We really dont have many people come to the house, but when we do, it presents a huge problem with Oakley.
If the person likes dogs, and doesnt mind Oakley jumping, then we let him greet them, trying NOT to reinforce his jumping. He usually ends up squirming around like a maddog on the ground around their feet and is like a giant ball of excitement for about 3 mins, then he gets over it, and is like "aight, enough petting me, good bye", haha.
Anyways, we've been having painters/landscapers/etc come, and its starting to be a REAL problem. Since we dont want him going haywire on whoever has just rung the doorbell, we usually end up holding his collar when we open the door (the way our house is, it is tough to confine him in a room really fast...we dont want the person who just rang the doorbell leaving...)
when we do this, he gets back into his old bad self...barking nonstop, growling, snapping at our hands, lunging...not fun... and then of course the person is scared half to death of him cause he looks like he is about to rip someone's head off.
The thing is, he wont (well, lets hope, not!!!). He was doing this to the alarm guy, and finally, the guy was like "its ok, i love dogs, he can meet me", so i was like 'alrighty, brace yourself"...and let Oakley go. haha, at this point, the guy was laying on the ground, and Oakley was a room away, so Oakley jumps on the guy after running full speed to him licking and wagging his tail, and soooo excited to meet the darn guy.
So of course, his excitability is getting reinforced.
Now if we dont let him meet the person, he is fine as long as I, or someone else is keeping him company. The second we lock him in a room by himself, he starts barking uncontrollably again...
So basically, he is just better off meeting them, cause then he calms down in less than 5 minutes, and completely leaves them alone...and with people who come repeatedly, like the cleaning people, he is totally fine with, and lets them do their job.
The problem is when people who are NOT ok with dogs jumping on them come into the house...
I know how to train him not to do this, however, we simply do NOT have enough people coming over to help us out. And once he meets a person, his excitement is majorly toned down the second time he meets them (unless he is really reinforced the first time...)
arg, its just a catch 22...
is there anything that can be done??
If the person likes dogs, and doesnt mind Oakley jumping, then we let him greet them, trying NOT to reinforce his jumping. He usually ends up squirming around like a maddog on the ground around their feet and is like a giant ball of excitement for about 3 mins, then he gets over it, and is like "aight, enough petting me, good bye", haha.
Anyways, we've been having painters/landscapers/etc come, and its starting to be a REAL problem. Since we dont want him going haywire on whoever has just rung the doorbell, we usually end up holding his collar when we open the door (the way our house is, it is tough to confine him in a room really fast...we dont want the person who just rang the doorbell leaving...)
when we do this, he gets back into his old bad self...barking nonstop, growling, snapping at our hands, lunging...not fun... and then of course the person is scared half to death of him cause he looks like he is about to rip someone's head off.
The thing is, he wont (well, lets hope, not!!!). He was doing this to the alarm guy, and finally, the guy was like "its ok, i love dogs, he can meet me", so i was like 'alrighty, brace yourself"...and let Oakley go. haha, at this point, the guy was laying on the ground, and Oakley was a room away, so Oakley jumps on the guy after running full speed to him licking and wagging his tail, and soooo excited to meet the darn guy.
So of course, his excitability is getting reinforced.
Now if we dont let him meet the person, he is fine as long as I, or someone else is keeping him company. The second we lock him in a room by himself, he starts barking uncontrollably again...
So basically, he is just better off meeting them, cause then he calms down in less than 5 minutes, and completely leaves them alone...and with people who come repeatedly, like the cleaning people, he is totally fine with, and lets them do their job.
The problem is when people who are NOT ok with dogs jumping on them come into the house...
I know how to train him not to do this, however, we simply do NOT have enough people coming over to help us out. And once he meets a person, his excitement is majorly toned down the second time he meets them (unless he is really reinforced the first time...)
arg, its just a catch 22...
is there anything that can be done??