We rescued Millie 5 months ago.  She had been found wandering the streets so we have no background details.  She is (so the vet said) a Whippet/Staffie Mix and was about a year old when we got her (about 17 months now).  She had not been house trained, but this we sorted very quickly.  She loves everyone including children and other dogs - whats the problem you may ask.  At first she was brilliant when people came, she greeted them and then lay down quite calmly.  Over the past month or so she has been a nightmare, so much so that I have put off relatives coming that aren't "dog people"!!.  She also jumps up and mouths, including pulling clothes.  My neighbour and another friend have been good in coming in so that I could try different ways of dealing with it, but to no avail.  I contacted two different dog behaviourists and both contradicted each other.  One said turn your back and ignore her (not easy when she is hanging on the the back of your clothes) the other said turning your back shows weakness to the dog and you should,  as she is jumping up,  walk into her and nudge her shoulder, she thought this was a game and jumped and mouthed all the more.  I am so frustrated as I want to be able to have visitors without her constantly pestering them not only when they arrive but continually throughout the visit.  I have had dogs all my life but have never experienced this problem before.  Any help would be so gratefully received and I feel like I am a complete failure. Will I ever have a lovely calm dog that will be a pleasure to have around?   Thank you..... Pat

Please dont feel like a failure. I have a visitor "problem" too in that my lot bark and get really hyper which can result in the odd cross word between them. I'm struggleing with this as we dont have enough visitors to train it out of them. I'm at a point where i am considering buying a remote doorbell or just getting people to randomly knock the door lol. Add to that the muppet who posted a magazine through the letter box ......the letter box was taped shut for a reason !!!!! Good luck :-)

Keep her on lead and maybe work on the sit and stay when people come- if she goes to jump you have the lead to give a quick correction- then put in a sit or down stay.
Keep repeating till she gets it- repetition is they key, don't give in. The minute she goes to jump correct, down & stay. Eventually she will catch on- will take some
time doing it.

Mine react every time someone comes to the door, I am trying to teach them to stay in the hallway and not run into the porch- makes it hard to let people in,
plus then they jump and bark. I tell them sit and stay, they go to follow me into the porch I walk them right back into the hallway and try to asnwer the door,
I don't open my door till they stay in the hallway. feel sorry for my company- usually its my daughter and she knows what I am doing lol

Best of luck! :-)

I had a neighbour visit me (6' between the eyes) and my dogs still knocked her (yes, her!) over every time. I taught my dogs to sit on command, then come up on command, that stopped the jumping but not the happy greeting. The best way is to keep the dog(s) on a lead every time someone comes in so that you have control, or keep the dog(s) behind a safety gate until they have calmed down. The sit/stay command is one of the best lessons they learn, the other being 'come'.

Thats interesting teaching "come up" will give that a go.

My dogs love the advent of visitors, with five/six of them it is easier to have them behind a baby gate until everyone is settled again and then they can be let in.

With just one dog i would put her on a lead as soon as the door goes and teach her to settle by you.

Visitors should ignore hair until she is settled and then only act very calmly around her so as not to wind her up.

This importantly will keep you in control and calm yourself.

Thank you for your help. I have actually tried the lead and she just jumped and kept biting the lead. However, I will give it another go, as hopefully it will work in the end.  It's just reassuring to know that this isn't an uncommon problem...... Pat

Thank you and it's nice to know I am not the only one with the problem.  I think I have given up to quickly before when I have tried putting her on a lead when people come.  I'll give it another go, but with more patience this time!!

Keep a short lead on her all the time (often called a house lead) if she gets too silly with you trying to put one on her.  An old one with no handle will be safest. then you can just get hold of it really calmly. 

You need to stay as calm as possible. 

When  my 11 month old pup (and her 12 eyar old great great grandma, teh two most likley tiggers) run in and all over visitiors, I have to remind hubby not to shout "out out, no", but just to calmly call their name to get their attention, and escort her behind baby gate, which they do really nicely.

It took me ages to teach Buster how to behave around visitors, the no.1 thing that made it hard for us was peoples reactions to him. He is a big boy, so visitiros would panick (makes it very good fun!) or use a stern voice with him (Bust likes to try to 'calm' sterness with playfullness = makes it worse!).

Getting visitors to follow the rules is pretty hard - ignore dog, do not even look at him untill he's calm. But with a lead on the dog you can take controll of the dog, regardless of the visitors behaviour.
I would keep Buster on a lead, get him to lay at my feet and give him treats for staying laying down - to start with he wasn't calm, but laying down was the starting point.
Then it was fine-tund to treats for laying calmish. Then laying calm. When he could lay calmly without any coaching/luring/reminding, he could just sit (still on a lead).
When the sit was very good he was allowed off-lead but kept under strict verbal control.
Then he was allowed to greet visitors, but any sign of excitement he'd get a reminder, if that failed he'd be shut behind a baby-gate for a few minutes.

I still now use a baby gate for visitors that Buster doesn't see as often, but for the people he sees most and has learnt how to behave around, (mum, dad, sister and a friends teenager), he stays loose. The 'drill' for these people goes like ths "Buster, kitchen", he'll run to the kitchen for a "behave around visitors=biccy time" treat, this allows them some space to come in down our narrow hallway (without Buster trying to run circles aorund them and wedge his nose up thier bums!). He will then try his best to work treats form the visitors, but this is usually laying at thier feet and nodding his head or gently poking them with his nose.

It took almost 2 years for Buster to be off-lead around my dad as he'd get his 'gruff' voice out and try to controll Buster with that. He'd panick if Buster put his headout to snigg his leg. I finally got my dad to listent to me when  Idid an impression of his behaviour (flapping arms around and shouting), this imediately made Buster get excited with me, so dad could why I keept asking him to be CALM !!

Sorry this is a lot of waffle, but there is hope. You can't give up. If you haven't got the energy or time to train the dog when you have a visitor, pop her behaind a baby gate or in another room so she doesn't egt the chance to practice acting like a looney.
Buster was terrible, he would bite & mouth people out of excitement and when they were sat down he'd launch himself at thier faces!!!! All out of excitment but still definately not the behaviour a dog should be doing. I managed it, you can to, but you MUST stick to it and you HAVE to stay calm.

Good luck :(

I would always use a lead for this behaviour. Amazes me how humans only associate leads with outside!!

Try the sit, if she's just tooooo excited try teaching a nose touch to your hand and literally just flashing in front of her when people visit, you don't have to use verbalthen.Obviously have something extra tasty as a reward as she's such a hyperstate. Start before you answer the door so there is a calmer state of mind before you answer it, in theory.

Can't believe there are dog trainers out there still talking pack theory twaddle especially about jumping up behaviour. Some day the dinosaurs really will be extinct!!