Out of control with visitors

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

We are having difficulty getting Harley under control when people come to our house.  Family have been very understanding, but he is getting so big (55lbs at 5 months) that he can hurt without realizing it and I am finding it more difficulty to control him when he is at his highest level of excitement.  DH is becoming frustrated with this particular behavior, concerned that he is going to really hurt some one.  Well last night came very close to that.  We had pizza delivered and it was an elderly driver, Harley got past DH at door and took off to great him, jumped up on him and knocked him off balance and scared him to death.   Of course his desire to mouth, mouth, mouth with a greeting didn't help any either.  I would appreciate any suggestions.  I am wondering if an e-collar (once he is old enough) would be good.  DH is not in favor of this, but due to Harley's size I know this behavior must be gotten under control now.  Thank you DK'ers in advance. Love this site and the wealth of information and advice I get.

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

Thanks Adina for your advise.  I completely agree that I need to know Harley will listen and obey my commands under any circumstance.  Hubby and I are both in agreement that we are needing a trainer to assist and are looking into either a class or an individual setting.  You mentioned that an e-collar is not appropriate in this situation and since I have never used one, I'm curious what is appropriate use?  Thank you again for your advise.

 

[Adina P]

I think it's appropriate as an additional layer for off leash work for a dog that has been trained in obedience or if you're going to do all obedience using the ecollar.  I think it's a great tool if you're going to the beach, for instance, and your dog's recall is not 100%.  With the wide open space, loudness of waves, your dog might not even hear you when you call as it is enjoying this new freedom.  But if it is trained to the recall and trained to respond to blip on the collar then it's nice security to have without having to worry about training right then and there.  For the most part it should be used to correct a dog who is not responding to a command he knows well and has had a lot of practice with.  NOT merely for exuberance because the correction really needs to be CLEAR to the dog. If a dog is just bouncing and out of control and you zap it...does it know WHAT IT SHOULD be doing? Some dogs respond oddly to electricity and might connect the wrong puzzle pieces together unless it's done right.

 

Another area I think the collar is okay for is predatory behavior where impulse is super strong in a dog or for things you'd rather be hidden for (like correcting counter surfing).  But even in those cases, there are appropriate ways to set it up so that you are successful and the dog is CLEAR on what's going on.  You wouldn't just take a dog out with a small critter and zap it once it's in a full on chase.   Lou Castle has some good articles online about this...in our Help section we have a list of links and his site is one of them.

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

We have an x-pen set up and I sometimes place her in there when the doorbell goes, she is to sit before anyone is to greet her.
Or we have a mat that she is to sit on till the visitor comes in the house.this works well if we have someone to do the sit stay and someone to open the door.

[Kathy, Harley & Roxie]

I looked on you tube, but found only for basic commands, is there one specifically for greeting visitors?  Harley does very well with basic commands until there is a high level of excitement.