Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

How to calm a dog with visitors in home

12 replies

AsTheMilesTheyDisappear · 04/06/2021 23:49

We have a 13 month old puppy, a jack Russell cross. She is fabulous in many ways. She's dream to walk off lead as her recall is solid and she's good on lead. She has a lovely nature with other dogs and people although she's very excitable with men in particular as she falls to her back for a tummy rub. We've worked hard on training to get her to calm down with people outside the home and visiting others and she's largely there although I doubt she'd ever be described as calm/chilled and she's a tendency still for jumping up if excited.

Because of lockdown we've not had anyone in the house, until now. We had friends to stay who aren't crazy about dogs and I realized I've failed to train her in calmly settling, not jumping up and generally at not being completely hyper and attention seeking.

She sits down to say hello to people on the street/park but of course she can't be seated at all times in her own home.

Please could someone advise what I need to train and how to manage this. I felt such a bad owner after my friend visited. She made it very clear that she wasn't keen on the dog and I managed the whole thing very badly I think.

OP posts:
CricketsBats · 04/06/2021 23:50

You need to train your guests to ignore her. They should only fuss her when calm

AsTheMilesTheyDisappear · 04/06/2021 23:59

Thanks. Is there anything I can do without visitors being here training wise?

OP posts:
SirVixofVixHall · 05/06/2021 00:02

She’s a Jack Russel. She’ll only calm down when she’s dead.

SirVixofVixHall · 05/06/2021 00:02

So another 17 years or so.

SirVixofVixHall · 05/06/2021 00:03

Or even longer , they are a long lived breed Smile

cupsofcoffee · 05/06/2021 08:06

You need to get people over to the house and train her that way - you can't really train a dog to be calm around visitors without having visitors Smile

DeathByWalkies · 05/06/2021 08:25

You need some visitors for this - but if you have a dog loving friend who will follow instructions then you can use them as a "stooge". Friend can then be INCREDIBLY boring while dog is being a pest (e.g. if dog is jumping up, friend stands up, turns back, ignores eye contact and totally ignores dog; when dog has all four paws on the floor then friend can give some attention. As soon as there's any jumping, friend ignores the dog. Repeat incessantly until dog gets the message. You'll need to do this with several different people, but start with your most dog savvy friend!

When I was going through the opposite problem (dog being a barky twat to visitors) I co-opted everyone, including a variety of tradesmen into the training programme and no one entered the house without playing fetch...

@SirVixofVixHall GrinGrin

DeathByWalkies · 05/06/2021 08:25

PS have you taught a settle?

PollyRoulson · 05/06/2021 09:06

You need to teach her to settle WITHOUT visitors .

Can she settle on a mat or in a bed and you move around and she stay in the bed area regardless?

If this can not be done there is no point in bringing in visitors

So teach a settle or calm in a specific location in the house

Teach her to go to this area when the door bell rings
Once she can do this with low level distractions then you can bring in the visitors.

In the meantime put her in a room away from the visitor so she can not practice the unwanted behaviour

Whatacockwomble · 05/06/2021 09:08

Take the same approach as you do outside. When anyone is coming in the house put her on the lead and make her sit. Let the visitors in and get them to ignore her. When she’s calmed down and they’ve been there a while let them approach her but keep it calm, low voices and gentle strokes etc. Reward her for staying calm.

AsTheMilesTheyDisappear · 05/06/2021 12:10

Thank you. I have taught her to settle (lie down in her bed) but haven't quite nailed it solidly. She's excitable and finds sitting still harder than other cues. So I'll keep good with that.

I did start with her on the lead and sitting nicely and she did well.

One of the issues was that all the other visitors we've had to the garden have liked dogs so as long as she's been on four paws she's had attention.

This guest wouldn't touch her after she'd washed her hands so even when ddog was being what she considered good she'd be ignored. Then she started being attention seeking and it escalated. I hadn't planned for it and handled itbadly.

Second day I stuck ddog in the garden where she was happy and away from visitors

OP posts:
DeathByWalkies · 05/06/2021 12:37

Consistency is the foundation of all successful dog training, and your pup must have found being ignored when she was doing all the things that normally bring attention (4 paws on the floor) very confusing. Being good wasn't working so she understandably brought out some other tricks from the repertoire to gain attention - this was a dog that was trying to problem solve!

Would she have been entertained by a Kong (or equivalent?) or would she have still found the visitor more enticing?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page