Getting your dog away from the door will keep your dog from practicing the barking / lunging behavior and will reduce his arousal level. Giving your dog something he likes at his designated spot will also help him think that your frequent visitors make good things happen.
Lack of Attention Can Lead to Excited Behavior
Perhaps the most common cause of a hyper dog is a lack of attention. Dogs require a lot of hard work and love to ensure they stay happy and healthy.
Your dog may have been scared by someone.
Fear generalizes, quickly extending to other types of people. The dog quickly learns that acting on his fear with a display of barking, lunging, and maybe even snapping works quite well to make scary people move away.
Understand Why Dogs Lunge
The least likely is aggression. Although rare, some dogs truly want to do harm. Fear is a far more common motivator. Using the “I'll get it before it gets me” strategy, dogs lunge to try to make the feared person, dog, or other object go away.
They see another animal or human approaching as a threat. When dogs feel threatened, they either “flight, freeze or fight”. In this case, the “fight” triggers the lunge. These dogs are generally unhappy, and they displace this through aggression or reactive behavior.
' When she is lying down on her side, gently say the cue relax as you stroke her with a long stroking motion. Keep the tone of your voice low and calm. Repeat this at various times of the day when you see her in that position and in a calm state.
Learning to settle and be calm in a variety of environments is a life skill many owners appreciate from their dogs. Training using positive reinforcement is an excellent way to teach calm and settle. Every dog has wants and needs, including social interaction, physical exercise, intellectual exercise, and time to rest.
It's never too late to socialize an adult dog. If your woof lacks experience in the world, take them outside and get started today.
A good training plan involves letting your dog see strangers at a distance—the distance at which your dog is not at all nervous or frightened (possibly a great distance at first). Right after the strangers appear, start doling out extremely tasty treats. When they disappear, the goodies stop coming.
Offer Treats from the Stranger/New Person
To make clear what behavior you're after from your dog, only reward them as they take the treats and slowly move closer to the new person. When your dog can come close to the stranger with positive responses, have the stranger pat your dog carefully. Be patient with your dog.
Many dogs that show territorial responses are often fearful and anxious and just want the intruder to leave. The longer the person stays within the territory, the more aggressively aroused the dog may become. The goal of the territorial display is to get the "intruder" to leave.
So, jumping up may be seen as a way for your dog to demand attention from you – or from your visitors themselves. Alternatively, it may be because they have learnt that jumping is an appropriate response when they're excited to meet new people; or because people aren't responding to their “get out of my home” signals.
On the walk, first have your guest completely ignore your dog. A few minutes into the walk, have your guest toss your dog some treats, with no eye contact or other gestures. If your dog appears relaxed, the guest can ask for some basic commands, to sit or lay down, with a tossed treat reward for complying.
Giving Your Dog a Time Out is Okay
If your dog gets overly excited when a guest is in your home, give him a time out. Put him in his crate in a back room away from the noise and confusion. Give him something to chew on, or at least a few treats, when you put him in his crate.
When do puppies start to calm down? Most puppies start to calm down as they approach their maturity age, which is usually around 12 months, but for larger breeds it can be more likely to occur between 18 months and 2 years.
The presence of hormone named oxytocin releases excitement in the dogs to greet their owners when they meet their owners, Socializing traits in dogs are similar to humans which make them happy to be in the company of their owners. So they are excited and happy when they are around their owners.
Dogs who lack early socialization might be reactive towards other dogs, or fearful around unfamiliar people. Some dogs who missed early socialization don't do well with handling, such as at the groomer or veterinarian's office.
There's no such thing as a dog too old to train and with reward based training methods, you can really enrich their life. It's a common misconception that you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Modern dog training methods are suitable for canine companions at any stage of their life.