Riley was not too nice last night. . .

[Cathy Moon]

Thanks! Good idea!

I will try that - I know there's a thread you started about that topic, Claire!

Found the thread about Pheromones:

http://www.cavaliertalk.com/phpBB2/v...ght=pheromones

[RileysMom]

I just ordered the DAP collar and spray! I'm so excited to see if it works. I'll post and let everyone know if it makes a difference!!!

Thanks so much for the advice!!!

[Claire]

we used the spray in the room the other day - I felt lovely, so be careful you don't aim it at yourself......

[RileysMom]

Oh that is too funny Claire!!!

I didn't realize it could have an effect on people! I don't know, after the day I have had, I think I could use a squirt!!!!

[Karlin]

Absolutely imperative: get Riley into some fun obedience classes. He really needs to be meeting mixed groups of dogs especially while young and doing obedience is a great way to do this and also for him to learn to pay attention to you while other dogs and people are around. I know a lot of people don;t think their dog needs formal obedience because they can teach the dog from a book but the socialisation process that happens at group obedience is invaluable.

If Riley has already reached the point where he is getting way too overexcited when other dogs are around and he is not able to handle an obedience class after the first few sessions (often they will be very distracted the first class or two), then this will be something you will need to specially work on and I'd advise getting a very good behaviouralist with APDT certification if possible.

I posted on this somewhere before but the best thing you can do is to get Riley to respond to a 'look' command and also to a 'sit' and keep practicing this introducing more distractions. The idea is to have him able to ignore other dogs to look at you and go into a polite sit so that he isn't overstimulated by the other dogs.

Lily is very barky with other dogs but I am gradually working on this with her. Already she is less exciteable than before simply from meeting more dogs. I also put her behind one of my legs so her view of them is obstructed if she gets really barky. She is working on 'look' and this does help.

[Claire]

I am not sure it is supposed to work on humans, Darren did say I must be an old dog..... ha ha.

[Karlin]

Rereading this, part of the issue is certainly that she is being protective of her territory and wasn't too happy to have the visitors there. It would be a good idea to have her get to know dogs that may be visitors on neutral territory in advance of ever having them to your house -- for example meet them in the park or bring Riley to the friend's house who has the puppies.

Even meeting them first at a park for a long walk before going to your house would probably help the situation.

You can also get a plug-in DAP adapter if you prefer it to the spray. These hormones really do work for calming.

But more generally I'd strongly advise classes and working on look and also teaching the 'relax' command because an overexcited dog is a dog that doesn't know self control and self control comes through training and also learning yourself not to accdentally encourage behaviour you don't want. A dog that goes into a relaxed down actually starts to relax simply from being in the position. There are directions on teaching the relaxed down here:
http://deesdogs.com/documents/therelaxeddown.pdf

There are other articles you might find of use, too:

http://deesdogs.com/training.htm

The lowering arousal article would be helpful.

Also on teaching look:

http://deesdogs.com/documents/watchme.pdf

[molly+charlies mum]

my dog charlie is 20 months now and he will bark at anyone who comes in he runs under the table with his ears back and just barks my mum can not bring her yorkie round as charlie will go for him he has only just started to wag his tail at my brother ,my tri cavalier will greet anyone and want to lick them to death she has no problems with my mums dog i dont know if charlie will ever change maybe with a bit of help he can..

[MishathePooh]

I worked with a severely socially neglected dog for a while. She could handle one other dog, but not more than one before she would start getting very upset.

You say Riley is ok with some other dogs, are they large or small? He might be afraid of big dogs? Did the pups come charging in and up to him or were they pretty calm? Were they on or off leash? Leash dynamics can get weird with dogs. Maybe try to only have one new dog in at a time after meeting on neutral territory to see if that helps...