The first step to teaching your dog to greet guests nicely at the door is to teach your dog not only how to sit, but how to automatically sit whenever he approaches you or anyone else. If you ask your dog to sit every time he comes to you, you can start to phase out the verbal command and only use a hand signal. Dogs learn hand signals way before they learn verbal signals so this will be easy for him to learn. As soon as your dog sits without you saying anything, click and treat. Pretty soon your dog will be automatically sitting every time he comes to you.
Next step is to move by the door and designate a spot where your dog should go and sit whenever you open the door to leave or to let people in. This exercise is also good for dogs that bolt out of doors and dont recognize boundaries. Its best if this spot can be an actual mat or dog bed. Lead your dog over to the mat and ask him to sit. Click and treat when all four paws are on the mat and hes sitting on it. Start to add the cue, Go to spot with an emphasis on spot, when your dog is eagerly going over and sitting on his spot. This exercise is also much more effective if your dog already knows the stay command. Once your dog is on his spot, ask him to stay and very slowly open the door. If his bottom lifts up from the mat, quickly shut the door. Ask your dog to sit and stay again, and then open the door slowly again. Once you are able to completely open the door, click and treat. Repeat the exercise until your dog can calmly sit and stay with the door wide open (safety tip- keep a loose 6 ft. leash on your dog and hold on to it, especially if you dont have an enclosed front yard).
Once your dog can sit and stay calmly on his mat with the door open. You can start to bring a person into the mix. Its best to have someone in the family help out who the dog has seen a million times so that he doesnt get too excited. Have your accomplice ring the doorbell or knock. When you hear it, ask your dog to go to his spot. If your dog is especially crazy when people come into your house, make sure to have a leash on him. Ask him to stay and then very slowly open the door. If he gets up, slam the door in your accomplices face! So that your actual guests dont think you are super rude you can explain to them that your dog is in training or you can put a note on the door. Once your dog is sitting and staying with the door open, you can click and treat and then say Ok!. This will signal your dog that he may get up and say hi to the person in a calm way. If he does not calmly greet your guest, put yourself between your dog and the other person and ask him to sit. Once his energy level visibly goes down, calmly say ok.
You can also give your dog lover guest a treat and have them ask your dog to sit. Once hes seated nicely, ask him to go down to your dogs level to say hi. If your dog tries to jump on your guest, ask him to turn around and ignore him until hes seated nicely again. Its always best to practice all of this a million times with a family member or person that the dog knows really well like your neighbor. Then make sure that you ask your dog loving house guests to get in on the action. If you have someone coming over who isnt too thrilled about dogs in general its best to keep your dog safely behind a baby gate or in a room. Then theres the people who say, "Oh, its ok!" when your dog is jumping all over them. These people usually let the dog continue to jump and give them lots of pets and positive feedback. This reinforces your dogs jumping behavior more than anything. Nicely tell the person that your dog is in training and that you want him to be the best dog he can be. Your guest will be happy to join into the training fun!
Especially with jumpy behavior, you have to be very consistent. This means that your dog cant jump on anyone. Otherwise its just too difficult to differentiate. Its not fair to let your dog jump on you, but then get upset if he jumps on your house guests. Also remember to keep calm. We have a tendency to get really excited when a friend comes over and its hard not to, but dogs can hear the excitement in your voice and they cant help but get energetic too. Dogs dont jump up on people because they are dominant or completely out of control, its usually because they are just so happy to see a new person and they want to be able to smell the persons face to find out who they are and where theyve been. So its up to us as humans to show them how we want them to greet new people, rather yelling at them and punishing them. You and your dog can do it!
