Hello! This is my first post and 'm on the scrounge for a bit of advice. We have a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy called Leon, he has been with us just over a week and is settling in really well, already asking to go outside and eating everything in sight. I have been reading through past posts over the last couple of days which have helped me through a few sleepless nights but there is one thing that I could do with some help on - when new people come round to meet him he goes absolutely mad, going for their clothes or weeing on them! (Fortunately that has only happened to "doggie people"!) Is there any way I can calm him down a bit, i'm a bit worried nobody will ever come back! Can anybody help me?!

could it be that he only goes mad when 'doggie people' come round because its his domain and he can smell the other dogs?
when we started introducing my rottie to new people she used to wee with excitment, once she had got used to these new people she calmed down,

sorry i cant be of more help, sure someone will be along soon with more experience.

Welcome to the forum :)

Hi  Charlie

Welcome to the forum. :) Leon sounds lovely and I'm glad he's so happy with you.
I have the same problem of an over excited response to visitors to the house. What I'm about to do is get friends & neighbours to call round more frequently than they usually would over the next few weeks or more to get my bitch more socialised to visitors in the house. Think our pups are just excited to see new people in 'their' territorial home. As long as Leons' tail is wagging, then you know he's showing signs of excitement to see them. It's previously been mentioned on this forum, that we could initially greet the visitors outside the front door until their over excitement subsides a little.
Another option is to distract them, right from the point of when the door bell rings, with a toy or treat ball on their bed (this is the one that I think will work for me???....only time will tell :D)
I have even asked our postman to wait a little longer for us to answer the door bell. When it rings, I am calmly going to Rosie's favourite toy and picking it up (with the treatball also ready to hand) and placing it on her bed...as soon as her bum sits to tackle the toy or ball....I am praising alot....saying 'stay' and then let the visitors in....she's still wanting to play with them as soon as they are in the living room....but I can notice that this is no longer immediate....a little calmer and she's no longer weeing at least :)
I'm going to stick with this, as the key is to be consistent...whatever method you chose.
I'm sure some more 'expert' advice will be along shortly, that perhaps we can both benefit from.
Take Care
Jo

Hello Charlie and welcome

I'm afraid I can't give expert advice only advice from experience and second hand and I'm sure others more qualified will be along soon to help.  Things we found helped - it might be an idea to ask everyone who comes into your home to totally ignore Leon until he calms down a bit and has all four feet on the floor - preferably a dog lover with old clothes!  It is very tempting, particularly with doggy people, to want to make a big fuss of a fluffy little puppy and this is likely to make him more exited.  If you can get people to not even look at him until he is quieter and then to give him a cuddle calmly he may learn that he gets more attention this way.  You could also try putting him on his lead (if you are using one yet) when you first open the door so you have a little more control or put him in another room behind a baby gate so he can see the visitor but can't 'accost' them straight away.  We found this was the best way with people who are definitely NOT doggy.

Good luck with him he sounds wonderful

Best wishes

Alex 

Thanks everybody for your kind replies! A nice combination of good advice there, will try it. I think I need to educate everybody that comes round, it's so frustrating when you spend all day teaching pup not to jump on the sofa and people come round and get excited when he does it!! By the way, you are all more expert than I and thus I appreciate any help! Have a grand total of 14 days at this so far...