Hi it's been a while since I have been on here and had a pup. I am wondering what are some effective ways to teach your dog/pup manners at the door---ie. when arriving home, having visitors etc.? I did not get this down with my first pup and would like to get it under control this time around! Given the dog has the appropriate amount of excercise, proper food. I am referring to high drive Boxers and Staffordshire Bull Terriers.

Consistency, consistency, consisitency. Figure out your criteria, reward it and stick to it

Thanks, so essentially you saying figure out the behavior I want and train for it<--- Essentailly it is a calm demeanor that I am looking for. Perhaps practice a "down-stay." I was looking for ideas as to what other member on here have their dogs do in a simialr situations.

Yup. And baby steps, too. Practice what you want *everywhere*. Highly reward it. Then be very aware of how you reinforce it and consistently ask for it.

An idea for visitors - visitors come, you give your pup a stuffed kong on a mat or in a crate. They'll associate people coming with going to their spot. By the time they finish the kong the initial excitement will be over and they'll have been engaged in a calming activity for a few minutes.

imo people go to a lot of training effort then undermine their dog by not providing the crucial support to it at the precise point the training will be made or broken ie;

you are wasting your time unless you "set up" some guests to become part of the training, don't test your dog and your training next time guests drop in randomly, plan it, brief them, tell the people how to act and respond etc.

support the training to make it easy for the dog to get what you want, dogs imo are not as smart as most think, they need a lot of scaffolding to learn in multiple contexts and scenarios.

ETA trying to be clearer: your home your rules also applies to guests, if guests with bratty kids or dufus around dogs adults are coming to mine, they are instructed just like the dogs to wait for a release, there are no kids screaming up the drive-way puppy, puppy, I want to play with the puppy and then proceed to molest it.

I would not expect any dog to withstand that type of stimulation in the learning phases and I certainly would not correct one for breaking, correct the kids and guests yes.

I have my dog trained to lay down at the top of the stairs over looking the foyer when someone knocks on the door or comes inside. He then lays until the guest is inside and situated before he is allowed to sniff them. I did and still sometimes do what Mara suggested.

However, that was easy to train after my pup knew other people are off limits for petting or treats.(inside and outside the house).
Consistency is key.

If your pup is really high energy your going to need to exercise it before any training every time. I walk 15 kilometers and jog between 5-10 every single day. With fetch, tracking, bite work, and training thrown in too. With a pup your obviously not going to exercise it very much. Lots of exercise that is not forced, for instance walking on leash or jogging is a forced exercise.Fetch outside mixed with very simple obedience works great for young pups.

What do you plan to do with this dog?
Bite work, tracking ?

Boxers are so people oriented. It makes greeting behavior a real challenge. My dog still drags a leash when I have visitors who like dogs. He hasn't needed it in awhile but it's a reminder.

For a young pup I'd do what Mara suggests with guests. It's a lot to ask of a young pup to not go bananas when visitors are trying to interact with them. Especially when the visitor is unintentionally inviting mouthing and jumping. I'd wait until the pup is calm and then have them drag a lead around while visitors ignore them. Once he's calm with that he can get some quiet petting. If the visitor is making comments about how hard you're being on the pup I'd leave them contained with a yummy Kong.

For appropriate greeting behaviors with the family I would completely ignore pup until they've settled down and are relatively calm. When I first got my dog it took about 15-20 minutes for him to chill because of separation anxiety. Now he can be greeted right when I come in without going bonkers unless my routine has recently changed. I think Place commands or a down stay are great but they invite too much interaction too soon after you've walked in the door. It can make it somewhat of a battle for your attention when all you wanted to do was establish that calm behavior gets rewarded. For guests I use a sort of Place command(go to the bed) because it keeps my dog from being underfoot but I don't think it would work as well for everyday family greeting.

When folks come over my dog goes in a crate. He is very happy in there, it seems.

My dog might bite someone. It's just easier all around if he's crated.

When one of my daughters had a over the top, happy Pit the dog was a pia when people came in the house. Spirit would try and jump all over everyone when greeting them at the door.

I taught he that she wasn't getting petted until she held a sit in front of me. It got to the point she would make a crazy sliding sit when I went over there.

All I did was ignore her and as soon as her but hit the floor I would mark and reward.

From there it was a matter of simply adding time to the sit, then do a little petting on the dog before the behavior was marked.

The only problem was a few people the dog new well were inconsistent with the dog and she learned when she could still maul at the door.

I also think my daughter got a bit lax so DITTO with Maura's "consistency, consistency, consistency".

Don't allow the bad behavior from the start.

Set your expectations high and stick to it.