Jumping Staffs

HELP!!! We had visitors today and my dog was a nightmare. He just wouldn't calm down and wanted to jump on our friends. I had him on the leash sitting by me, my daughter took him and played with him, we put him in his crate, but he wasn't having any of it. He was focused on them. We have visitors and usually he is not so bad - although he still jumps, but with these people - he was impossible. How can I stop him doing this and believe me I have tried pretty much everything that the trainers have recommended.

It's all about consistency. Keep doing what you were with the leash. Take him out of the room when he is being bold and only let him back in when he is calm, as soon as he is bold again remove. Repeat.

Make sure he is exercised before if you know they are coming. Other than that you are doing the right things. Also you could ask people to come over more frequently to help get him used to having company.

I understand from a Staffy breeder that this behavior is a well known trait in Staffys and it is because they are so people friendly they welcome them as though they haven't seen them for years even if they have never seen them before , Duke does this we ask the people who enter our home to stroke him and say hello then ignore him after that , he soon's calms down .

A good long walk before your guests are due to arrive may be a good idea, tire him out and also have a play too. Make sure he has time to have lots of good sniffs of everything when he is out on his walks, this will keep his mind very busy and tire him out all the more.

Thanks all - I have tried to ask people to stroke him and ignore him, but that made him more insistent, but it's good to know I'm on the right track. Sometimes he's okay and I can control him, but other times - it's like we have people starved him. I was hoping that he would at least calm down a little - he is only 14 months now, but I will just continue to be consistent and I must admit my 11 year old daughter is very good with him.

It just takes time. Loki's still jumping up and biting people with excitement some dogs are really excitable. Just keep up with what you're doing, having people ignore him until he's calm before giving him any attention.

He's gorgeous by the way any pics?

Will have to add some more pics

mickgill wrote:I understand from a Staffy breeder that this behavior is a well known trait in Staffys and it is because they are so people friendly they welcome them as though they haven't seen them for years even if they have never seen them before , Duke does this we ask the people who enter our home to stroke him and say hello then ignore him after that , he soon's calms down .

100% agree with this, my Kuchar is just the same.

The problem I have with visitors who know him well is if they start pushing him off and flapping at him etc, which Kuchar interprets as being an escalation of the "game".

Sometimes he IS put on a lead (especially if the visitors are workmen getting on with their job) and he soon calms down.

I do find that having my Astro on a leash does help. If we have friends/people around who don't really like dogs or pretty much ignore Astro he calms down very soon, but if they love dogs and try and pet him, he interprets it all as a game and tries to escalate the game. Persistence is the key!