My 17 week old Dobe seems to have gone backwards when visitors come around , she gradually calmed down several weeks ago but now seems to go absolutely mad agian when we have visitors ( to the extent of launching herself at them like a rocket dog when they sit down) even on the lead she is still absolutely mental .... she does eventually calm down but the first few minutes are a nightmare , any ideas or will she grow out of it?????

Thanks

Richard

We had the same thing with our Malamute ;)

You have to educate your visitors! Tell them , before they come to the house , that they are to ignore the dog completely ...don't look her in the eye , don't talk to her , turn around if she jumps up (or step aside) etc etc.

Then ...WHEN she has eventually settled down (and she will ) they can call her to them for a quick hello...then go back to ignoring her

It works :)

Melody :)

I couldn't agree more. My Dobe used to do the same thing. We eventually realised this was the way to go (ignoring her until she settled down) As Melody says, they do settle and its hard to ignore a missile launch!!! We had the same going to the park with her. Everyone else could hear us arriving - she used to bark and yelp with excitement all the way to the park. I wouldn't let her out of the car until she calmed down. It was a nightmare but we got there in the end :D

Have fun
Annie :)

How old was your Dobe when she got better (please tell me 18 weeks) ......She does calm down eventually but after a very loud shout , which I do not like doing as I do not exactly have a quite voice. Fingers crossed that she grows out of it as she is growing so quickly she may actually do some damage..

Thanks

Richard

LOL -My Dobe is 20 months and still excitable when people come round -but not as bad as he used to be -he does now keep all his feet on the floor :D (well most of the time ) :D
Liz :)

Gus is 8 months and turns into a kangeroo when we have visitors :)

My son has an 18 month Newfoundland, that has gone through the same stages, he has now settled down when people arrive at the house, we just ignored him and he got not attention untill he did, he now waits untill every one is settled comfortably then launches himself to sit on there knee, so it's back to the drawing board.

My sister's JRT pup used to do a very good Zebedee impression :D

Lindsay

I think you have a way to go yet. my Dobe didn't 'settle' until she was about 8 years old :D
Having said this she got much better. She was 11 when she died so I'm not sure how old she was when she improved ( Either that or we just stopped having visitors :D)

My dobie is 19 months and was the same. In the end when visitors came around i put him behind his guard to calm down and when he did i
then let him in the same room as the visitors, after several weeks of being out of the action he calmed down and now is a real gem. The only down side to this was he was about 14 months when he stopped.

michele