Is Your Dog Overly Excited About Guests?

It’s not the worst thing that can happen, your dog gets extremely excited when you have people over for a visit.

Lots of people take that attitude and they let their dog’s behavior continue.  They even let their guests encourage the behavior by giving the dog attention when he’s so excited.

However, if your dog is jumping up on your guests or licking them, it means he’s showing some behaviors that you don’t want to see your dog doing no matter what the circumstances are.

If your dog is acting this way it can also mean you have some guests who may be scared, or you could have children or older people who get knocked over, and those are things you always want to avoid.

Why Your Dog Is Excited

In the first place, you should know that what you think is excitement in your dog isn’t always excitement.  It may be that your dog is jumping around trying to let your guests know that she’s the boss.  If your dog is jumping on your visitors she is telling them that she’s in charge and letting them know it.

Other times, a dog may be trying to get attention.  The dog knows that if they bounce around the room in front of people they will get some attention.  It gets your attention, doesn’t it?

Stopping the Behavior

If you remember this information then it’s not so hard to stop your dog from jumping on people and getting too excited.  Here are a few tips to help you cut the behavior out fast:

You Need to Be the Leader of the Pack at All Times

You should take charge of your home.  Your dog won’t try to take over the role of leader or be dominant if you are already clearly the leader of the pack in your home.  You can do this by being adamant and not giving in to your dog.

You should make your dog earn the things you give him, don’t falter or change your mind when you give a command, and watch carefully how your dog interacts with other animals and people in the house so you can stay in charge.

When You Come Home You Should Ignore Your Dog

If your dog gets excited or anxious when you come home you need to change your dog’s expectations.  He probably expects attention as soon as anyone comes in the door.  Start ignoring your dog when you come home everyday and you will change what your dog expects.

If your dog learns that you won’t walk him or pet him as soon as you come home each day, then he will stop looking for that same attention from your visitors when they come through the door.

Require Correct Behavior

If your dog engages in behavior like jumping on your visitors or licking them, you need to correct your dog’s behavior.  You shouldn’t hit your dog or yell at him.  That will only confuse him and lead to aggression.

However, you need to “reset” your dog or make him start over.  Have your dog sit and don’t allow him to have any attention until he becomes submissive and calm.

Have Your Dog Sit with Your Visitors

Before you allow people to come in the house, have your dog sit and wait for them to enter from a slight distance.  You can have an imaginary line that your dog isn’t allowed to cross.

You should “own” your door and take control of it.  If your dog starts to leave his sitting position you shouldn’t open the door.

Explain to Your Visitors

You should talk to your visitors so they understand they shouldn’t give your dog any attention right away.  Tell them they shouldn’t make eye contact with your dog or interact with him.  You may need to be just about as strict with your visitors as you are with your dog.

If you are consistent and behave as the pack leader in your home, then it will do a great deal toward getting rid of your dog’s bad behaviors, especially jumping and being overly excited when people visit.

Take charge and show your dog how she should behave.  If you are consistent with your dog and your visitors then this kind of bad behavior should disappear very quickly.

Until next time……

About the Author: Wayne Booth is owner of in Nashville, TN.  Wayne has been teaching people how to become Professional Dog Trainers since 1990 and he is the Training Director of Canine Behavior Specialists Network, www.K9-University.com .

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