# wild greetings at door. Please help!!



## katelyn29 (Jul 21, 2010)

Dakota is about 13 months old and has always been a VERY excitable dog. Loves when people come to visit and attacks them upon their entrance. This is one thing we have struggled with since we brought him home. He doesn't seem to get too wild when me or my husband come home. Maybe only one jump then we yell "off!" but when others come. Like my parents or my in laws, he gets sooo wild and no matter how many times we yell off and grab him he just comes back for more. It's embarassing that we have no control over him, especially since he is so large. He knows sit and down, so we try to get him into a down when we see people coming to the door, but as soon as that door opens, hes a mad man. I need all the tips/advice I can get!! Please Help!!


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## Jax's Mom (Oct 16, 2009)

You need to prepare before they walk in. I know the excited mad man antics all too well. Besides having your compnay ignore him completely until he calm down, it is up to you to help him avoid the behavior. If he likes treats, give him treats while hes sitting when company walks in the door. I find it helps when my company sits down as soon as they come in and only pet him when he is calm.


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

Prevention: If you are in a hurry, if visitors are elderly/frail/young kids, if your visitors are excitable, if you are super stressed, if your visitors will not follow instructions...your dog is somewhere else in the house, crated with a great chew toy. He does NOT have to meet people who may be hurt or uncooperative. You do not want to be wrangling him when you're stressed. We DO NOT want to let the undesirable behavior happen. Make a pact with everyone in the house for him to NOT be at the door for arrivals until he is trained. For the next few weeks, keep him put away when visitors arrive unless they will help you with training.
Training: Get a tin of SUPER exciting treats. Get a cooperative "visitor" (this can be someone in your immediate family at this stage!). Dog on leash (NOT to restrain him, only to prevent him from running out the door and getting hurt!). visitor gets a treat. Enters the house. Waits for a Sit. Feeds a treat. Visitor leaves. Visitor grabs a treat. Visitor enters. Wait for a Sit. Feed a treat. Visitor leaves. Repeat 20+ times. And then crate your dog and give your visitor a snack. You can then do another session or wait until next time. Do this with several people. Practice until your dog is sitting immediately. And then get a few more people to help. Practice until your dog is sitting immediately. Remember, for "non training arrivals" he is NOT AT THE DOOR! And practice until he is sitting the first time a training visitor arrives. 
If he makes a mistake.... : Determine what part of your management or training need to be "fixed". A lot of dogs are "cured" within a week. Some dogs need additional training steps.


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## paula bedard (Feb 5, 2008)

Ike is 3 and still exhibits this rude behavior when visitors come to our door. It's the one behavior we can't seem to correct. I've worked with him, but since we get so few visitors I haven't been able to reinforce a good behavior. I've resorted to putting him in another room, door closed, when my parents visit since they are older and he could hurt them. He's calm once they're in the house, it's just the initial 'coming in the door' that excites him.


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## TomCat'sGirl (Aug 27, 2010)

RedDogs said:


> Prevention: If you are in a hurry, if visitors are elderly/frail/young kids, if your visitors are excitable, if you are super stressed, if your visitors will not follow instructions...your dog is somewhere else in the house, crated with a great chew toy. He does NOT have to meet people who may be hurt or uncooperative. You do not want to be wrangling him when you're stressed. We DO NOT want to let the undesirable behavior happen. Make a pact with everyone in the house for him to NOT be at the door for arrivals until he is trained. For the next few weeks, keep him put away when visitors arrive unless they will help you with training.
> Training: Get a tin of SUPER exciting treats. Get a cooperative "visitor" (this can be someone in your immediate family at this stage!). Dog on leash (NOT to restrain him, only to prevent him from running out the door and getting hurt!). visitor gets a treat. Enters the house. Waits for a Sit. Feeds a treat. Visitor leaves. Visitor grabs a treat. Visitor enters. Wait for a Sit. Feed a treat. Visitor leaves. Repeat 20+ times. And then crate your dog and give your visitor a snack. You can then do another session or wait until next time. Do this with several people. Practice until your dog is sitting immediately. And then get a few more people to help. Practice until your dog is sitting immediately. Remember, for "non training arrivals" he is NOT AT THE DOOR! And practice until he is sitting the first time a training visitor arrives.
> If he makes a mistake.... : Determine what part of your management or training need to be "fixed". A lot of dogs are "cured" within a week. Some dogs need additional training steps.


What agreat idea. So far we have been making him sit when he meets us at the door or im gonna exit I make him sit first. My sister came to visit with her new boyfriend and Cash was acting like a madman too lol he almost put a hole in her shirt.


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## Sienna's Mom (Oct 23, 2007)

paula bedard said:


> Ike is 3 and still exhibits this rude behavior when visitors come to our door. It's the one behavior we can't seem to correct. I've worked with him, but since we get so few visitors I haven't been able to reinforce a good behavior. I've resorted to putting him in another room, door closed, when my parents visit since they are older and he could hurt them. He's calm once they're in the house, it's just the initial 'coming in the door' that excites him.


Great advice from Reddogs (as usual  Sienna is the same as Ike. We have resorted to putting her in the crate when someone comes to the door. If it is a playdate for my son, we keep her in there until she calms down... but it is not always a given as she love people so much- it can be frustrating.

Sometimes I will side step her and step out and close the door behind me to speak with whoever is at the door. We just had an incident where she growled at a neighbor who put her her hand to the screen to say hello- surprised the heck out of us.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Training your guests to ignore the dog is a big one. No matter how much of a spectacle he makes, everyone needs to pretend he's invisible until long after he settles, even if it takes ten or fifteen minutes. 

Yelling at him or holding him will just energize him, so it'll really backfire for this kind of problem.

Practice greetings with "boring" people (family he already knows and won't get as excited about). Have him sit and behave for treats while one of you opens and shuts the door. The first thing you want to do is pair the motion and sound of the door with calm, rewarded behavior. Then, once that's solid, one of you can walk in and out of the doorway, partially opening and shutting it. Again, the idea is to pair the calm, rewarded behavior with more and more of the pieces of the uncontrollable situation.

Then, graduate to a full closing of the door with a family member on the other side, then to knocking followed by a door opening, then to setting up a "real" entrance where the family member fully leaves the house for a couple of minutes and returns, then on to company.

If he breaks his sit-stay, don't punish him. Just ignore him and go back to an earlier level of training and build up from there.

Your anger and your treats are never going to be stronger than the excitement of a new friend, but a well-shaped, strongly ingrained, consistently rewarded _habit_ of a good greeting behavior can stand up against the most exciting guest.

Remember: the person entering the door ALWAYS has to be as boring as possible to the dog throughout your whole training, and even when you're done, it's a good idea to have guests ignore the dog for a few minutes so the excitement doesn't get re-paired with the opening door.


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## C's Mom (Dec 7, 2009)

My boy is also displaying excessive greeting disorder.  On top of running around like a mad man he keeps barking his head off which scares the heck out of people not used to dogs. Once I do get him to settle down he won't stop nudging people's hands for pettting no matter how much they ignore him so I have to call him away time and time again. We are working on it.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

paula bedard said:


> Ike is 3 and still exhibits this rude behavior when visitors come to our door. It's the one behavior we can't seem to correct. I've worked with him, but since we get so few visitors I haven't been able to reinforce a good behavior. I've resorted to putting him in another room, door closed, when my parents visit since they are older and he could hurt them. He's calm once they're in the house, it's just the initial 'coming in the door' that excites him.


It's the same here, Hank is such a spaz when people visit, even when we come home :doh:. My Maggie was the same way almost until she died at almost 14 y.o. :doh::doh:. My other mixed dog was never like that. I'm beginning to think it's a "Golden thing"!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Flora's the same way, unfortunately, ESPECIALLY with men. Women she gets excited about, but after a minute or so she's fine. With men she goes bonkers and it's kind of a pain. It will literally last for an hour before she calms down. I usually have to take her back and put up a gate so she can't bother male visitors. Goldens! :


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## Chloe Braun (Aug 21, 2010)

Consistency is the key! ALWAYS say "down" or "no", give treats when followed. Reserve the most tasty treat for this purpose only.

If everything else fails, obedience training would be needed.

Good luck!


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Chloe Braun said:


> Consistency is the key! ALWAYS say "down" or "no", give treats when followed. Reserve the most tasty treat for this purpose only.
> 
> If everything else fails, obedience training would be needed.
> 
> Good luck!


I really have to disagree here. 

Saying "no!" usually gets you nowhere with an overexcited Golden. If you say it loud enough to be scary, it's often just confusing and intimidating to an overwrought dog, and if you don't say it loud enough to scare him, you're just yelling into a situation that already has too much energy in it.

Saying "down" is even worse, because it's highly confusing. "Get on all four paws" and "lie on your belly" are very different in a dog's mind, so using the same command for both is a recipe for confusion.

Teaching your dog "off" (or any other word that doesn't sound like another command—"Watermelon" would work just as well) is great. However, it's nigh-impossible to teach it when the dog is already in the middle of an inappropriate greeting. Teach it in a more boring context. You can use a plastic tub and teach the dog to put his paws on it (pairing it to a word like "up") and then teach him to put his paws back on the ground ("off"). When it's a strong habit, you'll have a better chance of success saying "off" in an excited situation.

If your first and second "off" don't work during the greeting, change tactics. Never repeat a command over and over if it's not being followed. Work on the command later in a controlled situation. And, as I said in my earlier post, take steps to take the energy out of the greeting situation. It's a lot more effective than simply trying to control the situation once it's already happening.

Obedience training is _always_ needed. It's a part of responsible dog ownership.


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