overly fussy with visitors

hi just wondering if any of your cavs are overly fussy with visitors my ruby who is now 3yrs old never ever gives up when we have visitors around it gets to the point where we have to go in the other room or we carnt speak shes jumping up laying on her back to be stroked then if they sit down shes allover them and she just wont stop till i eventually move her into her crate or move rooms then shes still winning to get to them shes really fussy with us when we come home or in the morning but she settles down after hugs and kisses from my daughters and she great all day just the odccasional knee loving when we come in or out or before bedtime but with straingers shes frantick and some you can see dont like the full on attention from her and i really hate having to crate her as she only uses that at bed time now so i was wondering will she calm with age or any suggestions will be great she dose the same if shes out for walks if shes off the lead say when where on the beach she just bolts for dogs or people so i keep a good look out all the time i myself love the attention but i think a few people get a bit fed up say after the first half hour :razz: any help will be appriciated

Mine are hyper when people first come over, but then they settle down and pretty much ignore whoever is over unless they are initiating an interaction. If a guest acts super excited to see them it riles them up. If the guest greets them but then doesn't pay much attention to them they usually just lie down somewhere. How are your guests acting when they first come in? Do they make a big fuss over the dog? If so, this might encourage her to be hyper...

This isn;t actually a dog issue, it is a human issue.

Think of kids who have never been taught how to nicely meet and greet visitors to the home -- they would naturally be all over the place, clamouring for attention, and overexcited -- because visitors are generally new, interesting and exciting! So responsible parents teach kids how to behave politely so as not to drive their visitors crazy! :lol:

Dogs are the same -- of course most are excited when a visitor comes. But if no one has trained them so that they know how to behave in a desired way, they have no idea they are expected to do something other than what they do.

If you have a dog trained to sit and wait for attention, then you will not have a dog that jumps all over people when they come in. If you have a dog that is trained to go to a designated spot -- a bed, say -- and remain in a relaxed downstay, then you won't have a dog that is rushing around and annoying people.

So getting the dog you prefer, all depends on the time we ourselves put into showing them what we want. This takes time and effort, every day.

If you don't own one of Dr Ian Dunbar's dog training books I'd recommend getting one as a starting point. The Good Little Dog Book is a good starting point, or How to Teach an Old Dog New Tricks. Also, doing a good rewards-based class is one of the single best things you can do with your dog. Training alone at home tends not to get the results owners expect because the dogs are trained in quiet isolation, not with the useful distractions that are there in a public class.

rubys mom

some do greet her very fussy but some dont and she dose the same either way it dosent bother her if there not interested as much as her, shes very good in other ways shes a well trained dog she lays and stays when told and never takes food untill told she gets down for us when we tell her and lays but for visitors she just loses it every time and no matter what i say its like shes gone deaf but if i did the same when my daughters come in she reacts straight away and dose just what i say and she loves them to bits i just carnt get my head round it ill have to get that book karlin mentioned

It sounds like she may be trained when there are no distractions but then isn't focused enough to do what is asked when there are distractions. This is a very common problem for most of us , especially when dogs are trained at home by owners -- they only learn to pay attention in very easy situations. Most people need a dog that will respond in situations like having visitors, out on walks, parks, shops etc -- so training to gradually introduce distractions, and getting a friend to help you train to the situation of having a guest arrive, is what you need to be doing. If she hasn't actually gone to do a rewards-based general obedience class with you, where there will be people and other dogs, this is a very good place to start. It is nearly impossible to train a dog to pay much attention when distracted if it hasn't actually been trained in a lively environment with other dogs/people around. Having a dog that responds despite distractions may save that dog's life -- because you will have a dog that turns and listens to you.

rubys mom

thanks for advise karlin ill look into the classes that maybe the ticket to success with her she needs to be around distractions but still listen otherwise all the training ive done with her dosent count for anything really and it all out the window when shes distracted thanks for the advise i will try that as it would be great not to have to put her away all the time :xfngr:

mines just the same dogs are dogs they get excited would be pretty boring for them if they couldnt acknowledge people they always calm down after a while