizer was the type of dog who fixated on strangers who gave him food. People and food are his two favorite things and combining them was just too much for him as a puppy, so I would always click/treat for the sit vs having the friend click/treat. He picked it up very very quickly. When the friend started petting him and he tried to jump up, they would immediately walk away and turn their back to him. He learned very quickly that jumping up equals no pets.

The downside to that was that he started sitting every time he saw someone approaching us. That took a little bit more training to fix, but at 2.5 I'd say his people manners are pretty darn good. He doesn't jump on people off leash either, thankfully.


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## Gleepers (Apr 20, 2016)

We have spent a lot of time “going to heal” when out on walks passing people. 
At home I still have to use a leash for the first few minutes but it does help a lot. 
After you go through friends and family to practice on we have found that Mormon missionaries are dog training gold. They can come over regularly and get to practice their bit while offering the dog experience with new people of varied backgrounds and not accosting people while sitting and having to be polite while they talk. Win win.


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## Julie Timmons (Dec 16, 2016)

aesthetic said:


> .
> The downside to that was that he started sitting every time he saw someone approaching us.



That must make for interesting walks! Hahaha



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## mrshill (Mar 6, 2018)

When my Gruff was a puppy he was very much like your pup. Our vet told me to give our dog a job every time someone would come to the door. I have a handicapped son and we had PT, OT, nurses, teachers, social workers come all the time in addition to friends and family. The vet told us to put an old purse by the front door. She also told us to tell people when they came over to not acknowledge Gruff (everyone was so excited over the cute puppy). Gruff would grab the purse when people came, stand there wagging like I have your purse!! It did work, he no longer jumps and allows people in the door 98% of the time. He still gets excited but channels it another way. Maybe this might help you also.


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## Julie Timmons (Dec 16, 2016)

I have an over enthusiastic people dog too and I noticed just having the leash on makes a difference.

The other day my husbands mom dropped by. Riley did not have his collar on and he was a nut case. I took him outside with me, put on his collar and leash and brought him back in. He definitely behaved better, not great but he seemed to respond to me more whereas with no leash, I might has well have been invisible. 

I like to bring him close to the person, take up slack on the leash and then stand on it while he greets so he can’t jump, then he usually goes into a sit on his own. Otherwise, 70lbs of exuberance is hard for me to control. 

My husband wants to go the shock or prong collar route but I refuse to do that to a dog so full of love and trust. I find it especially irritating when friends or family say they can train him with one of these collars. Makes me want to put one on them to teach them a lesson about trust [emoji6]

Zak George has a few videos on jumping and he did one on leash pulling with a golden in it. He had his work cut out for him. That golden had the same level of crazy that my dog can be so it made me feel a little better watching an expert failing at his own technique, lol.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

My girl Kaya is a 'people' dog, she sees a person, nothing else matters! What I did to help her learn to greet people calmly, was to have a helper stand a distance away and we would approach slowly, giving her lots of praise for remaining calm, if her excitement level started to escalate, we simply did a wide u-turn, moving her further away. Then we would re-set, and start over again. It didn't take too many trials for her to figure out that staying calm would result in getting closer to the person. Once she could approach in a calm manner, she was reward with lots of praise by me, the person was to continue to ignore her, then we incorporated the sit, and the person was allowed to greet her. If she broke the sit, the person was to ignore her again, until she sat. If she could not, then we moved away from the person and started over again. It didn't take her long to figure out that it was 'her choice'- that her calm behavior resulted in what she wanted in the first place. 

On walks, we practiced 'Leave it' -followed by a 'Let's go.' or sit cue, when she saw someone, letting her know that she would not be greeting that person. In time she learned that she was not going to get to greet everyone she sees.


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## Hilabeans (Feb 27, 2018)

mrshill said:


> When my Gruff was a puppy he was very much like your pup. Our vet told me to give our dog a job every time someone would come to the door. I have a handicapped son and we had PT, OT, nurses, teachers, social workers come all the time in addition to friends and family. The vet told us to put an old purse by the front door. She also told us to tell people when they came over to not acknowledge Gruff (everyone was so excited over the cute puppy). Gruff would grab the purse when people came, stand there wagging like I have your purse!! It did work, he no longer jumps and allows people in the door 98% of the time. He still gets excited but channels it another way. Maybe this might help you also.


I love this! And I may have a few purses stashed away that I don't use any longer...:grin2::laugh:


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