# Excitable behaviour



## LML

Hi all

We have a 5 month old cockerpoo who seems such a happy little soul. She loves the world and everyone in it..

When any of us come home she runs up to us wagging her whole body and wants to be picked up and cuddled - she wants to lick to you death...! 

She is very excitable and jumps up a lot - we do make her get down if she does it to someone apart from our family . She jumps over the kids a lot but they encourage it so its not all one-way!

She does sit on our sofas sometimes - but other times she sits on the floor or in her bed. She sleeps in our room in her bed at night and we dont hear a peep out of her all night until the early hours when she usually comes up into bed for a cuddle and goes straight back to sleep until its time to get up. 

She is happy to be left alone for a up to 3 hours - she stays in her bed in the kitchen with toys / water etc and has never been destructive and never seems anxious when we get home.

She loves her walks - and we have to be careful not to walk her too much as she would keep going and going ..


My question is - is it ok to allow this excitable jumping etc to continue? The reason im asking is that someone said to us that dogs who do things like jump up on your lap without being asked / jump all over you when you come int etc are showing dominance over us and not respecting our space. 

We have started taking her to puppy training classes and she is doing great - she sits on command most of the time and can do a short sit and stay and the trainers are really happy with her. 

My gut reaction is that she is just being a puppy but I dont want to let he get into bad habits if it will cause problems later on..

Thanks


----------



## dio.ren

Sounds like my Molly! She is exactly the same way. We did puppy class with her at about 4 1/2 months and she was the most excited puppy in the class. She learned very well but she had to jump on everyone she saw. I asked the trainer if she was normal cause all the other puppies were a lot more mellow. He said you have a very happy puppy consider yourself lucky. Do you realize how many people come in here with dogs that are shy and have aggression issues.

As for the jumping Molly is a year and a half now and still does it. It's not a sign of dominance it's just that she likes people too much We have tried to make her stop but people always make such a fuss over her and pick her up etc...so the jumping still goes on. I have yet to make her stop. She is just a very loving dog!

Your puppy sounds like it's doing great so I don't think she is being dominant.


----------



## Woo

I have also heard that it is a dominance thing but I am afraid I do allow Noodle to jump on me, I like it, I love the excited greeting I get when I get home and I love her sitting on my lap of an evening on the sofa (she dosen't get up unless told she can) She will stop jumping up if I ask her to and she will get down from the sofa if I tell her to so there isn't a problem in her stopping if asked. Noodle is a very happy dog, no agression. And she does jump on other people who don't mind and encourage it, I say get down, they say it's ok I don't mind, she's so cute. Cockapoos are so cute it's hard to stop people fussing them. I think if you have control over your dog and she listens to you when told to do something then getting excited when you come home and jumping up for fuss is ok and not her saying i'm top dog here. Shes just happy to see you


----------



## Grove

I personally don't think it's dominance. I think the only thing you have to do is decide what rules you are happy with and stick to it, then the dog will understand the boundaries. What your personal boundaries are is less important than if you are consistent.


----------



## wellerfeller

Puppy just being a puppy. She will learn to calm down as she grows up. However I do prefer it if my dog waits until asked up for a cuddle etc. A puppy throwing itself at you can be very cute but not so much with a 10kg+ full grown dog. Ground rules are always a good thing but I wouldn't worry about the dominance thing.


----------



## Lexi&Beemer

I don't think it's a dominance thing. I think it's a cockapoo thing. Lexi and Beemer do that all the time. After her spay, when Lexi did that she would have excitement pee. I didn't mind it before but I didn't want to clean pee off the floor forever, I stopped letting them jump to greet me. Now they sit really adorably at home. Now at daycare, they go nuts when I pick them up. They do a doodle dash in the lobby. Wrestle with each other. Give love to everyone. Then are calm enough to go. 

I think it's a friendly thing not a dominance thing. 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


----------



## Cat 53

My dogs jump up, especially when we've been out etc. Nits just their way of showing how happy they are to see you. I jump all over them too, cos I am just as happy my Poos do have boundaries, but this is one I choose not to uphold. In other respects they can be very well behaved. I think their is a huge difference between dominance and exuberance!


----------



## Marzi

Oh definitely not dominance.
I think lots of us will admit to wanting to control the jumping up thing - and some manage it with varying degrees of success some of the time
Greeting family and enjoying living with family is one thing - however if you have guests they may not appreciate the hairy cannon ball hurtling on and off the sofa, their laps, their heads.... so definitely stick with the training. 'Off' is a useful command and it may show that you have some degree of control after your dog has landed in the mug of coffee or glass of wine or decorated pristine outfits with muddy paw prints.
Oh the joy of being owned by a joyful, exhuberant 'poo (or two or three) 
Your pup sounds wonderful - I look forward to hearing much more about her and we'd all love to see pictures.


----------



## fairlie

At three the jumping has just started to calm down with Rufus. He'll still wriggle with delight if someone comes home but he no longer goes berserk. I see it as a functional weeding out of friends and visitors who are not dog crazy. Everyone else has stopped visiting.


----------



## LML

HI all

Thanks so much for all your replies and nice to know others have puppies that are so excitable too!

I didnt think it was an issue but someone at work made a comment about what you should do when you have a puppy and it just made me doubt what we are doing..

She is such a happy loving puppy - everyone she meets loves her and she wants to be in on everything.

I will count my blessings and make sure we all keep to the same boundaries.... but i wont be giving up my cuddles and naps on the sofa !

Have a great weekend - and thanks again


----------



## LML

This was taken about a month ago - typical pose! and no we werent driving at the time - we were parked up outside our house..


----------



## Woo

LML said:


> This was taken about a month ago - typical pose! and no we werent driving at the time - we were parked up outside our house..


Oh look at the little fur baby, she's teeny. So cute


----------



## dio.ren

She's so small Looks like she is learning to drive!


----------



## Mazzapoo

Delightful! So that's what the 'P' sign is on some cars


----------



## RuthMill

Definitely not dominance... Just head over heels in love with you and excited to see you!


----------



## Lottierachel

I didn't mind the excitable - it's lovely to have a madly wagging bum come to meet you. But the jumping up was a no no for me. I didn't want her jumping up at children who she could knock over, or at people when we're out with her muddy paws!

Firstly, we praised her for a different behavior: bringing us a toy when we come inside. It's very cute and much less in-your-face than jumping up!

Secondly, we got rid of the jumping up using pet corrector spray. I tried a number of different methods, but that was the only one that worked.

I don't mind if dogs jump up at me, but I know it's not for everyone, so madly wagging bum and a little toy gift is what we have instead!


----------



## KGr

I definitely don't think it's dominance just overwhelming giddiness to see people & share the love! 

We didn't want Pip jumping on the sofa, cos of having 2 small children and we wanted space for them free of giddy puppy. Nothing we tried worked even though we were very consistent with this rule, until (thanks to Lottie's advice) we got some pet spray. Now she barely even tries to get up on the sofa & instead just snuggles by our feet or in her bed. 

Pip has calmed down a lot when people come into the house but if the kids friends are coming round I'm still really conscious of her bring too giddy. So I put pip in her crate until she gets used to the new noises and then let her out but with a firm hold of her collar. 

When we're out she still jumps up but like everyone else has said its hard to control cos everyone she meets wants to pet & cuddle her so more tricky being consistent.


----------



## tessybear

When my last dog died aged 17 I decided I wouldn't get another dog. After 18 months I couldn't bear going into a quiet empty house any longer so I have now ended up with two dogs! They both leap at me with delight when I come home and I love it! 

I am careful with small children but the majority of my friends have to tolerate being mobbed when they come to my house or otherwise they don't need to come over. It may sound impolite but I do feel its my house so I make up the rules! ( they also go on my sofa and the beds as I am quite happy with both and if other people don't approve then tough!)


----------



## RuthMill

tessybear said:


> When my last dog died aged 17 I decided I wouldn't get another dog. After 18 months I couldn't bear going into a quiet empty house any longer so I have now ended up with two dogs! They both leap at me with delight when I come home and I love it!
> 
> I am careful with small children but the majority of my friends have to tolerate being mobbed when they come to my house or otherwise they don't need to come over. It may sound impolite but I do feel its my house so I make up the rules! ( they also go on my sofa and the beds as I am quite happy with both and if other people don't approve then tough!)


I agree with Tess on this


----------



## DB1

I decided to have a no sofa rule and stopped Dudley when he was getting big enough to get up by himself, it is lovely that when we visit elsewhere he doesn't jump on the furniture and I know my mother-in-law really appreciates that, however now he is calming down a little we are starting to allow him on the sofa if invited and only on his blanket, we will see if this affects his behaviour at all, one growl and he'll be back on the floor (where to be honest he is often happier). I hope he will understand that it is still a no no when we are somewhere else. We managed to stop the jumping up on us really quickly by ignoring him unless he had 4 feet on the ground, we also get a waggly bum and he picks up something to carry around which is sweet (not taught), however he still jumps on other people when they visit, so I have to hang on to him for a while if they are not so keen!


----------



## woody89

Dudley sounds just like woody. He always gets something in his mouth to greet us, I think it is to stop himself from biting clothes in his excitement to see us which he did when he was little. It's all self taught though. Woody is a bit of a nightmare when greeting other people, especially children, he's so happy to see them he has to jump upp


----------

