Jumps on guests

[Germanshepherdlova]

My dog does not jump on anyone who lives in our household, but when certain guests come over (only people that he really likes, and that do not visit regularly) he gets so overcome with excitement that he jumps on them. Currently, we are either putting him on a leash, or not letting him into the room until he calms down. Any idea's on how to stop this behavior?

[gsdraven]

My suggestion would be to have him on leash and have everyone ignore him until he is calm with all four on the floor. You are holding the leash so he can't jump on the person but he gets no attention (no saying anything, no eye contact, no touching) until he's calm.

I have the same problem with Raven. She doesn't jump on me but she goes crazy when people come over and since we don't get visitors often it's been very hard to get her to think when people come in instead of being out of her mind excited.

[Germanshepherdlova]

Thank you Raven, I have tried putting him on the leash and using the no talk, no touch, no eye contact-but I can't seem to get my guest's to comply. They will for about a minute, but then they start talking to him, saying "hi Brutus" and so on. Ugghhh! That really gets him going. I am hoping that when he is older he will calm down some more. Plus he was just neutered, maybe that will help, people say they calm down some after.

[SydNeff]

This method may sounds strange but bare with me. I have a very large boy at 110 pounds (who isn't neutered) which makes him all the more intimidating to people. So the trick is to teach your dog to jump up on you, and then to make him get down and sit. Repeating this act with make the dog learn the command for down and even if he does jump on anyone he will know the command to get down.
Of course you'll have to work with them over time to learn this. When my dog was a puppy I wanted to make sure he wouldn't bark constantly, so I taught him to bark on command and that so taught him that barking was only appropriate when it was asked of him. The same is with jumping on people, you teach them and over time they learn that it is only appropriate when asked of them. I hope this helps, though my german has never been very excitable dog.
PS. Take Raven out to see new people where ever you can and that will help too

[Helios]

Originally Posted by Germanshepherdlova

Thank you Raven, I have tried putting him on the leash and using the no talk, no touch, no eye contact-but I can't seem to get my guest's to comply. They will for about a minute, but then they start talking to him, saying "hi Brutus" and so on. Ugghhh! That really gets him going. I am hoping that when he is older he will calm down some more. Plus he was just neutered, maybe that will help, people say they calm down some after.

I know what you mean :rolleyes and I do as gsdraven said, I put him on a leash, put the leash on the floor and then put my feet on it, he won't be able to jump that way and also no talk, no touch, no eye contact until he's calm.

Helios usually doesn't jump on me but If I know that He'll and Im near a toy or something I'll use that to distract him, asking him to down, spin, sit, w/e to make him forget that I've just arrived.

[robertm]

I found that by having them greet us more calmly after a few hour separation they do much better around guests. I realized that by being as excited to see them as they were to see us and loving all over them when they were super excited it was fueling their excitement even more. It made it hard on us at times and no fun for guests.

So we kept ignoring them until they calmed and then loved all over them. Now they come in and check things out before even asking to be petted. Being rewarded for calm behavior has translated itself for guests which still get them excited but not to the same erratic crazy all over them degree it used to be.

[Germanshepherdlova]

Originally Posted by robertm

I found that by having them greet us more calmly after a few hour separation they do much better around guests. I realized that by being as excited to see them as they were to see us and loving all over them when they were super excited it was fueling their excitement even more. It made it hard on us at times and no fun for guests.

So we kept ignoring them until they calmed and then loved all over them. Now they come in and check things out before even asking to be petted. Being rewarded for calm behavior has translated itself for guests which still get them excited but not to the same erratic crazy all over them degree it used to be.

Excellent idea, I will have to try this. Even though he won't jump on us he does crazy circles around us when we get home, ignoring even this until he calms down may just do the trick and take the chaos out of greetings, and in turn how he greets guests, I love it, thank you.