July 16, 2026
How to manage an excited dog when guests come over?
Full Question:
Hi. I have a 3 year old standard poodle who gets way way too excited when anyone comes into our home and I would love to teach him to leave people alone on command. There are certain people who will not leave him alone and that’s not at all helpful either. If people do not encourage him, he does better, but his initial excitement is a bit over the top. He’s had a lot of training, currently working on recall. He is great learning obedience commands but this thing with people I’ve never gotten very far with. It’s a bit embarrassing, considering how hard I work with him, all the classes we’ve taken, etc… I’ve had him stay on place when worker types have come in and he can do that well. I’d like him to not bamboozle people when they first enter our house but not sure how to accomplish this. Is there a course I could take that would help me out? 
Leerburg's Answer:
I did just sign up for your course on managing dogs in the home. Seemed fitting.
User Response:
We had workers in today and I put him on a leash so he’d stay back, then he’s on place while they’re here. That’s working out quite nicely. Guess it’s going to take some work and stick to it-ness on my part.
Leerburg's Answer:
Hi Laura,
Thanks for reaching out. I'm glad you found our course on Managing Dogs in the Home, it is a very fitting course for this problem. It seems you have a good handle on workers coming in, keeping him on leash or in a place spot is a great solution. As for more friendly guests and his excitement, I handle this in several ways with my own very excitable dog.
The first is I will crate my dog depending on who is at my home and for how long. My dog has an excited peeing problem so I try to do most of my greetings outside if I can. Because of this, I tend to take my dog for a short walk after the greeting to help her calm down a bit and then if she's good she can stay out, but if she gets rowdy again, back in the crate she goes. With people whom I have trained, I ask them to never pet, look at, or interact with my dog if she is jumping or barking. She can only get "pets" if she is sitting nicely and as calm as she can muster (she patters her feet a lot as she impatiently waits for people to notice that she is sitting - it's very cute). I keep her on leash a lot or in an ex-pen for these interactions so I can stop her from jumping and licking people excessively. From there, after she says hello and gets her attention, she has to relax. Whether that is in the chair with me or on one of her beds, I usually don't care as long as she can settle.
Give these things a try, and anticipate having to manage this initial excitement for the life of the dog. This excitement is very much part of the dog's temperament, and some dogs just get so excited that they literally cannot contain themselves, so it is up to us to manage that reaction.
- Becka
Thanks for reaching out. I'm glad you found our course on Managing Dogs in the Home, it is a very fitting course for this problem. It seems you have a good handle on workers coming in, keeping him on leash or in a place spot is a great solution. As for more friendly guests and his excitement, I handle this in several ways with my own very excitable dog.
The first is I will crate my dog depending on who is at my home and for how long. My dog has an excited peeing problem so I try to do most of my greetings outside if I can. Because of this, I tend to take my dog for a short walk after the greeting to help her calm down a bit and then if she's good she can stay out, but if she gets rowdy again, back in the crate she goes. With people whom I have trained, I ask them to never pet, look at, or interact with my dog if she is jumping or barking. She can only get "pets" if she is sitting nicely and as calm as she can muster (she patters her feet a lot as she impatiently waits for people to notice that she is sitting - it's very cute). I keep her on leash a lot or in an ex-pen for these interactions so I can stop her from jumping and licking people excessively. From there, after she says hello and gets her attention, she has to relax. Whether that is in the chair with me or on one of her beds, I usually don't care as long as she can settle.
Give these things a try, and anticipate having to manage this initial excitement for the life of the dog. This excitement is very much part of the dog's temperament, and some dogs just get so excited that they literally cannot contain themselves, so it is up to us to manage that reaction.
- Becka
User Response:
Thank you. I did finally let him wander a bit with the workers, but instructed them to please not pet him. He walked up to one, got ignored, then he’s immediately walked off. I felt bad because he was on place for a very long time, though he seemed content enough there.
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