How to get my overly excited dog to listen when meeting people?

3. Avarietyofexperiences Go out of your way to encounter different types of people, places, animals, walking surfaces, noises, and other situations. Give treats to friendly strangers to give to your dog; most people will happily oblige an obedient puppy. Some Ideas/ Suggestions: • Enroll in a “puppy preschool” class and start training early. • Sit on a bench with your puppy, near a school when the kids are coming out • Take your puppy to a public park where people jog, rollerblade, and ride bikes. • Show them how fun water can be with a baby pool. • Take your puppy in the car with you when you run errands or go through the drive- thru (don’t do on a full puppy stomach). Vaccination concerns The risk of your puppy developing serious behavior problems from being poorly socialized is far greater than that of infectious disease. But to be safe, only let your puppy interact with dogs that you know are physically and behaviorally healthy and vaccinated. In addition, don’t let him play in unclean environments, such as dog parks, that may be contaminated with germs from unknown dogs, until he has received all of his vaccinations, usually at 16 weeks. Please contact your veterinarian for more information about socialization and health care for your new addition. Further Reading American Veterinary Society for Animal Behavior, www.avsabonline.org

Jumping on people to greet them is a very common and normal dog behavior - but since most humans don't appreciate it, it's definitely a good idea to teach him not to do this :) I would recommend keeping Scooby on-leash when he meets people, so that you can prevent him from continuing to practice this behavior. Stand at a distance from the person, and ask him to sit - reward with a treat when he does. Then move a bit closer, and ask him to sit again. If he gets too excited, just back up to where he can be calm again and focus, then try again. Eventually, with practice, you should be able to walk him right up to a person and ask him to sit before they pet him. If you have trouble doing this, you may want to find a good reward-based trainer in your area who can work with you in person. You can search for a qualified trainer in your area here: www.ccpdt.org

This is a very common problem with young, friendly dogs - they become overly excited when they greet people, and can't control their jumping and mouthing. This problem can be treated effectively with good training, but it will require you to be patient and consistent since it takes quite a while for most dogs to learn to control themselves in these situations. Training for this problem involves rewarding your dog for keeping all four paws on the floor as people approach, and gradually increasing the level of difficulty to include petting and actual greetings once he is doing well. Here is a link to an excellent discussion on training for this problem, including a video demonstrating this technique: https://denisefenzipetdogs.com/2015/09/14/jumping-on-people/ If you still have trouble, I would suggest getting in touch with a good reward-based trainer who can help you in person. You can search for a qualified trainer in your area here: www.ccpdt.org

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! You should start with one on one training and NO walks until he is trained. Hire a trainer. Use positive reinforcement and train him to "sit, "heal" on a leash, "look," and "leave it." Also get him used to the gentle leader harness that goes on the muzzle, this allows for amazing head control. Once he is used to the harness and is able to listen to you at home, practice outside on a leash. When people approach ask him to "look" at you and sit. When he does this and ignores the person passing by he gets a treat and verbal praise. You can do this with people you know first. This will take A LOT of time and effort on your part but it should help. https://www.petco.com/shop/SearchDisplay?categoryId=&storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&sType=SimpleSearch&resultCatEntryType=2&showResultsPage=true&searchSource=Q&pageView=&beginIndex=0&pageSize=24&fromPageValue=search&searchTerm=gentle+leader&omnitureEnabled=false&cm_sp=SearchSuggest-_-gentle+leader-_-Location&searchsuggestion_keyword=gentle+leader I wish you and Bruno the best!

In terms of Bruin's greeting when you walk in the door, the best way to prevent her from nipping at your hands or ankles would be to only acknowledge her on your terms. While everyone is happy and excited to see their dog when they get home, in cases such as these where there is a behavior problem, sometimes our interactions with our pets must be altered. When you walk in the house for the next few days, I would ask that you consider not playing into her excitement. Instead, do not pet her or give her attention until she has calmed and settled down. Once settled, you should reward her with love and attention. If she still nibbles or bites, cease giving attention and walk away. Alternatively, you can have a toy in another hand and give her the toy to play with. If she takes it, reward her profusely with praise and/or treats. Since she is a Border Collie, she will likely pick up on things quite quickly. Training her to not become excited and/or nervous around guests will be a more difficult task. At least for the near future, I would recommend keeping her on leash when guests first enter the house and for the first several minutes they are present. Once off leash, instruct your guests not to acknowledge her if she is overly pushy or nibbling. If she settles down, your guest should reward her similarly as you were. It is all about repetition and consistency with behavior. I hope you and Bruin figure things out.

Many dogs have this problem - it's called leash reactivity :) It happens because Laika is so excited to see another dog, and frustrated because she can't immediately run over to them - which leads to barking and lots of crazy, uncontrollable behavior. Fortunately, this behavior is usually very treatable with a good training plan. Normally, a training plan for these dogs involves using very tasty treats to reward calm behavior at a distance from another dog - it's critical that you're far enough away that she can be calm and take treats, which means that you may need a lot of distance at first! Once she understands the game and is doing well, you can gradually move closer. It can be hard to do this on your own at first, so I would really recommend getting in touch with a good reward-based trainer who can help you in person. He/she can help by setting up controlled training situations at first with a calm "helper dog" to help both of you get the idea of how to work on the problem, until you're ready to transition to real life scenarios like passing another dog on a walk.

When Pilot barks, you respond. You have now reinforced this behavior. You need to find a new way for him to "ask" for something. The best option is sit. When he wants your attention he needs to sit first. When he does, then he gets what he wants. You don't pay attention to him until he is sitting. This goes for eating, going outside, petting, when you come home, when he wants you to throw the ball. Basically, you need to retrain him and only positively reinforce when he is still and quiet. Kisses to Pilot!