My dog gets overly excited when guests come over… What can I do to stop them?
Does anxiety hit your stomach when you think about people coming over to visit? While some dogs jump up to be friendly, others could do it as a warning sign, or to dog a dog’s version of checking IDs. Either way, jumping up is not an appropriate way for dogs to great (most) humans. (There are always those people who love and encourage a dog to jump up)!
But what happens when the jumping up gets out of control? This article is all about what to do when your dog gets overly excited when guests come over. We’ll address what to do when it’s happening and how to prevent this behavior.
My dog gets overly excited when guests come over
Dogs jump up for several reasons:
- They get rewarded for it
- They don’t know any better
- The dog lacks impulse control
- They don’t understand boundaries
- They are asserting dominance and checking you out as a potential threat
So, how do we combat these reasons? We either teach or dog what the expectation is while also decreasing the opportunity for failure and increasing the opportunity for success.
How to calm an overly excited dog
If you’re reading this and don’t have the time to train your dog because 6 people are coming over to your home in half an hour here’s what you can do to prevent your dog from jumping up:
- Keep your dog separate from the guests when they arrive
- Once guests arrive and have settled in, put your dog on a leash and walk him around the house with the guests until the dog’s excitement has settled down. Allow him to greet people, but only if he keeps all four paws on the floor.
- If he jumps up, use the leash to guide him off or away from the person.
- Encourage your guests to either ignore him completely or…
- Give your guests treats to give your dog so they can ask your dog for a sit.
- Give your dog a high value activity to keep them busy while your guests are over, like a kong or bully stick.
Consider how you conduct your own energy as well. From the dog’s perspective, you are likely modeling the energy a dog should have over a new person arriving as you go to great them at the door, perhaps you also get excited and give a hug, kiss or touch the person to engage with them.
Try greeting your guests without your dog around and bring your dog in when the energy has settled.
My dog gets too excited when I come home
What to do to prevent jumping up
Apologizing for your dog can get really old, really quick. A dog who jumps up can be obnoxious or just plain rude and unsafe.
The best way to prevent a dog from jumping up on others is to teach your dog not to jump up. There are 4 ways to approach this.
- Teach your dog how to mimic your energy
- Teach your dog how to greet people
- Create a different reward cycle
- Teach a reliable place or sit command
Why is my dog only calm around me
1. Teach your dog to follow your energy
Practice bringing your energy up, and then bringing it back down with your dog. When you’re playing, ask your dog for a sit, then tell them to break and resume the game.
You can also give them a relax command like “all done” or “easy” when it’s time to stop playing. Immediately bring your energy down, crouch down and pet your dog with soothing pets and take deep breaths. It might take your dog a few seconds for your dog to catch up with you. Trust that dogs are very sensitive to the energy you put out, and will follow eventually.
Related: How to get your dog to come when distracted
2. Teach your dog how to greet people
Teach dogs to greet guests politely
Pay attention to how your dog greets you. Does he come to the door? Does he even get up to greet you? Is he calm? Does he start zooming or wrestling with you or another dog?
When you leave and come home, make this event very boring. When your dog comes to greet you, only pet, look or engage with them when they are calm.
As your dog goes to greet other people, ask them to sit, take a step forward, greet the other person, then turn around and walk away. A dog shouldn’t feel like he has to greet every person he meets. Teaching him to demonstrate some impulse control by not being able to greet every person he meets will help keep him from jumping up.
Dog barks and jumps on guests
3. Creating a different reward cycle
One of the reasons your dog jumps up on people is because he’s being rewarded for it. Jumping up could be the only way the dog feels like you engage with them, so they do it to earn your attention, even if it is yelling or pushing.
If you’ve tried ignoring your dog’s behavior and the jumping up becomes worse, or doesn’t work.. it’s probably because you aren’t actually ignoring it, or you haven’t learned how to teach the dog what does earn a reward.
That’s where the Four on the Floor: How to Teach Your Dog to Stop Jumping Up Permanently Ebook can help you and your dog! This six page Ebook teaches you the button analogy (which your dog is always using, whether you’re aware of it or not), and how to effectively teach your dog that jumping up is not the right answer.
Dog gets too excited in public
4. Teach your dog a reliable sit or place command
Sometimes it’s easier to tell a dog what to do, rather than what not to do. That’s why teaching a place or sit command that implies stay is so important.
Most people know how to ask a dog to sit, so you can ask your guests to tell your dog to sit. Other guests may be more timid of dogs, which is why a place command can be so effective.
Place allows you to send your dog away to a raised dog bed and they are to hold themselves on place until they get the break command from you. A dog should be able to hold place for up to 90 minutes with proper training.
Each of these Ebooks walks you through the exact steps to teaching your dog to sit or place reliably.
This post was all about what to do when my dog gets overly excited when guests come over.
Other posts you may like:
Teaching a Dog to Sit (So They Actually Listen the First Time)
