[Old Blue 66]

As described in the title to this thread, this pup thoroughly understands sit, lay down and all basics. He proves it at home - when he wants too.

BUT.....when a friend comes over, everthging is out the door. He doesnt listen, goes crazy and jumps on the guest and barks. He's very social and just wants to make friends and play. Its gotten so bad that we cant have anyone over. If we put him in the cage, he'll bark to an ear piercing sound.

The same goes for walks. When a stagnger approaches or another dog is coming, he doesnt listen at all and just lunges at whom ever is approaching with loud bark.

We love him to death but he is embarrassing all of us. The neighbors may think he's crazy and we look like we cant controll our dog. We know he's very smart but dont know where to go to curb this behaivier.

Anyone with help??

 

[Greater Swiss]

Well, I'd work on the basics at home some more so its not just "when he wants to" so its when you ask him to. Have you tried clicker training, or marker training? (basically the same thing, but its just a matter of if you use a clicker or not, you mark the exact moment that they do the desired behaviour)

Recruit a friend to come by, keep him on leash, and far from the door (but can hopefully see the person). He'll probably go nuts for a while, don't let him go to the person or get away from you (if he's pulling really hard you might want to use a harness instead of a collar just so he doesn't hurt himself). Once he calms down (and he will, but it might take a really long time!) give a treat! If he is listening to cues at this point you could try a sit or down, though he might be too hyper to listen at all, don't ruin these cues by repeating them when he isn't listening. At this point you might be better just giving treats for being calm. Then decrease the distance between the visitor and him, more treats so long as he is calm, when he gets hyper again back up a tiny bit, wait for calm and give a treat for calmness.
Repeat repeat repeat. Do it with different people, inside and outside. You'll have to recruit friends who are willing to help though. If he does get to them and jumps they need to turn away and ignore him, not (as some of my unhelpful friends have done) say "its ok" and pet/greet him while he is doing this behaviour.
Use the above technique with lots of things, inside and out, getting closer so long as he is calm, and lots of treats when he is being calm. Don't yell or scold (it can amp things up, at most use a quiet but firm "No" if you feel you need to say anything).
It takes a LONG time, Caeda is like that quite often too, and we're working on it and she is slowly improving. The more consistent you are, the faster improvement will come. Consistency with this kind of thing can be hard outside of an actual "training session", which is why things have taken a while with us....we haven't been as diligent when we have unexpected guests or unhelpful ones. Try to (at least act) calm and patient during the entire thing, I know how embarassing it is. Others might have better advice for you, but after lots of searching this was the best technique I found. Obedience training/socialization classes can help too.

 

[doxiemommy]

That's good advice. I'd just add that greeting properly, or using good doggy manners isn't always natural to some dogs. Some, like my parents' dog, and my brother's dogs, and my dog Abby, are very low key, and calm around everyone. But, others, like my mini dachshund, Harper, need help/training to show them what to do. So, you have to train it, just as you would any other behavior you want them to have.

Practice, and consistency really helps, as do lots of willing friends that know they're coming over not for a visit, but to help train!

 

[stevej9]

A lot of times, our guests are to blame for our dogs bad behavior when they are home. Instruct your next guest to do this before they step into the door:

1) When they enter, tell them to not interact with your dog in anyway. No bending down to touch them. No talking to them. Not even looking at them.

This will automatically make your dog behave differently around them.

2) Your dog will then sniff them all over. Tell your guest to just stand there and let the dog sniff him. This is like shaking hands for dogs.

3) If your dog jumps on your guest, instruct your guest to kindly but firmly push your dog away.

For the walks:

Go on a really long walk with your dog next to you, not pulling you. Your dogs attention should be on you during the walk; you are his leader. Get him really, really, tired, then try walking next to new people and dogs. His behavior will be much, much, more relaxed. He may not even look at them for more than a second. He will be in migration mode.

Keep going on these long walks, and he will get better. He will learn to be a more calm down. As your relationship with him gets stronger (meaning, he beings to understand that you are his leader and what you say goes, no matter what), then he will start responding very quickly to you when you don't allow something. He might lunge at a dog, but when you make a sound of disapproval or a quick tug on the leash, he will stop what he's doing and change his focus back on to you. The more walks you take with him where you are in control, the more control you have over your dog every day!

Good luck!

 

[lil_fuzzy]

Put the dog on a leash when people are over so he can't practice any bad behaviour. Just sit calmly and chat with your visitor and ignore the dog. Put your foot on the leash if you have to.

When the dog realises there is no point and stops acting silly, reward him. Repeat. Don't ever let the dog practice bad behaviour because then he will think it's ok. Stop him from practicing bad behaviour, set him up so he's likely to do the behaviour you want (sitting or lying calmly) and reward for that. This way trying to be silly doesn't pay off ever, so he will give up. Doing what you want pays off, so when given the option between doing something that never pays off and doing things that pay off, he will choose the latter.

 

[petpeeve]

As described in the title to this thread, this pup thoroughly understands sit, lay down and all basics. He proves it at home - when he wants too.

Interesting choice of words. I think you may have answered your own question.

If the dog thoroughly understands what's expected of him at home, but not elsewhere, then he needs to be "proofed". IOW he needs to learn to perform the behaviours in a variety of locations and with a variety of distractions. Remember, that dogs don't generalize very well on their own, it's up to you to teach him via slow and gradual transference.

 

[Old Blue 66]

Thank you for al lthe replys. All are well taken and will give it a try. He just looses his mind when a distraction comes along. Otherwise he's a great pup.