Calmer with visitors when we're not home

[Christy&Riley]

We have a 6 yr old goldendoodle who is overall well behaved and just a sweetheart. But...we've always had troubles when people visit, walk up to us outside, etc. She is so excited she can't sit still and chokes herself on the leash to get to them. If we're walking and I have her sit a good distance before some comes by, she will stay sitting with a little whining. But as soon as the person acknowledges her or bends down to pet her, she gets all excited, bounces around them and licks them to death. I usually have to walk away to get control. My husband can't even get her to settle down and he's done all the "pack leader" steps since she was a puppy.

When people come in the house, we make her sit in the mudroom until she calms down...but she's moaning and complaining like she's dying. (She can see the front door from there.) We also have to stay with her at first to make her stay otherwise she'll dart to the front door. But once the people come in and sit down, she will stay on command in the mud room until we release her. (In full disclosure, she will crawl to the end of the pony wall and look around as if to say "Have you forgotten to release me? But at least she isn't having a meltdown on them so I'll take it.) When we do release her, she is still excited, but not insane. She also eventually calms down into the sweetheart that we know. However, she continues to lick people like crazy. I feel like I'm always dragging her away to stop the licking.

So here's the interesting part. We have a gal coming over twice a month to clean our house. Today was only the third visit. She said Riley is totally different when we're not home. When we're not there, Riley greets her but then leaves her alone. No crazy excitement or insane licking. I came home an hour or so after Erykah had arrived and while we're talking Riley started going nuts on Erykah with the licking, etc. It makes me think of a toddler who keeps interrupting a parent...except in this case the toddler is bugging the visitor not the parent. I'm sure we're doing something wrong to cause this. Any suggestions? Thanks so much for your help!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I have poorly behaved dogs at greetings at the door so I’m not one to actually give advice but here goes... for the licking of guests, put her back in the mud room each time with a command like No Lick. Our Charlie is mouthy and whenever he licks me I blow a short. breath in his face. It stops him every time.  

[Christy&Riley]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll give it a try!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think there are some dogs who just have a really time with visitors.  They get super excited and really want attention.  I think it's great that you have her in another room and wait until she's calm to let her out when you have visitors.  We do the same thing.  I gate my two in another room and allow the visitors to come in and get settled.  I don't release my guys until they are totally calm.  There is still a little excitement from my mini Dood, but nothing like if they had been allowed to greet the visitor at the door.  Years ago when I first started this practice I put a leash on them when I let them out to control their behavior during visits....and I removed them and put them right back in the other room if they got overly excited.  I don't have to do that anymore...they got the message that all the fun stops when they get "crazy".   No matter how hard we try to avoid it we have some anxiety in these situations which they pick up on.  That may be why when your cleaning person comes and you're not home things go a little better.  Also I'm guessing the cleaning person says hello and then gets right to work...no time for showing affection unlike most other visitors.  Dogs pick right up on that too.  Good luck!

[Christy&Riley]

When she was a puppy, we didn't know to ignore them when we come home. Eventually we learned this and now she waits patiently (with some funny butt wiggling) as we put down our stuff and purposely ignore her. Then we greet her. She is good with this drill. However, if our guests ignore her, she dances around them, licking, etc. Like she's saying "look at me, look at me."

We tried a leash at first but she would claw at the wood floor and choke herself to get to them. My husband had to fight to hold her back. We found that taking her to the mudroom before they come in helps significantly. When she is next to a person trying to get attention, she'll only momentarily (if at all) listen to commands. Then she pops back up and goes nuts. But if we take her away from the person and then issue the command, she will obey begrudgingly. 

Our cleaning gal has a big rotweiler (sp?) so she probably exudes that pack leader confidence that I have always had to work on. Even though I try to stay calm, she probably is feeling my internal nerves because I fear what she will do when people get close.

Thanks for taking time to share your thoughts on this!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Would you be interested at all in taking a CGC (Canine Good Citizen) class with her? Greeting people calmly with all 4 on the floor, both at home and in public,  is one of the major things a dog (and her owner) learns for CGC,. And if she passes the test after the classes, she gets a real AKC title to boot! Extra incentive! 

Dogs are never too old to learn. My Jackdoodle got his CGC 2 months short of his 7th birthday! 

[Christy&Riley]

Sounds like a fun idea! I'll have to look into that! 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

https://www.akc.org/products-services/training-programs/canine-good...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Looks totally doable, Karen.    Ned and Clancy got their CGC certificates - but we didn't keep up their discipline and they are naughty boys nowadays.  Clancy had a little trouble with being left with a stranger with his handler (Skip) out of sight, but they gave him a little leniency because they knew he was a rescue from a shelter and might have a little anxiety - he whined a bit is all - the real reason he whined is because he could see Ned and I across the field at a different exercise.

I think Ned would probably do anything for a treat (if it was a good treat), but we always watch him 'thinking' about compliance first. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Nancy, I think you might have meant this to reply to the discussion Stacy started about the newer CGC tests and titles? https://doodlekisses.com/group/trainingmindsets/forum/topics/akc-co...

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

That but also the urban one.  It's not really that different from what you should be exposing your dog to.  The only thing we never worked on was public transportation because we haven't ever used it and we don't have subways etc.  Stairs, entering/leaving an elevator, loud noises like traffic, trains, shouting, close walking, are all stuff you work on for CGC or basic training. I really think it won't be hard for Jasper to do the basic one - the advanced one sounds like the basic one to me and if you had access to urban stuff, he would be able to do that too.  We never treat trained so we didn't have to wean them away from treats to pass the test.  I'm glad that you can use any collar or harness.  We had to use a flat collar and that's the only time we ever attached Clancy's leash to a flat collar. 

Now, Charlie - never will he pass the CGC.  He's too excitable and reactive, I'm too old to have the patience..... :-}    

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I mean, we're having this discussion in the wrong discussion, lol. The link I posted above is where you meant to comment. 

THIS discussion is about excited greeting issues someone else is having with their doodle. 

[Carol and Truffle]

I really just want an emoji to HEART this (not really comment with anything substantive). Getting his CGC so close to his 7th b'day is so inspiring.