# Over excited with strangers



## origin8or (Sep 7, 2007)

Hello all, long time lurker not much of a poster but... Our 11 month old Golden who I have trained from a pup and who knows all commands, sit, stay, down, heel, fetch, shake paw, rollover, and off leash runs and walks by the creek etc. doesn't seem to listen to "stay" when strangers (to him) enter our home. It's like Jekyll and Hyde! With us alone in the home he is perfect but if I happen to be upstairs when someone knocks on the door or a relative enters the home he goes barreling towards them ready to knock them on their butt.

He never barks (ever) and doesn't bite or lick people so I don't really know what he is trying to accomplish by rushing the guests.

My trainer suggested keeping him on a "short" leash 20 minutes before a guest arrives, if I know ahead of time, to keep him calm and stay that way when the guest enters the room. Once he is calm let him off the leash. Problem with this has been that he is perfect before the guests come and goes nuts on the leash when they arrive so i am not anxious to let him off the leash when they are visiting. So far it's meant keeping him in his crate any time we have guests over.

Any suggestions for calming him down?

Cheers,
-Rob


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## Carsonsdaddy (Nov 1, 2006)

Carson is this way also. What I've figured out is that he just wants to say "hi". So I've started controlling his greeting. I hold on to his collar and have him sit to say hi. Then once he's calmed down (roughly 5 mins or so) I let him go, and he's much better.


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

Welcome to the world of golden retrievers :

Daisy is still like this but not so much the rushing anymore. She's almost 7 years old. I put a sign on the window by my door, "Be aware, HAPPY DOG lives here


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## Kzwicker (Aug 14, 2007)

I have to stand on Murphy's leash so that he cant jump, then it give the guests the option of saying hi on there terms. As soon as they say Hi he is ok. My trainer bonked all the puppies on the head when they jumped, but I can see where a stranger would have a problem with that..


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

Practice, practice, practice. See if you can set up training sessions with a number of friends. The lead helps. If you want your dog to "sit" when company arrives, make sure the visitor knows exactly what reaction you want the dog to have. When the dog responds correctly, you can reward the behavior. The visitor doesn't need to be the one to reward the behavior. Sometimes visitor's are uncomfortabel interacting with dogs, so you rewarding might be the way to go.

I'm sure the trainers on here will give you some great advice.


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## gold'nchocolate (May 31, 2005)

origin8or said:


> Problem with this has been that he is perfect before the guests come and goes nuts on the leash when they arrive so i am not anxious to let him off the leash when they are visiting.
> Cheers,
> -Rob


This is what worked for me with Biscuit. I used Cesar Millan's method of *"no talk...no touch...no eye contact".* I used to have a home daycare so his jumping on people was a real problem, several times a day. I tried putting him on a leash when people came in but then I was just struggling with the leash.

The thing that your guests will need to do is *not talk* to him, *don't* lean down to *touch* him (not even to prevent him from jumping--they can block with a knee but can't use their hands) and they *can't look* at him---keep all eyes 'up'. Keep everyone (especially children) from using high, squeaky voices while talking to him. I was totally amazed that this worked the very first time I tried it, but you have to do this everytime. Now he greets people by carrying something in his mouth to show them.


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## Griffyn'sMom (Mar 22, 2007)

You've described Griff to a T! I will try telling guests to ignore him - it may work but it's hard to get guests to follow through with it.


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## Me&Ruby (Aug 20, 2007)

So glad it's not just us! And Ruby only STARTED doing this one month ago!

We try to tell people, but they don't always heed! This morning, this man in the park even lifted her higher on her paws going "HELLO HELLO HELLO" close to her face - and he had a dog himself!!!!


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## Amber (Nov 2, 2007)

Yep, Lexy is 2 years old and he goes crazy when someone comes to the door. I've always been frightened of dogs ( and would have to walk away if I heard a dog barking on the other side of the door) and am very conscious of people that may react in the same way.

When visitors arrive, especially if there is a group - Lexy will dash out and then straight back in the house to find a toy to bring out to them. I've tried getting him to sit and stay whilst I open the door .. it is starting to work but I can see it will be a long process. He just doesn't want to miss out on anything! Regular visitors now know, it's just that 5 mins of excitement and then he's really calm.

On a positive note - the crazy barking when someone is near the door is quite useful as a warning to us! Helps get rid of hawkers/unwanted callers... and recently Lexy alerted us (and neighbours) to a prowler in the early hours! He has a really 'big dog's bark' so it's best that they hear him and are scared off. Now if they saw him..... it would be a different story!

I recall reading that it helps if visitors give the dog a treat but I've not really tried that one.


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## Goldndust (Jul 30, 2005)

Typical golden if you ask me! I'm guessing though something has been reinforced with the trigger that causes the response in the past, so it builds. I would go with the advise of no touch, no talk, no eye contact from the visitors since this is probally what has caused it to begin with. I would also make sure she has plenty of exercise before visitors come, if you can time it right. Another option is to remove her before opening the door and crate or gate her off until she moves into a calmer state of mind, once you see this then let her out to greet the visitors and and remind her if it is needed of "Sit". Also, make sure the visitors do not give her any of the above that was mentioned until she is in a submissive calm state, but usually by gating off if necessary this will bring on the calm submissive state and she will chill, then it is safe to let her out. Otherwise she is so high and full of energy you can't control them, and they do not hear a word your saying do too that energy. Another thing I've noticed is company can also as there coming in have that high energy level as well, so they are actually feeding that high energy the dog already has so they too get a chance to chill before the dog is allowed to come and greet.

It's very hard to correct a golden in front of others that come in, your not only dealing with the energy level of your dog, your also dealing with the energy level of that person so one is feeding the other so I have found this method works the best for many situations, give it a try it may help you and since she is knocking them over, you don't want her to hurt them either with her rambunctious behavior. Of course, you will remind her of the correct behavior once she chills if she would not "Sit", this is where you can get into the training part of it, but yet she will be able to hear you compared to when she was in that high energy state of mind where she doesn't.


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## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

One of the most important lessons that I have taught Rookie is that "All good things come to dogs who sit." That includes attention from guests. 

My guests are instructed to ignore Rookie when they come in. I tell them in advance that they should not look at Rookie, talk to him, or touch him until he settles down. He does still occasionally jump, but I coach my guests to turn their back when he does that.

Eventually Rookie will sit down and stare up at them. When he is sitting there looking at them, I give my guests the okay to pet the dog. I have found that this works even with kids. It usually takes a minute or two before he sits, but he always sits eventually.


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## origin8or (Sep 7, 2007)

Thanks for the advice everyone! Sounds like it all comes with time.


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