Excitement when you get home?

[Erica&Riley]

Does anyone else's pup go NUTS with excitement when you come home? Riley just goes crazy when we come home...whether we're away for 8 hours or a 1/2 hour! She runs around jumping on us and it takes her about 10 minutes to actually calm down. She is crated when we leave the apartment, so I'm not sure if that has something to do with it? We don't make a fuss when we come in or leave (I have heard you're not supposed to do that).

Does anyone have any tips for how to calm her down when we get home? We put the leash on her right when she comes out of the crate and take her straight outside to potty...we also try to tell her "down" when she jumps up on us, but she is just so worked up that its not effective.

Thanks!
Erica

 

[sinbad'smom]

no tips on this. mine are the same way...all three of them and they are all trying to get your attention at the same time...gotta love them.

 

[bwire93]

Our Harley does the same thing, and it takes him a little while to calm down. I've read that for the first 5 minutes (no shorter than 5) you aren't to react at all to them. We do try to stick to that rule but sometimes it's hard because you just want to love and pet them.
A trainer at PetSmart also gave me some advice on how to keep them from jumping on you. Instead of telling them 'down' tell them 'off'. She said because they relate 'down' to 'lay down'. Harley is so stubborn that it is taking us awhile to conquer this, but treats and being consistant seems to help. He's 9 months old and weighs aprx. 75 pounds which can hurt jumping up on us. I've gotten bruised by him several times because he jumped up on me. Another thing.... when we tell him off... we put both open hands together in front of him. One day I hope to get the message across ;-)

 

[gmacleod]

Dogs always go through a greeting ritual whenever a 'pack' member has been absent. It's not actually just about being happy to see you though - it's also about re-establishing and reviewing relations and heirarchy

A dog will view the absence of human 'pack' members just as they would the absence of canine pack members on a hunt. And not all pack members always return from the "hunt"... so greeting returning members after every absence (however short) is a very important ritual for dogs. Where any members are missing or maimed, then heirarchy between remaining members is re-negotiated.

To re-establish yourself as the 'leader' in your particular pack - and to calm your excited puppy down - you need to *ignore* your pup's excited overtures. Don't acknowledge the dog until it is calm.

You can find more info on how to deal with that sort of behaviour by doing a search on 'jumping'.

 

[lillys7]

Gotta love 'em! lovicon I trained Guinness to go straight to the door then he sits outside and i love him for a minute ONLY after the love will he go to the bathroom...then I'll run around with him in or outside depending ont he chicago weather...he'll calm down after that. we started having the jusmping problem, he wouldn't have anything to do with down so I switched to off (which he knows WELL from the counters and table :rolleyes: ) and if off doesn't work I go to sit...which he ALWAYS responds to...my husband swears he has a magnet in his butt that makes him sit when we say it...he can't help it THANK GOD!! It's the only thing that's saved us...on more then one occasion!!!!

 

[heartsong12]

Diabla gets very exicited but she has learned not to jump on me. She still jumps as close to me as she can. But like others she has bruised me quite badly. When she jumps on me I will say "ouch" and her will stop jumping. She really does not want to hurt us.

She was trained to "box" with people. We start it by putting up our fist and play box with her. When we have enough or she gets to rough we throw up our hands and surrender. We have learned that surrendering works in most every situtation that she is overly exicted. She will always calm down or sit down for us when we surrender.

 

[mancin]

I also ignore Tyson if he tries to jump on me when I get home. If he persists, I was told by the trainer to grab both of his paws and hold them firmly (but not firm enough to hurt him) until he starts to squirm. She called it the "fly trap". They don't like getting "stuck", so if they associate getting "stuck" to jumping, they should stop (eventually).

 

[MyGirlHeidi]

Heidi likes to give you a hug when you come home. She has free roam of the house and when I come in, I usually make no fuss. I hear Heidi doing a little tap dance..her nails on the kitchen floor and she usually has a big smile on her face...I love to see her smile! Then after I put my stuff up..I go over and give her a hug and we let our puppy Barkley out of his room and we all go outside to have a crazy run around the yard. Barkley gets real excited..he's just a little furball and is so cute! They both look like they want to explode with happiness when they see us come in! Gotta love them they make it nice to come home.

 

[emma'sdad]

OMG i go thru that always!

I can come home from work and she will go crazy; jumping, running in circles, and jumping up in me.
She will also do this if I just run out to my car, I can be outside for under 5 min, and she will do the same.
I don’t try to correct her, because it doesn’t bother me. But I guess I need to because she also exhibits those same behaviors when guest come. Even if it’s for the first time they’ve been over. She is for ever more the most jumping girl I’ve ever seen. She all most knocked an elder person down once. I’ve been working on saying “no jump” when she tries to greet a new friend by jumping. But I guess if she learned not to jump on me when she greets me that would help her learn not to jump on strangers.
I think I’ll try the holding the hands thing.

LeRay

 

[jeanniebodor]

Happy to See You

I have 2 boxers both about a year old. When I come in from work neither dog jumps on me, (I am always dressed in a suit). I did this by acting like I hadn't been gone at all. It is a different story when my husband comes in. He has them jumping and barking like crazy. Its all in how you approach your return. I truly believe dogs do not have a concept of time as like you say, if its 5 hours or 5 minutes its the same reaction.