Ultra Hyper Puppy with Other People Suggestions

[SoSa]

For the most part, Ace is good here at home with us. He has his zoomie moments, usually around 6pm, but we anticipate that. When he gets too excited at home we can curb his behavior with some treats and training. The problem is when other people are around. There is no controlling this guy. When we go to the vet, he goes from 0 to 100 immediately. When someone comes to our house same thing, 0 to 100.

Today, we had a fence guy come to give us an estimate. The guy came at the same time as potty time. Ace went nuts. Not in an aggressive mean way, but jumping and licking the guy and not listening to our commands. He completely forgot about going potty. Since has always been afraid to go down stairs, I told my daughters to take him up on the deck so the guy can do his work and give me an estimate. They brought Ace up to the deck and for the first time since we've had him, he RAN down the steps as if he was going down steps out of the womb. We were all amazed that he did that, but that's just how amped up he gets. I tried the whole forget about the guy and focus on the puppy thing, getting him to sit and lie down then treat, but he would not stay. He went right back to jumping on the guy. My daughters and I were all flustered. Perhaps we should have brought him back inside and put him in time out, but we wanted him to pee.

Any advice?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If he'd been on a leash, you could easily have controlled him, kept him from jumping on the fence man, running down the stairs, etc. 

[SoSa]

He was on a leash.

[SoSa]

...and he was pulling extremely hard on the leash, so hard that he was gagging and that did not stop him.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I don't understand. How can a little puppy jump on someone if you have him on a leash, no matter how hard he pulls? You have the means to keep him from getting close enough to the person to jump on them. Are you using a retractable leash? 

[SoSa]

Because he was pulling extremely hard on the leash and in an effort not to allow the puppy to choke himself, my daughter would loosen the grip on the leash. Maybe it's one of those "you had to be there" kind of moments in order for you to really appreciate the moment. You're trying to prevent him from choking himself and when you are pulling him back with your hands not only are you trying to prevent him from jumping, but your also trying to prevent him from nipping at you...

...anyway, he was on a leash, it was a cray cray moment, it's over and some folks gave me some good advice for future similar situations that may arise. Thanks for your input though.

[BG and Gavin]

It probably was not funny in the moment but you paint a pretty hilarious picture. I probably would have put him in his crate when he showed that much excitement. So young and so little control over himself yet. It will come along.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Ace is a baby...not even a toddler.  He is easily excitable....because he's just a baby.  He can't control that, so you need to try your best to control his environment to avoid this totally typical over-excited behavior....at least for now.  Later you can start to train him to learn to control his excitement...and his behavior.  For a puppy this young trying to train him to "sit" and "down" with this intense distraction is way too much.  You need to work your way up to that level of distraction...and again he's awfully young to succeed.  If you really needed him to potty that badly, I would have taken him on leash to another part of the yard and then brought him back inside (again on leash) and crated him.  Until he's old enough for the training for how to act when there's a stranger in the house/yard....I would avoid placing him in this situation by keeping him crated.

[Wendy and Myla]

Myla will be three in March and this is probably my biggest training failure.  No matter what I do or try to do, if someone comes to the house, she will run up and love them to death. I have been able to get her to the point where she won't jump up on anyone and she will eventually sit and stay, but OMD, she just sits and quivers in excitement.  I have tried everything stated in the training group and to no avail - we, and our family, have just come to accept that this is a " Myla thing".

It will be interesting to see if Ace will continue to go down the steps now!  I love that visual! 

[SoSa]

:-) It was pretty funny in hindsight.

[SoSa]

Yes, he has been going down the stairs on his own since the incident. LOL!!! Thank goodness be because he is getting heavy and I recently sprained my back and ankle.

[SoSa]

Next time we will definitely bring him back inside and crate him. :-) Thanks for the tips guys.

[Maryann,Roo and Tigger]

I can just picture it - funny, LOL funny, -but not when it's your dog.  Roo and Tigger are brothers about a year apart.  Tigger is Mister Mellow when anyone visits. Roo, at seven is still pretty much like Ace.  He just is sooooo very happy that anyone has come to visit.  I have only recently and finally gotten him to go to his crate on his own and stay with the door open when visitors come.  As you can tell it has been a long haul, so I might not be the best one to give advice, but I sure can empathize.

Currently I am working on having him leave his crate and come sit in front of the cookie jar when someone comes to stay.  He is supposed to sit, be petted - get a cookie and then stay calm.  It is a work in progress for sure.