Enthusiastic Greetings

[corvus]

I went out this morning to pick up some milk. I think I was gone for about 15 minutes and when I got back the boys just about exploded they were so excited. They were not at all satisfied with a verbal greeting and I had to crouch down so they could nose and lick my face and give me cuddles for a minute before they were able to get over the sheer excitement of it all. Their greetings were more enthusiastic than when I leave them for several hours. It's the same story when I come home from work and then go out to the gym half an hour later. When I get back from the gym they are both more enthusiastic in their greetings than when I get back from work.

I don't get it. I've been told dogs have no sense of time and leaving them for 5 minutes is the same as leaving them for 5 hours. I didn't believe it, because if it were the same why isn't the behaviour when you get back the same? If I go away for a couple of weeks the greetings are different again. Less enthusiastic, but more prolonged and I tend to get dogs stuck to my legs for the rest of the day.

When do you get your most enthusiastic greetings from your dogs?

[Teebs]

Atlas - never

Kaos - I can walk out to the mail box and she will be excited to see me! She isnt allowed to jump all over me and knows I wont pat her till she sits down, so it isnt too bad!

[claireybell]

Whether I'm gone 5 seconds or 10 hours my two go MENTAL!!!! They get really really over excited. I usually ignore them until they came down. But same reaction every time

[Pollywaffle]

Any time my OH and myself enter through our front door it's like the second coming..I am just the most magnificent thing and thank dog I've finally arrived (and I've just put some rubbish in the wheelie bin)! Makes you feel very wanted..whereas my OH barely registers my arrival when I've been away for hours! that's why I love my nippers.

[Nic oh lah]

Chase is hilarious. Yesterday I got home from work, opened the door, big loves and cuddles and bouncing and fun - about 15mins later i remembered i left my work diary in my car, walked out the door, opened car, extracted diary, walked back to front door, opened - exact same reaction! Lol. I'd estimate the poor dear creature had to suffer a good 15 seconds of solitude. Haha.

[W Sibs]

Charlie - nothing. He barks to let eveyone know I'm home. Sometimes he will walk over to say hello, but most of the time, he stays in his bed and wait till I'm ready to greet him.

Emmy - crazy! i'm doing the ignoring thing on her at the moment (at least till she stops jumping)... then I tell her to sit, once she sit and not moving anything, then I will go greet her and make a fuss.

[Bubitty]

Bitty: Always enthusiastic! Always "Oh Mummy! Where have you been all my life! Bitty WUBS you!"

Bubby: Only excited to see me after I have dumped him at his breeders for a while! Then he does crazy zoomies and jumps all over me and plasters me with kisses! He is too calm that dog!

[Mollie10]

Wheatens = always.

They don't call it a 'wheaten greetin' for nothing!

[Jetty]

I tried the ignoring thing but they were just to excited to see me, that I couldn't.

If Jessie is out the back she will bark until I go greet her or let her in! It can get frustrating to the family.

Jet on theother hand does not bark which I like but will stand at the back door wagging his tail and giving me that exciting look. Once I let them inside Jet will do zoomies around me and the house and then come for cuddles and kisses... then once he is content with that he brings me a toy to play with him. :p

[corvus]

You know, something that didn't occur to me until recently (yesterday) is that dogs rarely ignore one another when they meet. Even if they look away, that means something quite specific to dogs. Is there a particular reason why we should ignore a dog when they are trying to greet us? How are they meant to interpret that if they don't really do it to each other? I have never even tried it. I just handle excited dogs by asking for a down, or by telling them to get out of the way so I can come in and dump my stuff so I can then turn around to attend to greetings. If they know I'm going to greet them properly in a moment they seem better able to control themselves. Once they've had their cuddles and kisses they settle down quickly.

Mind you, my super excited greeter is little, so you don't really notice if he doesn't quite manage to contain himself and jumps on you. He only does it to me or OH, though. I kinda feel like if he's going to explode if I don't let him give me a kiss before he goes out to toilet and what have you I should probably just put it on cue or release him to do it after a sit or something so that at least we have some semblance of control and don't get him more worked up than he already is by frustrating him. He has been doing a sit or down for greetings since he was 10 weeks old.

[W Sibs]

You know, something that didn't occur to me until recently (yesterday) is that dogs rarely ignore one another when they meet. Even if they look away, that means something quite specific to dogs. Is there a particular reason why we should ignore a dog when they are trying to greet us? How are they meant to interpret that if they don't really do it to each other? I have never even tried it. I just handle excited dogs by asking for a down, or by telling them to get out of the way so I can come in and dump my stuff so I can then turn around to attend to greetings. If they know I'm going to greet them properly in a moment they seem better able to control themselves. Once they've had their cuddles and kisses they settle down quickly.

Mind you, my super excited greeter is little, so you don't really notice if he doesn't quite manage to contain himself and jumps on you. He only does it to me or OH, though. I kinda feel like if he's going to explode if I don't let him give me a kiss before he goes out to toilet and what have you I should probably just put it on cue or release him to do it after a sit or something so that at least we have some semblance of control and don't get him more worked up than he already is by frustrating him. He has been doing a sit or down for greetings since he was 10 weeks old.

I think dogs read each other energy, and some dogs simply don't like certain energy. Charlie ignore hyperness.. in fact, he doesn't like it. My brother's beagle is super crazy hyper dog, always tense and his tail always stick right up.. Charlie will ignore him. But, if he gets too close, Charlie will let him know that he doesn't like him being near. Gelly (the beagle) will know this and keeps away from Charlie. Charlie will only go close to him when Gelly relaxes.

I'm not ignoring Emmy.. but ignoring her behaviour/energy. I don't like jumping dogs, so I'm not going to acknowledge her till she sits down. It's me teaching her that there is no need for her to jump all over me when I walk into the door. She does it in an anxious kind of way.. not it a happy to see you kind of way too. So, if I remain calm going away and coming home, she will realise that she's going to be ok and that I'm always going to come home. I think that's why Charlie doesn't get excited when he sees me coming home, because he knows that I will eventually give him his kisses and cuddles when I'm ready.

I keep my 2 apart when I'm at work.. Emmy gets all excited when she sees Charlie, and Charlie ignores her behaviour too. He will invite her to play with him when she settled down.

[casowner]

Jake may look up towards my direction or if I am really lucky I will get a slight tail wag

[Little Gifts]

You know those goats that faint when they get excited? Well I have a dog that gets to that point. She has to take a moment to calm herself down and take a deep breath. It's like she hits adrenaline overload waiting for you to get out of the car, cross the lawn and walk in the door, so that when you are in the door she has lost all functioning. My sister's dog is a talker so whenever one of us walks in the door she is rah, rah rahing away, telling us all about her day. Who could live without the adoration....

[CavsRcute]

I get a better reaction if I have been gone for an half hour, than if I've been away for a work day, which is 6 hours

It's as though she can't believe her luck that I've come home early :D

[LDR]

Timmy sleeps in the bed under the covers with us. And as soon as the alarm goes off or he hears one of us waking up he wriggles out from under the covers to greet us as though we've been apart a month! :D Kisses, excited body wagging, ears back etc.

If I want to sleep more I just say "Shhh Timmy back to bed" and he settles into a sit right next to my face and *stares* at me until I finally get up to walk him. :D

[Kody's_Mum]

Timmy sleeps in the bed under the covers with us. And as soon as the alarm goes off or he hears one of us waking up he wriggles out from under the covers to greet us as though we've been apart a month! :D Kisses, excited body wagging, ears back etc.

If I want to sleep more I just say "Shhh Timmy back to bed" and he settles into a sit right next to my face and *stares* at me until I finally get up to walk him. :D

That is just so cute LDR. My boy chooses to sleep in the lounge room, however as soon as he hears the alarm, he races in and gives me a big wet nose to the face. If I don't get up straight away he too stares at my face until I get out of bed for our walk.

[huski]

I ignore crazy hyper I'm going to jump all over you greetings because if I didn't, I would be reinforcing that is how the dogs best get my attention. Generally I don't make a big deal out of leaving or coming home. I might ignore the dogs when I walk in the door or I might not. I'll give them attention when I am good and ready to.

My dogs tend to be most excited to see me when I am excited to see them. If I walk in the door calmly and don't make a fuss of them, they don't react much. If I walk in the door and I'm excited the dogs are more excitable.

Edited May 6, 2010 by huski

[VJB]

I won't come through our gates until Heidi has all 4 paws on the ground. Her face it totally adorable and she looks like she could melt with the amount of love she is desperate to give. She does lots of wiggling, and doggy tap dancing, and tries really really hard not to jump. You can see the look all over her face. Complete happiness, and plenty of tail wacking into my leg.

Hubby has a different kind of greeting with her. He will tend to wait until she is calm, and then crouch down and she will lick him all over his head and practically clean his ears out. It's like he is just one big lolly-pop (and then he expects a hello kiss from me)!

It's lovely to see such delight on her face, just pure simple happiness. Lovely really.

[The Spotted Devil]

Funny, corvus....I noticed a similar thing with one of my cats yesterday. Was gone half the day and came home to a gentle welcome at the front door. Went to the shops later in the day for about 20 minutes. When I arrived home little Dizzy went crazy and I was head butted within an inch of my life, followed by a massive purr session and extensive lap time and smooching

Ziggy goes nuts all the time but I'll watch him more closely.

[Leithy]

Wake up in the morning usually involves Meg flying off the bed to go outside, and Gypsy won't even want to get out of bed... but when I get home from work, Meg just stares at me like she's saying... "Hang on, she's home. Is it really?" then lets out this yelp and runs straight to the back door. Gypsy goes into wiggle mode and looks like she's trying to snap her back in half -from shaking her bum and tail so hard-

Meg gets louder the less time she spends away from me. Gypsys' pretty quiet so I don't hear much More stories of greetings!!