Puppy Getting Too Excited When Meeting People/dogs On Walk

[deltoid]

Our Silky Terrier puppy is now a week shy of 5 months old and things have been going great with him.

Couple of socialisation questions.

1. When people visit our house, he gets quite excited. He isn't much of a jumper so he doesn't jump up on people which is good but his tail wags at a million miles an hour, if he hasn't been to the bathroom in awhile sometimes he will let out a few drops of excitement wee and generally he will just not leave them alone for a few minutes. He doesn't really cause that much trouble to be honest and we tell people to ignore him until he settles down and usually he will calm down within a minute or two. Is there anything I can do to help him with the excitement peeing / being super excited when they first show up. Usually if I'm expecting someone I will take him out to pee before they come but when someone comes around unexpectedly I can't do that.

2. He likes to play chase. I don't play it with him as I assume I shouldn't be teaching him to chase people, however whenever kids come around they like to run around and he likes to chase them. Is there anything wrong with this (he just wants to play but I can see how it could be scary to a child or someone afraid of dogs)? What steps can I take to stop him doing it. My nephew (7) is fine with him and will usually run around a bit letting the puppy chase him, then will stop and issue a command to the puppy. Then will praise him and run around again. I supervise when the two of them are playing and the puppy doesn't get out of hand. He doesn't jump up or nip or show any signs of aggression and responds really well to my nephew's commands (even though he doesn't do the hand signals quite right all the time).

3. When meeting other dogs out on our walks he gets very excited and pulls on the lead. If we pass a house with other dogs, even when they are barking and being aggressive towards him he will ignore them (only once has he barked back). When approaching houses which I know have dogs which will bark at him I generally show him a lot of praise and give him treats for keeping in line. So he is good with that, however if someone else is out walking their dog and they pass within a couple of metres of us he will pull on the lead and usually jump up on his back legs (because the lead kind of pulls him up that way). He doesn't bark or show aggression but he really wants to get over to them and say hi. Not all owners want to stop and chat though and some other dogs I don't really want him meeting when he is that excited (being a little dog I don't want him being that excited when meeting a big breed in case he shows any disrespect and they take offence). For the times the other owner stops and the two dogs have a sniff of each other he is usually good at first but then he gets excited and lets out some barks (the same barks he does with me when we are playing and he wants me to throw a ball, etc). So I assume he is barking at the other dog to come play with him. What steps can I take to correct these behaviours. I always take a bunch of liver treats with me on our walks and treat him when he is doing things correctly / use them when I stop at the park and do training with him. Usually if we are passing on a footpath and he is getting too excited I will take him off to the side of the path and get him to sit down and by using treats attempt to get him to remain calm. This usually doesn't work though.

4. Pretty much the same thing as the last point, when out on walks and seeing other people he usually gets excited and pulls on the lead to go see them. He doesn't do it with everyone, usually he will mainly do it if there are children. Again he doesn't show signs of aggression. More just really excited to go meet them. However I usually try and avoid it as when he is on his lead he will pull on it which makes his front legs come off the ground and I can see that it could be scary to a small child so I generally avoid letting him meet children when out on our walks. Any ideas on correcting this one?

Sorry for the mass of questions. I think they are all quite related to be honest, the problem being that he gets too excited when meeting other people / dogs.

I assume someone is going to ask how much socialisation he gets. For his first 2 or so months with us we had lots of people meet him (I think my wife calculated something like 300 people he met within the first 3 months). Since then I take him on regular walks and we take him out with us quite a lot to get him used to sights and sounds. Often when my wife needs something from the shops I'll take him and just walk him around outside the shop so he gets to see lots of people, etc. He has also met other dogs at puppy preschool and also other family members dogs who he gets along well with. He has a little puppy friend as well who he plays really well with.

[wuffles]

This is all pretty common behaviour from puppies and dogs

A few things that I have done with my girl which may help you:

1. Joining a dog obedience club, which helps to teach the dog that they can be in close proximity to other dogs without having to 'play'.

2. Going to a place that is frequented by lots of on leash dogs BUT will allow you to sit/stand a distance away with your dog without other dogs actually approaching you. I used our local oval. I'd sit in the middle of the oval with my dog and do some simple training with her or just hang out... we would see dogs from a distance away (across the oval) and she would be rewarded for the tiniest displays of calmness... make sure you don't let the other dogs get too close too quickly :D

[deltoid]

glad to hear it is normal behaviour.

I already do the training in the middle of the park so I will keep that and reward more when he ignores other people / dogs

Thanks for the advice