Dog Gets Too Excited About Visitors

[Supermenki]

Whenever my dog hears the door bell ringing or footsteps towards the front door he is loosing it! Starts crying and running around like crazy trying to get to our visitors. Once the door is opened he runs towards people and is annoying them by standing on their feet, running against them, sometimes he even jumps up at them even though he knows the rules about jumping (he does not jump up on people in any other situations, only with friends and people that ring the bell). He does not do it with me or my partner because he clearly knows that we aren't impressed by it.

He is a 1 year old border collie and we have tried a lot of options to prevent this behaviour like keeping him in the crate until he has calmed down or by ignoring him until he sits down or keeping him in another room until he stops whining. But all with the same result: once the crate is open, the door is open or the person tries to touch him while he was ignored it is all starting over again. He will not leave the visitors site for like 5 to 10 minutes and then stops harassing them.

I can understand that this annoys our friends and visitors and I would not like another persons dog going crazy over me like that either. He is not aggressive in any way, just loves people coming over and is over friendly.

Other than that our 'zookie' is the loveliest creature and I would not trade him for the world!!

Any ideas what else I could try to prevent this misbehaviour?

[sheena]

You could try playing the Look At That Game to counter-condition him to the doorbell & visitors. I have done up some class notes on it, if you would like to PM me your email address, then I can email them off to you along with some notes on getting started with clicker training :)

[Supermenki]

Thanks Sheena!

I am very happy about every option, I sent you a PM with my email :)

[persephone]

have him onleash when thee are guests?

[Supermenki]

Yes, I have tried that but he keeps on whining and trying to escape, he looks very distressed for 10 minutes but once he calmed down completely and I think he got used to them being in the house I unleash him and he starts running around crazy again.

Should I just keep him on the leash until friends are leaving the house?

[Roova]

Sheena's notes are probably fantastic so the only thing I would contribute is don't forget to train and praise what you do want, not just growl at what you don't want.

If your dog isn't behaving as you want it shows he actually doesn't understand your expectations.

Can you ask someone up to knock at the door and you have your dog on lead on the other side? They should remain outside while you begin by placing treats on the ground (which will encourage four on the floor) and praising for calm behaviour. Maybe keep it short and sweet to begin with and over time work your way up to the door opening, someone stepping inside, walking forward etc etc

Lots of treats on the floor and praise for four on the floor. I would encourage guests to not acknowledge the dog in any way and build them up to gentle pats or words when he's being good only. Nothing that will get him excited and possibly jumping. Until he's completely reliable I wouldn't allow any off lead greets and I'd have plenty of treats at the ready for any future guests (who hopefully will be previously informed you need their help training your dog) so they don't misbehave themselves :D Good luck!