hawrai

Hi All,

Great site...we have a lovely male Dobe, 4 months old named Zoltan. Its our first dog, we love him to bits.

I have a couple of questions to ask ...

1. He is over friendly towards anyone and everyone - I know this is a good thing but I would ideally like him a little more reserved towards total strangers, at present he will forget everything and jump up to meet them and kiss them...will this pass??

2. Jumping, Jumping....In every department he is very good and generally listens, except he will jump on people...when someone comes to house, at park to strangers..it is very worrying as one day he may jump on someone who is scared of dogs and he will get into trouble...I have tried things like turning your back on him...ignoring him etc etc...and although he is not too bad with me and my partner as we have the time, patience and will to make sure he obeys before we greet him..he gets incredibly excited when people come to our house...and ignores all commands not to jump...

Any advice please??

reddobes

Train him to do something other than jump -- i.e. instead of just telling him what not to do, teach him what to do. You could teach him to sit to get petted/greet people. Don't give him attention until he sits. Have some of your friends work with you to help enforce this.

Enroll in obedience class - this can help oodles with directing his energy in a positive way.

It is normal (and desired) for pups to be friendly.

Good luck with your pup!

VaBtrfly

First off, hi and welcome from Virginia!


1: Being friendly to people is a good thing. If he were vicious at this age, I'd worry, lol. No need to fret, his friendliness will never diminish his ability to protect you and your family later. Ideally, you want a dobe who can assess situations correctly and who can distinguish between good people and bad people. Sounds like you're actually off to a good start, lol. Keep socialializing as much as possible.

2: Jumping... all dogs jump. Dobes are good for it, lol. What you can do is set him up in situations where he must sit before any interaction. Ask friends to come by and impose a sit before any petting, etc. Maybe leave some cookies in the mailbox with strict instructions to tell the dog to sit once they (friends) enter your home. In public, this is up to you to reinforce. NO ATTENTION until he sits nicely, period! Don't worry, you sound like you're on the right track. Enjoy puppyhood, it flies by! lol.

Take care and good luck.