What to do when visitors come

[Susie Vetter]

My Jersey is pretty perfect. She is the right size, weight, easily trained for the normal stuff. Crate trained in two days. Potty trained I four days. She was a very sweet puppy She is now 15 months old and here is the issue. When someone comes to the door she goes ballistic. When they come in she jumps up and bites their clothes and/or arm. It is actually quite vicious She does the same to me when I leave without her or look like I am. She also bites at people's hand when they reach out to say hello, especially kids. This happens often because she is very pretty and little. It is embarrassing to say the least, and painful. I am not sure what to do. Any advise would be helpful. PLEASE!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Is she biting or mouthing? Really, this could be entirely different situations. It would be hard to carry on a discussion when we don't know the behavior or issue.
Can you tell us: is she excited, angry, trying to attack, cowering , or an over- stimulated happy pup?

[Susie Vetter]

All of the above really. I am going to try to train her to a place. I love her so much and she is in every other way, perfect......

[Elizabeth & *Kosci*.]

My girl is always excited to meet who's on the other side of the door,and is bouncy and mouthy. I now when I hear the knock, place her on a leash, I stand with her sitting a way from the door and let the visitor greet us , while the dog continue to sit. It can be a juggling act, but I've had family and close friend come especially to 'practice on'.

[Sara Schultz]

We do similar to what Elizabeth does.

Actually, we use a "Kuranda" bed as Lucy's "place." When someone rings the doorbell, we've trained her (with a trainer's help - it took lots of work and practice being consistent) to go to "place." I tell her every time and make sure that my kids do also. Lucy has to sit there when the people come in and if she stays, I let her receive a greeting from the guest; if not, I ask them to ignore her until she obeys and gets back on.

She doesn't hurt people, but is just too enthusiastic in greeting them, and she jumps and does not immediately obey the "off" command. Inviting guests inside is SO much better now that we have a "place" for Lucy. I think the fact that what I expect is super clear-cut helps a lot.

Hope this helps!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Although still a work in progress, this is what we are doing at our house as well.  You obviously have to start with a very good Sit/Stay or it is a loosing battle.  You also need people who are willing to cooperate when you are training and not continue saying Oh it's ok, don't worry about it.  It takes lots of practice.  You can do it over and over and over in one day and think they have it but if no one comes to the door for a couple days, then it is like starting over.

[Susie Vetter]

Thanks.  This sounds very doable.  I will give it a shot

[Susie Vetter]

I will certainly try this. It has been suggested by a few and I thank everyone for your input. 

[Jennifer and Jack]

Jack jumps and mouths to. If it is someone new I always leash him so I can give an immediate correction. I also give him a peanut butter kong right as I see a car pull up having prepared it in advance.

[Moe]

We practiced this a lot when Charlie was young. I used to put her in a sit, open the door and ring the bell myself. I did it so many times she just got bored. Now she doesn't bark when the bell rings. (I don't want her to sound an alert). After she got over the bell we moved on to having people come in. We just practiced it 5 minutes every day. It takes a lot of work. I just posted this in another thread but this is how we did it:

Sit Stay Greet:  We practice this when people come over. It helps to have a friend or neighbor that will help you practice. Your dog will have to know sit and stay. Put the dog in a sit / stay, have someone come in, if they remain seated the person can pet the dog or let the dog sniff them. (you can click or treat for this also). If the dog jumps the person moves away, you'll have to have the dog leashed. You don't pull them back, just hold the leash. I practice this when my boys have friends over. I give each one of them a treat and tell them to come into the house and pet the dog and give her a treat if she is sitting. If she jumps they walk on. Last week there were ten 13 year olds over so she got a ton of practice.

[Susie Vetter]

That is a great idea. I will have to get friends to start coming over to help  thank you. 

[Susie Vetter]

So how did you train her to go to a spot?

Hi.  Sorry. I could not figure out how to get back to the page. So there is not really any growling. She just jumps up with her teeth out and biting. Aggressively. It does not appear to be mouthing. More aggressive than that. Once she settles down she is fine.  It is very odd actually.  If you walk in like you own the place she settles more quickly.  I just took a new job.  She has virtually been by herself all day and has been perfect. 

I appreciate any ideas you might have.  Someone mentioned an Altoids box with bolts in it. To startle her. I am going to try that. Has anyone had any success with something like that?

[Nicky, Riley & Boris]

Susie, mouthing and biting are two very different things.  One is trainable and the other is a huge problem. You have used the word vicious but I wonder if you can elaborate.  Are we talking about aggression here or a very enthusiastic greeter.  As you can see from the other comments most of us have had to deal with over enthusiastic greeters some of whom are mouthy and there is great advice here.  If you have an aggressive dog then that demands a different reaction altogether.