[Val-Hi King Timber]

Timber loves to meet people when we are out on walks which is great. However, now that he is 8 months old, people coming to the house is a different story. Which can also be good providing its handled in an appropriate manner by Timber and myself.

Of course his first reaction is to bark bark bark. As a German Shepherd he has that "look" that makes people think "If I try to pet him is he going to take my hand off"? So Ive noticed that when I know people are coming over, typically its friends of my two teenagers, I crate him up in the front room where he can hear but he cant see. After a couple of minutes, I take him out and let him sniff, see and smell. He is in an excited state when he does and he's happy but I guess I should say happy with caution. He's happy but if you make a move he's not sure of, he's kind of skittish because they are new. It really doesnt matter. Men, woman or teenager. He's just a little leary.
His next move is to jump on the new person once he's deemed them friend. People really hate to be jumped on by a big dog and I know how annoyed I get when people cant get their Labs to stop jumping on you. So then I feel bad and I cant socialize because every two seconds Im giving him the off command while I give him a collar reminder. Nothing severe. Just a tug so that he knows off means off. And he does know OFF.

We have a baby gate that seperates the front room from the rest of the house. So wherever the company is, Timber is on the other side. Barking of course. He wants to be where everyone is but his manners at this point are not going to allow that to happen.
When my teen son has teen boys over....Timber is definitely more leary and or scared. When my teen daughter has friends over, he's better. But everytime they come out of a room he's jumping all over the guest.
There are regular friends that come over since Timber was a baby yet everytime the weekend rolls around means the friends start rolling back around and we have to go through the same routine everytime. So here lately, I just keep him in his crate while they are here. What I hate about it is that its not the answer or the cure. Its just a moment fix on the situation.

I hope Im explaining everything in a way everyone will understand. :help:
Thanks,
Jennifer and Timber

 

[PaddyD]

Seems like the crate is the place for him until he learns his manners. You could try letting him out after they have been there for a while, let him greet them and if he behaves he can stay out, otherwise, back in the crate. Young GSDs are full of energy and can be very boisterous, mine sure is. We allow her to do the barking thing when anyone comes to the house but once she greets and gets a pat she must settle down or into the crate she goes. At a year and a half she settles down about 90% of the time.

 

[JakodaCD OA]

I would use a leash vs crate when you know people are coming,,Are you using a clicker?? I would stand by the door, when you know they are about to show up, before they even get there, start, click/treat for being quiet, Have them KNOCK, wait it out, c/t for ONLY quiet calm behavior, if he starts barking, walk away with him on the leash..

when they come in, if you think giving THEM treats to give him, go for that, keep everything "calm"..no petting, no talking, no eye contact, just have your guests stand there for him to check out..

(Hopefully you can use your kids friends for guinea pigs

As for jumping on guests, again, keep the leash on so you can stop it before it happens.

The more amped up,loud, boisterous, your guests are, that is going to amp him up as well.

They WANT to be in the middle of whats going on, and it's most likely that he's acting this way, 1. lack of manners(jumpin) 2. it's not calm (fast movements, noisy) 3. bark bark (could be alert , he's unsure, and he wants IN on what's going on)

Just some ideas

 

[gsdraven]

Can you move the crate to where he can see and hear everything?

Being able to hear that there are people in his home but not see what is going on is probably building up some frustration (which is why he is barking).

I see two options to handle this. Either continue to crate him when people come in (ideally where he can see what's going on) and then bring him out on leash to meet everyone once he has settled down in the crate or just have him on leash when people come in. Having him on leash allows you to control him and correct him for jumping. If he jumps, you can correct him but the person he jumps on doesn't say antyhing, they don't look at him or push him down. They just walk away. He only gets attention when all four paws are on the ground and preferably sitting nicely.

 

[Val-Hi King Timber]

Well he doesnt really bark when he's in the crate. Moreso when people come in (normal) and then he will do it if one of the boys moves towards him to go pet him. So I dont think he has that frustration build up. Even if he did bark in the crate, he would stay there until he has settled.

As far as the guests go: Its hard to tell people dont look at him, dont talk to him and things like that. Im sure they would understand, buts it still hard to do sometimes. Besides, just when you think he's calmed down and you go to pet him. Boink! He's right up in your face with that really fast love nip to the face.

 

[Stosh]

I had my neighbor come over and practice this with Stosh- ring the doorbell, he sits and stays while I open the door and he got a pet from the visitor when he was sitting calmly. Of course I was giving him treats when he was doing the right thing. It only took about 5-10 mins to get him to sit away from the door while she came in. We did this a few different days until we got to where she could ring the bell, come in and walk to the kitchen then she called him over for a pet. It takes some time and patience and practice but until he knows how you want him to act he can't do it. All he knows now is that he gets in trouble for jumping--so give him a job to do and then he can be corrected if he doesn't do that properly.