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?

[Alisha T.]

I just thought of something that the trainer (from the class we failed) mentioned to help with the jumping when people come over.  She said to get this large stick bone thing. Ok, it's a dried out bull penis.  She said when someone is coming to the door give it to them and then it's too hard for them to jump up with this large "stick" and so they don't try.  Just a thought...

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

Training my two to be appropriate door greeters was challenging. You really need to wait until Ace knows a few commands, such as "sit/stay," "down/stay," and "place." If you can't count on him to obey these commands, it's pointless to use them, because you'll be training him to not listen to you!  Then, choose one to use before you open the door. I tell my guys "blanket," (our word for place), and they lie down on the area rug by the door, and stay there until I release them with the commands, "release" and "greetings." It's really less complicated than it sounds. This was not possible when they were very young, and took LOTS of practice. 

When you're out in public and don't want Ace to jump on people, tell him to sit and then put your foot down firmly on the leash, so that the leash is anchored to the ground. Depending on the size of the dog, this could leave 12 inches between the collar and your foot; for a larger dog, a greater measure of leash. So, if you're stepping on Ace's leash, and he has no slack, he will not be able to jump. Eventually, he should learn to sit when someone approaches you when you're out and about.

Good luck!  You'll get there.

[Alisha T.]

Those are really good suggestions that I really am going to get started on.  Lola is seven months, how old will she need to be before I know she is old enough to be ready to not just learn but actually obey?

[Laurie, Wally & Charlotte]

I don't think it's so much a matter of age, but more a matter of reliability. When you can leave the room and Lola will not break her stay, then you can move on to more distractibility tests. Tell her to sit/stay and place a treat on the floor in front of her, but not within reach. If she'll stay put even when the food is right in front of her, you can be pretty sure that she's got the idea! If I was pressed to say an exact age, I'd wager that this could be accomplished by 8 months. It really does depend on how much time you're willing to invest. You could also have a friend come to the door, and practice that way. You could apply the step-on-the leash idea to make sure that she doesn't budge when your friend enters. I still reward my guys when they've heeded my place/blanket command and I release them to greet whomever is at the door. 

[SoSa]

Great tips, thanks. Ace can sit, stay and leave it pretty well. We still have more work to do on stay. He's terrible with down. I did try the step on leash just just past Monday when my neighbor came over during a potty break. He started to go nuts, but I ignored my neighbor (she completely understood) until I could get Ace calmed down. I also had treats on hand to reward sitting and no jumping. When he would ignore commands, I stepped on the leash and before I knew it, he was laying down and I was able to converse. He wasn't perfect, but better. We still have a lot of work to do when it comes to anyone outside of my family interacting with Ace.