# CRAZY when people come over!



## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

A couple of things that you could try. 

Management (and a bit of training) - when you are expecting guests to arrive, confine her in another room or behind a baby gate, with a Kong or something to chew on, (can help her to relax, and calm herself). Once the guests have arrived and are settled in, sitting down, then bring her out on leash, and take her around to greet each in a more calm fashion. Give her lots of praise for being good, not barking or jumping about, if she loses control, stop moving towards the visitors, and wait for her to sit, then move again. 

Keep working on her greetings with your hubby and yourself, until she can greet familiar people with some self control, it would be too much to ask of her to greet new people appropriately, at this point, it is just too exciting! Practice home comings with her, one of you leaves and returns, and ignores her until she settles, the other focuses on teaching and rewarding the appropriate behaviors,' sit to greet', on leash if need be, then switch it up. 

Consider what you want her to do when company arrives, could be to sit away from the door, (which would make it easier for her to stay in control), could be to go to a mat, (and stay there until released) or even into another room where she is to wait for the 'okay' to come and greet. 
If you have a doorbell, (or if visitors generally knock) you teach her that that sound is a signal to go to her 'spot', to get a toy, to do 'something', even a sit or down stay away from the door, that would keep her occupied while you open the door.

Keep in mind that 'self control' comes in part with maturity, and these skills do take time to teach and for her to become reliable with.


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## Julie Timmons (Dec 16, 2016)

I have this problem with my 13 month old, minus the excited peeing part. He is so good when it’s just us at home but whenever someone comes over, forget it. My husband thinks banishing him to the outside is the answer and while that helps us and our guests, it doesn’t help the dog to learn an acceptable behavior. For one thing, he loves to go outside so this is no deterrent. What I have been doing lately, is to put him in the bathroom, he has nothing in there that excites him. He carries on for a bit but once I hear him calm down, I go in alone with his leash. Then I take him out with a very tight reign. As soon as he pulls, I stand on his leash with him next to me until he sits and looks at me. Then we proceed. It is highly annoying for me but necessary. It takes a long time to get to where he is allowed to greet and the first time he goes to jump, he is pulled away again until he calms down. Sometimes he has to go back in the bathroom.
I did notice this past weekend when we had our most common guests over, our best friends, he calmed down much quicker and actually was great unleashed for hours. So hopefully he is starting to turn the corner.
Good luck


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## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

Consider what you want her to do when guests come, then train that behaviour when you're alone, with no guests.

For example: our staircase is in the entrance hall to one side of the porch door where guests arrive. I taught my two dogs to go and sit on the stairs. The training didn't take place when guests were there: we practised the exercise on our own, until they understood the command and responded immediately to it. Then we practised with a "fake" guest: a friend who came to ring the doorbell. It was kind of back to square one the first few times - but then they remembered the "stairs" command and were soon able to obey even when the doorbell rang. Once we'd proofed the exercise, we tried it out with "real" guests. The first couple of times I had to repeat the command and remind the dogs of what I wanted. But now, when they hear the doorbell, they run to the door and bark, but when I say "stairs", they go and sit on the stairs and wait for me to open the door. Our poodle is very reliable and will wait there until invited to get down; our golden is a bit less reliable and is occasionally overcome with enthusiasm ...! But generally, it works well enough for guests to get in the door and hang up their coats before greeting the dogs.

You can use any behaviour you want: "go to your bed", "sit", whatever. The important thing is to train the command first, then proof it with "fake" guests, and then try it out when you have "real" guests.

Good luck!


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## FosterGolden (Mar 10, 2014)

I have two dogs, both adults (7 and 4) and both very well trained in dog sports. In public they are very calm and could not care less about other people. They have mat behavior and can do that at a four ring show easily. When someone comes over, all hell breaks loose and they are just like your dog minus the pee (though I do think that your dog will outgrow that). 


I did try training them with a friend. I'd open the door for her, they'd get up, so the door would shut. This ramped them up even more. I tried scattering cookies so they'd be busy finding and eating them on the floor. No interest and these guys are all about food, so obviously very overstimulated. I'd give them a frozen Kong or bone and they'd just take it with them. I put them on leash, which also got them ramped up. I tried mat behavior and it was like they were in a red zone and couldn't even hear me. We could have done this for months and maybe something would have worked. Maybe. But the fact is that I have someone over about once a month or so and decided it wasn't worth it but also I don't have people over enough for them to become acclimated toward the situation and I wasn't going to ask my friend to come over each week for a training session where I would slam the door in her face or she would get jumped on. It is literally their biggest fault and I have no issue with them in any other situation; they are pretty much perfect. So, I decided to pick my battles. 


These days, and for the past couple of years, I just manage it. If it's summer, I typically have people come in through the backyard. I have a six foot gate that opens into my garden and the garden is fenced off from the yard by a three foot gate. The dogs put their front feet on the gate and fall all over themselves and each other and get used to the person being there after about 10 minutes, at which time we'll all go inside together. The dogs will glom onto the person, lay on their feet, rest their chin on their leg, etc. but no mouthing or jumping. If it is not summer or if it is dark, I'll put them in the kitchen behind a babygate that separates the kitchen from the living room and I do the same thing as when I let someone in from the backyard (above). If the person is just stopping by or will be there for 30 minutes or less, I'll just leave the dogs behind the gate or babygate or I'll put them in my bedroom with bullysticks or Kongs.


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## djg2121 (Nov 22, 2015)

I’ve been asking people who come over not to pay any attention to my dogs and ignore them unless the dogs have all four feet on the ground. When I walk my dog and encounter someone, I ask them to hold off before greeting my dogs until they both are sitting. I have a 2 1/2 year old that loves people (as all Goldens do) and wants to be at face level, perhaps chewing your ears. She has gotten worse since we brought a puppy home a few months ago (now 19 weeks), though the two dogs are really bonded and inseparable. I don’t pay any attention to them if they are not on all fours. It’s slowly working. They still greet people, but seem to be learning not to jump up.


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