Please help me!!!
I have a 3yr old Irish staff and everytime a visitor comes round he goes absolutely bonkers.  He is an extremely strong dog so it is quite difficult to just say to people ignore him because he jumps up at them knocking them about jumps all over my furniture.  This is the only bad habit he has got but I am a bit worried as I am expecting a baby in 4 weeks time.  Does anyone have any other ideas apart from ignoring him.

Ignoring helps, but many dogs need some direction in situations like this, so use the command 'sit' if he knows it.

Axl will not respond to anything I say or do when he wants to say hello to someone.

Have you tried a time out? locking him out the room?
Or better still try a safety gate that way they can see and get over their initial excitement and then you can introduce them into the room.

Yes I have tried safety gates which he jumps over and gets under.  I have tried his crate but he is still the same after I let him out.  I have tried closing the kitchen door but he just bangs it down.  I have tried putting him outside but he barks his head off and jumps up and bangs at the windows and doors.  He is a very stubborn pig headed dog but I love him to bits, but this can`t go on when there will be a baby around the house.

We had this problem with Abby she used to jump up and try and give you a big kiss not pleasant if you dont like dogs, we started giving her things to hold and give a presents now when someone comes to the door she grabs a shoe and stands there with bum going a mile a minute but because she is concentrating on the sohe she doesnt jump up(cant do two things at once she isnt that bright bless).
Mary

have you tried having a treat box at the front door ask for a sit and then treat as the visitor arrives make them special treats that he loves but only gets when he sits and behaves either/or put his lead on and stand on it so he cant jump up  so that your visitor can pet him and let him get his initial exitement over with give your visitor a treat to give him and then put him out.
you have to be firm and consistent so that it becomes the norm ....we have beardies who become extremely excited when  visitors call.

Put her on a leash and teach her basic obedience like sit, down and stay for periods of time... teach her when people come over before you answer the door she must laydown and wait until you release her.... Have your hubby go out and knock and make her go into a down and wait, don't answer door till she stays there and big praise/treat once she has.... It will take alot of practice but hopefully she will get it down with in the 4 weeks.... Only tell her once, if she doesn't listen the first time then put her in the sit/down.... You can even have a friend come by and practice her sitting nicely before being petted... Keeping her on leash you can correct the jumping right away, never leave her unattended with the leash on.

I have tried putting him on his lead but he still jumps up.  He knows all the basic comands but doesnt always want to do them.  No matter what I try if he wants to say hello to someone he will unless I shut him out which I dont want to do.  But it is difficult to control him at the moment with me being pregnant.

I have tried putting him on his lead but he still jumps up ang nearly chokes himself.  I have also tried treats but he is just not bothered. Once he gets something into his head there is no stopping him.  Also its harder for me to control him at the minute with me being 36weeks pregnant. 

Oh dear, I do sympathise with you.  My springer x is just as bad when someone comes to the door.  Fortunately we can put him in his cage with a treat (when we know that someone is one their way round - no chance if they turn up unexpectedly), and although he whimpers for a while he will settle down eventually.  Is your crate in the living room?  Perhaps if the dog is out of sight of the visitors he may be more anxious, where as if he can see people arriving and they can pet him through his cage he may settle a bit more?

Edited to say:  Just re-read your postsm and I see that you say he's just the same after letting him out of his crate.  If this is the case then after you've let him out and he's gone mad again, try putting him back in the crate for a few minutes, and letting him out again after that time, repeating the process until he understands that he will only be let out for good if he behaves calmer.

I have tried putting him back in his cage but it doesnt work.  One of my main concerns is I dont want to shut him out when people come round to see the new baby as he might get jealous and feel left out.

I can sympathise with you bluestaff...

Our kai gets way too excited at visitors, doesnt help when we dont get many visitors. I took him down to the vets yesterday and he went absolutely bonkers trying to get to everyone to say hello... and trying to hold back an excited 8mth mal is not easy :D
even after the vet fussed him he still wouldnt calm down much...
we have taken him to lots of places with crowds of people ( carboot, shows, beaches etc)
after about 20-30 mins he does calm down and walk instead of pulling, but still trys to sniff anyone he thinks he can reach as they pass by :D

What i do do now when anyone does come round is put his lead ( a very short one) on let him have a sniff at visitor and then make him lay down at my feet, after about 15 mins let him off and usually he's ok then, but sometimes he goes nuts again so its back on the lead and at my feet. if that fails after a second time then i put him out and he hates that.

I had the same problem with one of my dogs. I got over it by refusing to open the door to the visitor and completely ignoring him until he had calmed down. I would then calmly ask him to go into his crate (which is right by the front door) and then open the door. Any fuss from him and the door was immediately shut. Calm dog - door open again. You may end up shutting the door in your visitor's face a fair few times (obviously ask someone to come round and be your guinea pig and don't do it to the parcel force man or anything!!). Once your dog is calm in the crate and the visitor is safely in the house, try letting him out. As you say he's completely unresponsive when released, try completely ignoring him. Both you and your visitor fold your arms and stare at the ceiling. If he jumps around just keep quiet, don't give him any sort of reward. Once he's quiet, give him some calm attention, maybe play with his favorite toy, but as soon as he gets over excited again stand up straight and totally ignore him.

You need a willing and patient friend to be your visitor, but with persistance it really does work. Good luck!

p.s. maybe once he's calmed down enough to let you and your visitor sit down, give him a tasty kong to quietly distract himself with

Thanks for your suggestions I will give them a try.  I think half the battle is making sure the visitors ignore him instead of fussing him as soon as they walk through the door.

Hi because you are pregnant it would probably be easier for  you to stand on his lead rather than try and hold it because  when he goes to jump up he can only go so far and has to go back in the down position .....a half check collar would be better than a normal collar because you have more control.

We have/had  the the same problem with my new puppy Henri, he is so excited when the door goes.
When they both go to the door, he will argue with Blossom because he wants to great first. Blossom is very good with the door as she is very aloof with strangers ect. Henri is not hes like a nutter lol.
I have ened up buying 2 safety gates, so which ever room we are all in they can see who is coming in.
But Henri is only 5 months old and can nearly clear the gate lol. hes like a spring box, bounces until he is nearly over. should have called him tigger.
I tell everyone who comes in to ignore them at 1st and that really works because they settle down and then the visitor can great them. they just sit wagging there tails.