6mo puppy jumping at people

[PiggyMad]

I'm struggling to stop my over-excited shih tzu puppy from running up to and jumping up at people - both when guests come to the house and when he's off lead. I've been treating him and distracting him with treats when I see people, but he just gets so excited and wants to 'say hello' to everyone that it only works about 50% of the time. I usually only let him off his lead in the park when it's clear as I can't trust him not to run up to and jump at strangers.

Today I was mortified when I went out to the bin and the dog followed me then darted off when he saw the neighbour's toddler in the street and jumped at her and knocked her down . Her other child is scared of dogs and started screaming and running around, which then excited the dog and he thought it was a game. It was a right palaver and I'm really embarrassed about it!!

Any advice on calming an uber-friendly puppy - am I going horribly wrong somewhere?

You just need to work on those commands in inceasingly difficult and distracting circumstances.

Can I reccomend this as both a fantastic book to teach you how to do this and a wonderful reference for understanding your dog.

I don't think you are going horribly wrong, it just takes a lot of time and patience to get there.

Thanks, I'll get a copy of that and have a look.
I'm hoping that one day it will just 'click'!

The Jean Donaldson book that WTWTW linked to is amazing, it really is.

If you can, try and set up some friends to help you teach puppy not to jump - every time he jumps and is rewarded (like he was this morning!) it will reinforce the behaviour all the more. Ask family and friends to come and greet your puppy, but as soon as he jumps up have them stop the attention, turn their back, and ignore him. He'll soon get the idea.

Is there a good trainer in your area that can help? Where are you?

I was considering a trainer for a couple of sessions but unsure how much they cost. We signed up for some puppy classes, but when we attended the welcome meet it was all about alpha male and showing the dog where he is in the pecking order and it put me off slightly so we didn't go back.
I'm in the Leeds area, if you have any recommendations.