Our beagle has come a long way since we adopted him at 7 mths. from the humane society.... walks great on a lead, sits, stay, down.......but have a problem with him if someone comes into the house he barks, jumps on them and have a problem with controlling him, gets overly excited. Would love some help in what to do at those times. Many thanks. Ann
Hi Ann Jumping up and barking on visitors is often a major problem with dogs, I still occasionally have relapses from my dog Blue!
The best way to deal with it is to catch him before the behaviour has a chance to escalate to an uncontrolled level of excitement.
I would recommend "scheduling" some visitors. Prior to their arrival, make the visitors aware that this is a training session for the dog as well as a social occasion. Require that they ignore the dog upon entering the house - until the dog is calm and laying down.
[B]Now to the moment of bad behaviour[/B] :
When the visitors arrive, don't worry about opening the door as soon as possible for them, focus on your dog and his behaviour.
[I]The following is where a really reliable sit-stay is beneficial for your dog and for this particular behaviour modification .[/I]
Take him by his collar (or you can leash him) and make him sit-stay about 10 feet away from the door. Then you go towards the door - if he moves, reprimand him (Deep growly AAaaah... or grrrr) and put him back to his place, 10 feet away in a sit stay.
It might also be handy in the early stages to have someone hold onto your dog on a leash. They can reinforce your reprimand and commands from nearby the dog, as well as stopping him from advancing near the door.
As alpha, it is your right to greet visitors first, not your dog's - and you need to establish this as your right.
When the dog is seated and calm, open the door and allow your guests to enter. While you are greeting your guests, your dog should remain in his sit-stay (assisted by someone holding a leash if necessary) until you release him from the stay.
The guests should ideally ignore him until he is calm and restful - this gives them alpha status in your household, making him more calm, pleasant and responsive to you and your guests.
Once he is calm and relaxed, they may call him over for some attention and lovin'.
This may take some practice - and if he responds to household family members arriving at the door - you can practice with them first, and then truly invite guests over to try out his new behaviour! It would also be beneficial to practice with all members of the household - including your children if you have any.
Hope this helps! If you have any questions feel free to respond to this thread! Blue
