# Goes Beserk for Strangers and Dogs



## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

Any suggestions for this problem would be greatly appreciated: From the moment we got Luna 2 months ago she has gone crazy to greet, see, jump up on, etc any human being (neighbors, people at the strip mall, neighbor's pool guy etc) straining at the leash and shrieking. If she sees a car coming into our very quiet cul de sac she knows there is a person there so she will want to head for it. The same thing happens when she sees other dogs on the leash--she wants to follow them. If the stranger stops and greets her, she wants to jump up (which doesn't bother people when it's their legs but her jumping up on them when they bend down causes them to recoil). When we try to move her away she screams. What have we done so wrong? I did mention in an earlier post how the thing she is best at is Pass the Puppy in Puppy class. We want to be able to walk our dog and have her be sociable but this is over the top. My husband can hear her screaming half a block away so we are not talking about a wimper here.uke:


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## lanabanana (Jul 2, 2011)

Am very interested to see what you get for answers to this. My older pup is also very anxious to greet any new dog or person, but she's not vocal about it. She just strains at the leash and wags her tail like crazy. It's usually a bit too much with other dogs. She overwhelms them. I'm sure you'll get some good answers.

Alanna


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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Is this a Hav trait? Lucy is also like this; sort of looks like a rollie-pollie worm in that she curls into a standing up circle she's wagging her "body" instead of just her tail.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Kodi does the spinning in circles and screaming business too, but FORTUNATELY, only with his very favorite people, and only if he hasn't seen them for a while. You'd think he was having a seizure or something!ound:

Everyone he does it with knows to speak quietly and softly to him, and to make him settle down rather than exciting him more.

In Luna's case, she is still very young. I would be working a LOT on attention exercises, working up toward keeping her attention in more and more crowded places. The more she is attending to you, this less she will get over the top excited about other people. If she tries to pull the leash or jump on people, I'd put my foot on the leash to keep her with all 4 feet on the ground. Don't feed into her excitement at all, and try to keep others from doing so too. I would try to keep them from talking to her, or even making eye contact until she has settled down.

It's great that she's so friendly, and I think in the end, she'll be a wonderful, social little girl. She's just got to learn to contain her excitement a little bit. Some of that will come with maturity, but you can help her along by responding to her antics in a cool, non-excited way.


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Dexter and Jack are crazy when dh is gone into the garage for less than 5 minutes. 

As for strangers and dogs...my boys were going beserk too. It takes lots training and lots of consistency and pretty much ignoring and walking by your neighbors. 

When we are walking, you have to be VERY aware of your surroundings. When you do see a stranger, you have to catch your Hav just noticing the stranger and correct at that instant. I say "Leave it!" And we usually just watch the stranger walking without interaction with the stranger. 

If the boys have already gone beserk! We walk off in the other direction. 

If the boys are in my yard and someone is walking down the street, I will body block to get them to quiet down. Dexter is the worse! 

All the while, I am saying "Leave it."

As the boys get better with strangers, we will get closer to the strangers and do some talking. Tight leash especially when the boys get close to the strangers. If it is a friendly stranger, the boys are always wanting to jump on the legs, which I have to correct constantly.

I wish strangers would not try to pet on top of the boy's head without the boys smelling the strangers hands first. I think I would back off too, if a big strange person was trying to touch the top of my head. 

Anyway...that's my two cents worth.


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## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

I guess i'm lucky. 

Oreo will stop and stare at cars that drive by..he's kinda scared of them. People he'll stop and stare.

What I try to do on walks is just keep walking if he stops and stares and tell him good boy and praise him when he's walking beside me again. I try to get his attention focus on me and not things around him. I don't heavily enforce this as he's still just a puppy but will gradually heavily enforce this behavior as time goes on.

I think the key is to train your hav to be more calm in any environment. I start to do this when i get home. Oreo is in his expen and onviously will be excited to see me and jump on the fence of the expen. He knows the sit command so at the beginning, I enforced the sit and then praise him. I have now got him to be less in an excited state. He still jumps on the fence wanting me to pet him but I wait till he sits down, which he does not, before I greet him.


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## TilliesMom (Sep 30, 2010)

Tille for sure does the rolled up whole body wiggle too! LOL
Rocky ~ sounds like you're doing great! We did the same thing with Tillie int he begining, of having her "sit" and be calm before letting her out fo the crate/x-pen and now when we get home and go to let her out of her crate she laying down 90% of the time, peacefully, just looking at me, like 'can I go back to sleep now?" LOL SO relaxed it amazes me everytime. BUT then I open the crate door, she grabs her Kong in her mouth and procedes to full body waggle greeting me and who ever else is home! I love it!


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## Lizzie'sMom (Oct 13, 2010)

Diann said:


> Is this a Hav trait? Lucy is also like this; sort of looks like a rollie-pollie worm in that she curls into a standing up circle she's wagging her "body" instead of just her tail.


Lizzie curls herself into a standing up circle, too. It is so cute.


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## narci (Sep 6, 2011)

Tammy: Oreo does the same thing haha he'll act all nice and calm but when I reach for the gate and let him out, he does the but wiggle happy tail dance as well


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## Cindi (Sep 5, 2011)

Carol,

There is a book out there called "Control Unleashed" by Leslie McDevitt. It is geared a lot toward people (and instructors) involved in Agility but I found it to be an incredible help when trying to build Mojo's focus on me out in the "real world". I wish I would have read it when he was a pup. There is an exercise called "Look at That" that addresses what you are describing. You actually encourage your dog to look at whatever they really want to look at and them reward them instantly for any check back with you. I can tell you that, for us, it worked wonders. There's more to it than I'm describing here, you still have to keep the dog "sub threshold", but this author does a wonderful job of explaining exactly what that means.


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## Diann (Apr 25, 2011)

Cindi said:


> There is a book out there called "Control Unleashed" by Leslie McDevitt. It is geared a lot toward people (and instructors) involved in Agility but I found it to be an incredible help when trying to build Mojo's focus on me out in the "real world"....


Cindi, I've read the reviews on Amazon for this book. It sounds very interesting. Thanks for the suggestion.


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will check on the book Control Unleashed. Karen, your analysis is accurate: Luna has a focus problem. At home she does the "come" command perfectly and even did so in the first puppy class. Last night they ran two dogs at the same time and she ran to the owner of a German shepherd.:frusty: We have been taught "watch me" and when there are no distractions she is an expert BUT people or dogs, forget watching me. Finally, a funny thing happened right after I wrote the original post: I was at my dental hygienist who trains puppies for service dog use--she on her 12th. I described the problem to her and she showed me (on Luna) what to do to get Luna to stop screaming. I touch her back (at the shoulders) and give a quiet command in a stern voice and it works! Luna was did the least screaming at puppy class last night than she ever has. eace: I am slowly learning all the difference between a small dog and a big dog.:biggrin1:


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

I just ordered Control Unleashed from Amazon. It had multiple reviews that were great and a few that were slightly negative. I'll let you know my opinion after I finish reading it. The book seems to be aimed at fearful dogs (Luna fears nothing--even the shepherd that took off some of her fur last night) but does aim for "reactive dogs". Does the fact that she reacts to everything make her reactive? I'm not sure what that means.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LunasMom said:


> Thanks for all your suggestions. I will check on the book Control Unleashed. Karen, your analysis is accurate: Luna has a focus problem. At home she does the "come" command perfectly and even did so in the first puppy class. Last night they ran two dogs at the same time and she ran to the owner of a German shepherd.:frusty: We have been taught "watch me" and when there are no distractions she is an expert BUT people or dogs, forget watching me. Finally, a funny thing happened right after I wrote the original post: I was at my dental hygienist who trains puppies for service dog use--she on her 12th. I described the problem to her and she showed me (on Luna) what to do to get Luna to stop screaming. I touch her back (at the shoulders) and give a quiet command in a stern voice and it works! Luna was did the least screaming at puppy class last night than she ever has. eace: I am slowly learning all the difference between a small dog and a big dog.:biggrin1:


The biggest "problem" with Luna is that she is still a puppy!:biggrin1: She may get worse in terms of attention before she gets better as she goes through adolescence. But eventually, if you keep working on it regularly (but in very short sessions... they can be 30 seconds at a time!) her attention will get better in more and more challenging settings!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LunasMom said:


> I just ordered Control Unleashed from Amazon. It had multiple reviews that were great and a few that were slightly negative. I'll let you know my opinion after I finish reading it. The book seems to be aimed at fearful dogs (Luna fears nothing--even the shepherd that took off some of her fur last night) but does aim for "reactive dogs". Does the fact that she reacts to everything make her reactive? I'm not sure what that means.


When people talk about "reactive" dogs, they are typically talking about dogs who act fearful (or aggressive BECAUSE they are fearful). But that doesn't mean that there's not LOTS that you can learn from a book like that in terms of getting better focus and attention. Use what makes sense for your dog, and file away the rest of what you read for future reference. I don't think I've read a book yet about dogs or training where I agreed with absolutely everything, but if there are a couple of really good nuggets, I figure it's money well spent.


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## Cindi (Sep 5, 2011)

It sounds like I tend to think along the same lines as Karen when it comes to dog “training” books. I read a ton of them and then use what makes sense for what we are working on at this moment in time. In C.U., McDevitt spends some time talking about the difference between aggression, reactivity, and just plain excitement. She describes reactivity as an “information seeking strategy” for the dog. The dog rushes forward to gather information in order to relieve the anxiety that comes from being uncertain about something new in the environment. She goes on to say that the dog isn’t “rushing in” to do damage, but in an attempt to assess the threat level of any situation and that once he/she feels more confident about something, will react less to that particular stimulus. Our job is to help them gain that confidence.


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## nancyf (Nov 6, 2007)

Bella is a lover of people and animals--all animals. She would pull on her leash so badly that she now has a Puppia harness to protect her throat. She's 4 years old now and has calmed down a lot but she still loves people and animals. 

Dani, on the other hand, will look at a visitor but not care much. Imagine this: Dani sniffing the general area of a visitor and Bella jumping up, happy, excited. I've tried all sorts of things to control that energy but short of holding Bella, nothing has helped.

So after all these years I've concluded that there are two personalities going on here. I can't make DaniGirl excited and I have to accept Bella's out going personality. People come to visit and say that Dani is the kind of dog they want because she's so mellow. But when my husband and I laugh it's because Bella is doing something funny and cute. 

I think time will mellow even an excited personality but love, reassurance, and gentle discipline will help. By the way, Bella will respond to treats as a reward and this will help discipline the excitement. If she goes through her exercises of sit, stay, etc, she exhibits more self-discipline.


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

Your descriptions of Bella and Dani are very interesting. Obviously having the same home/trainers the differences must be genetic. I believe my Luna will always be crazy for other people and dogs. Hopefully with time I will be able to train her sufficiently so that she doesn't make too big a pest of herself. She even happily greeted the garbage man a few days ago although the huge noise of the garbage truck gave her pause. The desire to greet him overcame her concern for the noise. :biggrin1:


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## DaisyMazy (Dec 18, 2009)

Boy Daisy is the same. She is so friendly and just wants to go up to people to say hi. I have been taking a treat and making her sit with a treat in her hand. I will also get the book. In the last year she has gotten better with people passing by but if she knows the dog owner or dog she wants to say hi and does the screech voice.


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## JASHavanese (Apr 24, 2007)

LunasMom said:


> Your descriptions of Bella and Dani are very interesting. Obviously having the same home/trainers the differences must be genetic. I believe my Luna will always be crazy for other people and dogs. Hopefully with time I will be able to train her sufficiently so that she doesn't make too big a pest of herself. She even happily greeted the garbage man a few days ago although the huge noise of the garbage truck gave her pause. The desire to greet him overcame her concern for the noise. :biggrin1:


It sounds like your answers are coming to you as you each learn about one another. The service dog person's help was great! You're doing all the right things and have her in classes :whoo: and hopefully she will mellow out more. I have a feeling you'll do just great with her and letting her know what you expect. Then again, I think she'll tell you what she expects too ound:


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

Luna is doing much better on the screeching business. Now she only screeches when she knows Pugsley, our next door neighbor's Pug who is her playmate, is in the next door yard. When DH walks her and they see someone and if she starts to go off, he puts his hand gently on her back and shoulders while she is in the sit position. As a result she no longer screeches and usually does not require touching to inhibit the screeching. However, when in harness (we use a collar for heeling and obedience training) she will pull with all four legs pushing her forward to say hello to anyone.


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## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

With my two, if I have them both out on leash together it's just hopeless, they go bananas and bark their heads off and about pull me off my feet. If I have just one it's much better and usually controllable and the barking will stop quickly. 

But they go nuts when anyone comes to the house, no matter how long they've known them. Mojo is the most vocal dog I've ever seen. 

It's nice to know I'm not the only one.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LunasMom said:


> Luna is doing much better on the screeching business. Now she only screeches when she knows Pugsley, our next door neighbor's Pug who is her playmate, is in the next door yard. When DH walks her and they see someone and if she starts to go off, he puts his hand gently on her back and shoulders while she is in the sit position. As a result she no longer screeches and usually does not require touching to inhibit the screeching. However, when in harness (we use a collar for heeling and obedience training) she will pull with all four legs pushing her forward to say hello to anyone.


Try a no-pull harness where the leash attaches to the front of the chest. I'm betting you are using a typical harness where the leash attaches on the back? These actually ENCOURAGE a dog to pull. (think Huskies pulling a sled) This is the brand I use. (though there are others)

http://www.softouchconcepts.com/product/sense-ible-harness

I strongly advise that you go to a dog specialty store where there is someone who can help you fit it correctly. It doesn't work well if it isn't in the correct position. If properly fitted it will not impede shoulder movement, nor will it contact the throat. On a little dog, especially, getting the straps in just the right position makes a big difference, both in comfort, and in how well it works.

Because the leash attaches to the front, the minute the dog starts to pull, you either stop walking, or if necessary, take a step back. The position of the harness actually turns the dog back toward you. If you are consistent with praising the dog for returning to you, you will find that they try to pull away less and less.

Even though Kodi heels very well, he wears this type of harness in more casual settings. That way I can let him just "be a dog" without developing bad habits!


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

LunasMom said:


> Any suggestions for this problem would be greatly appreciated: From the moment we got Luna 2 months ago she has gone crazy to greet, see, jump up on, etc any human being (neighbors, people at the strip mall, neighbor's pool guy etc) straining at the leash and shrieking. If she sees a car coming into our very quiet cul de sac she knows there is a person there so she will want to head for it. The same thing happens when she sees other dogs on the leash--she wants to follow them. If the stranger stops and greets her, she wants to jump up (which doesn't bother people when it's their legs but her jumping up on them when they bend down causes them to recoil). When we try to move her away she screams. What have we done so wrong? I did mention in an earlier post how the thing she is best at is Pass the Puppy in Puppy class. We want to be able to walk our dog and have her be sociable but this is over the top. My husband can hear her screaming half a block away so we are not talking about a wimper here.uke:


Hi Carol, this sort of reactivity is quite typical ,especially with on leash dogs. Many of the up-to-date dog trainers are using Grisha Stewart's method of BAT training for these sort of behaviors. Good for you for buying this other book. Learning about this from a book gives you the general ideas. But it does take, getting out there on your own and listening to your dog. This article on BAT is somewhat dogtech but you should be able to grasp most of her ideas. Knowing what not to do is also very important. Give it a read ,it seems to be the way modern dog training is leading on this topic . http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf 
And here's her site if you want more reading about this http://functionalrewards.com/


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## wynne (Apr 30, 2011)

Maya does the same think and she had puppy classes and passes!!!!She just loves saying hellow to everyone.


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

krandall said:


> Try a no-pull harness where the leash attaches to the front of the chest. I'm betting you are using a typical harness where the leash attaches on the back? These actually ENCOURAGE a dog to pull. (think Huskies pulling a sled) This is the brand I use. (though there are others)
> 
> http://www.softouchconcepts.com/product/sense-ible-harness
> 
> ...


Karen, Yes, we do use a harness that hooks in the back. I will try the one you suggested that hooks in the front. However, I must rely on all their information about sizing and adjusting because I believe that it is unlikely that there is a specialty shop like the one to which you are referring anywhere near here. (I understand--we lived in Cambridge for a year about a million years ago while DH was doing his post-doc fellowship at MIT. You all have everything up there.:biggrin1


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

davetgabby said:


> Hi Carol, this sort of reactivity is quite typical ,especially with on leash dogs. Many of the up-to-date dog trainers are using Grisha Stewart's method of BAT training for these sort of behaviors. Good for you for buying this other book. Learning about this from a book gives you the general ideas. But it does take, getting out there on your own and listening to your dog. This article on BAT is somewhat dogtech but you should be able to grasp most of her ideas. Knowing what not to do is also very important. Give it a read ,it seems to be the way modern dog training is leading on this topic . http://functionalrewards.com/BAT-basics.pdf
> And here's her site if you want more reading about this http://functionalrewards.com/


Dave, I really liked the Stewart short article (and the cute cartoon figures). I think I have to study the information in the web site, however, That seems much more complete with numerous examples and videos.

I have read about 50% of Control Unleashed by McDevitt and found that I am not advanced enough (my mind and my dog's age) to get as much from it as I will be in a year or so. McDevitt's emphasis is on agility training. Athough her concepts are, I believe, applicable to any dog training, the examples tend to be from that area. I need more basic stuff; I'm still at the "small words and diagrams" stage.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Good for you Carol ,you're learning. That's what it's all about.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LunasMom said:


> Karen, Yes, we do use a harness that hooks in the back. I will try the one you suggested that hooks in the front. However, I must rely on all their information about sizing and adjusting because I believe that it is unlikely that there is a specialty shop like the one to which you are referring anywhere near here. (I understand--we lived in Cambridge for a year about a million years ago while DH was doing his post-doc fellowship at MIT. You all have everything up there.:biggrin1


In that case, if you have trouble, have the people at the training center help you with it. I can't believe any trainer worth their salt wouldn't know how to fit one. They are pretty common.


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## LunasMom (Sep 11, 2011)

krandall said:


> In that case, if you have trouble, have the people at the training center help you with it. I can't believe any trainer worth their salt wouldn't know how to fit one. They are pretty common.


Of course!:frusty: I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. Thanks. We start novice obedience training in January, right after the Holidays. Right after she turns 6 months aka the beginning of adolescence. She is so good right now with the rare (once a week if that) pp accident, loving, cute, and fun with a few rough edges that I am dreading the adolescent she must become.:croc:


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

LunasMom said:


> Of course!:frusty: I don't know why I didn't think of that myself. Thanks. We start novice obedience training in January, right after the Holidays. Right after she turns 6 months aka the beginning of adolescence. She is so good right now with the rare (once a week if that) pp accident, loving, cute, and fun with a few rough edges that I am dreading the adolescent she must become.:croc:


Awww, it won't be that bad. Kodi became more distractable in class, but he didn't turn into a juvenile delinquent or anything!


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## LuckyOne (Sep 3, 2009)

Watson gets so excited when I get home he walks in front of me folding nose to butt from side to side. Instead of calling him "Sir Watson" we call him "Sir Folds a Lot." Einstein squeals a lot and Griffin gets all excited and looks at the other two for what he should be doing. They all go crazy when someone comes to the door and even when someone goes into the garage for five minutes. It's like they don't have a very long memory. lol


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