# People = too much excitement



## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

... Is there a way I can make people less exciting to Mojo?

This is the only thing keeping him from getting his CGC. We already failed once. 

I try taking him into populated areas, but he still likes jumping, and I don't want him to knock a stranger over, scratch someone... or anything like that.

I just feel so... hopeless. Poor guy, I should be glad he likes people as much as he does... I just wish he would contain it a little. 

BTW: After probably a minute or two, he does calm down. It's just that initial "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG" that he needs to get over.


----------



## Jessie'sGirl (Aug 30, 2010)

Jess is the same way. I'll be interested to see the answers.


----------



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

My guys still do the same think. I think the hardest thing is getting people to ignore a golden until they calm down.


----------



## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

How old is he? 

My guy could not handle the "friendly stranger" part of class until he was closer to 2. And that was with weekly practice at class (friendly stranger, sit/stand for exam, etc). 

Sometimes it takes a little growing up time in addition to practice and patience.


----------



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Before we took the CGC, we practiced greeting people. We had people walk towards us, while we had the dogs, and once they reached us, we had the dogs sit immediately...then treat. We would stand and chat for a bit and then go on our way. We did this over and over until the dogs just automatically sat. 

Lincoln was the difficult one as he likes to greet people by putting his feet on their shoulders!!!! He no longer does this and greeting people is much easier. It's greeting dogs that we still have an issue with. :doh::doh:

There are probably better ways but this worked for us and it only took an afternoon. Mind you, the dogs were probably fed up walking up and down the same ol' street!!!


----------



## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

Megora said:


> How old is he?
> 
> My guy could not handle the "friendly stranger" part of class until he was closer to 2. And that was with weekly practice at class (friendly stranger, sit/stand for exam, etc).
> 
> Sometimes it takes a little growing up time in addition to practice and patience.


He's 2.5 years old...  LOL

He's such a gentleman in the house now... He's calmed down SO MUCH from when he was younger. I swear, he'd be perfect if he could greet people without acting like a nutcase.


----------



## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

Laurie said:


> Before we took the CGC, we practiced greeting people. We had people walk towards us, while we had the dogs, and once they reached us, we had the dogs sit immediately...then treat. We would stand and chat for a bit and then go on our way. We did this over and over until the dogs just automatically sat.
> 
> Lincoln was the difficult one as he likes to greet people by putting his feet on their shoulders!!!! He no longer does this and greeting people is much easier. It's greeting dogs that we still have an issue with. :doh::doh:
> 
> There are probably better ways but this worked for us and it only took an afternoon. Mind you, the dogs were probably fed up walking up and down the same ol' street!!!


How would you put him into sit? Did you have to physically like hold him from jumping at first? That's the ONLY WAY we can stop him from jumping.

Like Rob said, too, it's also hard to get people to ignore him until he sits.


----------



## rhondas (Sep 10, 2010)

I think Laurie has given you some good advice.

My now 4 year old passed the CGC the week he turned one year old and the test took place in a busy public park on a Sunday afternoon. From the age of 10 weeks old when he came home from the breeder I took him to busy public areas so that he would be around people a lot. To add to Laurie's suggestion with what I have done: 1) take him for walks when kids are going to school and have him focus on you only (you don't need to stop and talk to anyone), use treats if you need to; take him for walks in busy areas and have him focus on you - use treats and reward when he is focused on you. Halloween is coming up so take him for a walk at the peak of trick or treating - I have done that for focus training in the past. Jake will normally ignore folks unless they ask to greet him... All this focus work will enable him to focus on you and sit when you stop to talk to someone. It has worked for me.


----------



## Muddypaws (Apr 20, 2009)

Heh heh... Darby will be 5 next month and he still does this. At least he doesn't jump on folks but the enthusiasm is crazy. The lack on impulse control doesn't help.

he also failed his first time and we were all sure he would fail the second time too. Not only the meeting a stranger but he has NO stay and walking on a loose lead was pretty iffy. He surprised everyone by behaving beautifully, I am not what happened to this day. He nailed the stay, walking on a loose lead and was so polite.... darn dog hasn't been that good since then either!!

Just keep working and working and working - good luck


----------



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Mssjnnfer said:


> How would you put him into sit? Did you have to physically like hold him from jumping at first? That's the ONLY WAY we can stop him from jumping.
> 
> Like Rob said, too, it's also hard to get people to ignore him until he sits.


 
Once the people approached us, you could see him wanting to "greet" them, we would just hold back on his leash and give him the sit command (which he knows well)....then treat. We did this until we could give him slack on the leash and he would just sit when approached. And I think the important thing is, that I think Rob alluded to, is to make sure people don't make a big fuss over them.....it makes a huge difference.

Just as an example....as friendly as my guys are, they can easily walk by people and not flinch. They have a couple of friends whose humans we pass frequently on walks. As soon as the human mommy sees them, she starts in ....well, they go totally beserk!!!! One other instance, she said absolutely nothing to them and they actually behaved as they should (wagged their tails but no going nutso). But, when they see the dogs...that's a whole other story!!!


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

It really helps to train your human helpers. That way, when the dog jumps, they can prevent him from getting reinforced by turning away and behaving very calmly. They can also approach but stay out of range until the dog offers calm behavior.

One thing that made this easier for me is that in the classes I took both Comet and Jax to, the instructor and her assistants always spent the first couple minutes of class going around and greeting all of the dogs. They were terrific about staying out of range until the dog settled, and they would also avoid eye contact or talking while the dog was overstimulated. Once a dog offered good behavior, they'd come in range and give a treat, always being careful to stop reinforcing if a dog broke.

Each time a dog is reinforced, even a little, for jumping, it deepens the habit. If your humans aren't being good training buddies, it's very difficult to get greeting behavior under control.


----------



## Angelina (Aug 11, 2011)

Good advice here. One thing I also do is physically get in front of the dog to block it from the people and with the treats insist on 'sit'...sometimes you have to be strick with the humans and if they won't (can't) comply walk away with the dog. Also make sure your humans keep their hands out of reach and if the dog still jumps they turn around. It just takes time, consistency and practice....


----------



## rubysdoghouse (Sep 27, 2010)

Laurie said:


> Once the people approached us, you could see him wanting to "greet" them, we would just hold back on his leash and give him the sit command (which he knows well)....then treat. We did this until we could give him slack on the leash and he would just sit when approached. And I think the important thing is, that I think Rob alluded to, is to make sure people don't make a big fuss over them.....it makes a huge difference.
> 
> Just as an example....as friendly as my guys are, they can easily walk by people and not flinch. They have a couple of friends whose humans we pass frequently on walks. As soon as the human mommy sees them, she starts in ....well, they go totally beserk!!!! One other instance, she said absolutely nothing to them and they actually behaved as they should (wagged their tails but no going nutso). But, when they see the dogs...that's a whole other story!!!


 This is how I do it. It takes CONSISTANT practice but Laurie has explained it well. Keep practicing it will come.


----------



## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Flora does this too. She will sit when people tell her to, but it's like the excitement is WAY too much for her because she starts trembling and then she finally just bursts into full-blown jumping. People who were like "Aw your dog is so cute!" suddenly turn into "Oh... your dog crazy."


----------



## Mssjnnfer (Aug 9, 2009)

Thanks for all the advice everyone! 

I really like the idea about taking him out during trick or treating... but I'm also worried because he'll be around a bunch of my-sized-hoomans with bags of treasure at eye level with him. :uhoh: LOL

I think my problem really might be the people... each time he gets a pet or attention for jumping or being excited, it's all over... everything we worked on.

My mom's finally got the idea, and he actually will sit for her before getting pet now. 

I feel a lot better now! 

Anyone wanna volunteer to come help? LOL!


----------



## Laurie (Sep 20, 2009)

Mssjnnfer said:


> Anyone wanna volunteer to come help? LOL!


 
Would be there in heartbeat if you were closer!!!!! 

You'll do fine......just be consistent and remind him who's boss (easier said than done)!!


----------



## Candyjanney (Aug 26, 2011)

Augh good advice. My puppy is crazy with people, especially my downstairs neighbor. I'm starting to get irritated because he is not helping me much and gets Soooo riled up with pilot that he turns into a disobedient butthead with him around.. I am at my wits end with him leaping at little children he can knock over on top of that..


----------



## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

What helped with getting Tess' CGC was playing fetch with her before we went in. I had her running around for about half an hour and then we took the test. I believe she was just glad she could sit at a all...Of course that doesn't solve the problem, but might help with getting the CGC and getting more confidence again!


----------



## OutWest (Oct 6, 2011)

I completely agree with Inge--a tired dog behaves better. Sounds like what you need is to have the dog have some successes so you can reinforce them

So, maybe get him really tired before taking him out in public. This would be a good time to use a high value treat--hot dogs? Make sure he knows you're holding them, and keep his attention on you. Tell the people you encounter that you're not ignoring them, but are training your dog while you are talking to them. 

He'll get it at some point. It's so hard to get mad at them for _liking_ people isn't it! And yet that's probably why most of us have Goldens.


----------

