Calming Down

[Eleanor]

My 2 1/2 year old doodle is a good girl in every way except when someone comes over.  She gets so excited when the bell rings and someone comes in she'll start jumping all over them and running around the house and will pee a little if they pet her. I usually have to put her in her cage and I do not want to do that.  Even when in her cage if  someone goes over to the cage to say hello, she'll pee from excitement.  I was hopeful that this would calm down with age. I especially have to put her in the cage each time my grandkids come over for a visit because she will jump on them and scare them or knock them down.  She is almost 70 lbs.  It's so hard to break her out of this habit because I can not control her when someone comes in and I have no choice but to put her away because people are afraid.

When my grandkids spend the night she spends most her time in her cozy cage or being shuffled from one area of the house to another depending on where the kids are.  It's crazy. 

I was thinking of trying to work with a trainer?  Not sure yet.    Any suggestions.  

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is all about training, training, and more training. 

One of our members has posted several excellent videos showing how she worked with her two doodles on this, which I think will be very helpful for you:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/video/we-need-to-work-on-our

http://www.doodlekisses.com/video/door-bell-training

http://www.doodlekisses.com/video/doorbell-etiquette

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The very first step with this kind of training is to work on a solid "Down-stay", and to do that, your dog needs to be solid with the basic "down" command. "Go to your place" helps with this too. If you have not worked on these basic commands, that's the place to start. 

[BG and Gavin]

Great advice from Karen and great resources from Jane.
Here is one more on umbilical or tether training. http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/umbilical-tether-training-...

[Eleanor]

With this sort of training once the dog is off the leash will they start following you all around the house since they are used to being tethered to you?  I don't want to create another problem.  Will this work with a 2 1/2 year old girl?

[BG and Gavin]

You only do it for 15 or 20 minutes twice a day if possible. My dog does not follow me around all day. The idea is that the dog begins to pay better attention to you and look to you for direction. You will see in Jane's videos that specifically address doorbells, you give the dog a competing behaviour to perform. He is actively doing something else (taking his focus off of the commotion at the door). While putting him in the crate takes the problem away from the door, it is not an active response on the dog's part. The umbilical training is just a really good warm up to increase bonding and gain focus from the dog overall. Then you will be more ready and more easily be able to execute specific training like door bell etiquette. A dog is never too old for this.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Just to avoid confusion, the videos are from Sheri, (Lucy & Annabelle's mom) not Jane. :)

[BG and Gavin]

Oops my mistake.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

BG, do you think tethering might not be a good idea for Eleanor, if she has trouble controlling her when people come over?  I'd worry that she might be pulled over.

[BG and Gavin]

I would do the tethering as part of an overall training strategy -- as a daily habit to gain the dog's focus and then add in Sheri's specific door bell training. I would not say tying the dog to you was something you should do specifically when someone comes to the door. Although I am pretty sturdy and personally would have better control using the strength of my lower body as opposed to my bum shoulder to control a dog lol.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

tethering will make them start following you all over the house ... that made me chuckle, because tethering isn't going to make her start following you all over the house, she is going to do that anyway.  It is a doodle thing.  They like their people.  I haven't been to the bathroom alone since I got my girls, lol!

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Just curious - was your doodle an "early spay"? Our first doodle, Sedona, was spayed before 8 weeks while still at the breeders. She had problems with excitement peeing that she never outgrew. Our vet said that puppies who are spayed early frequently have that problem.

We never really solved the problem, but when we could, we'd greet our guests outside.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Deanna, my son's poodle does this. She was not an early spay.  She is a year now and it has improved  when she sees most people, but  when she sees Gramma (me), she always pees -  and if her bladder is full, it is more than a little dribbling.