I agree with the advice given here. Consistency is very important. However, it’s also important to find what works for your dog. If a spray bottle works for you, that’s great, if the knee thing works, cool, if ignoring the behavior works, more power to you (it sure didn’t for me.) But, if you are still struggling, you could try the technique that works for us. We tried the spray bottle, Kaos drank the water, we tried the knee or stepping into him, he just used our knees to hold himself up. We tried ignoring him, but it’s very difficult to get other people to ignore him, plus he’s much too big to ignore. He will knock you over if you don’t take control. We trained Kaos to “Kennel Up” on command. You can do the same thing with a bed, carpet or other type of designated area. We worked very hard on this command daily while nobody was at our house. At first we started by giving the command, then throwing a treat into the kennel. If you use something other than a kennel, just make sure you use it consistently. Don’t give the command for a small rug one time, then the corner the next. Once Kaos learned to associate the command with going into the kennel we then would give the command and make him stay in his kennel (it has no door) for a moment before rewarding him. Once he was very solid with the command we put it into action. When somebody comes into the house we allow Kaos to greet them. When he gets too excited and jumps, or dispays any other type of nuisance behaviors, we give him the command. He’s never happy about it because he doesn’t like being sent away. That part is the same theory as ignoring him. We then reward him while he is in the kennel, not being a nuisance. This is positive reward for good behavior and works sooo much better than constantly yelling! The other nice thing is that it can be used repeatedly. At first Kaos would come out of his kennel and dive bomb our guests. We would send him right back to his kennel. The idea is similar to time out for children. It allows us to regain command, gives the dog a moment to chill, and is a reward for positive behavior. We had guests over last night and Kaos was amazingly well behaved! He even fell asleep on the back porch while we were barbecueing. This method takes a little bit of dedication and practice, but can be used in so many ways. Things like problem barking etc. can be solved by sending the dog to his or her spot, then rewarding them for the correct behavior.
