high-energy dog

Question
My Sophie is a 17 month old half Boston Terrier/half somekindaterrier/bulldog mix. She is as wide-open a dog as you have ever seen, but as she matures she has gotten control of herself and is a very intelligent, very playful girl. She was spayed at 6 months, and although she and I are temporarily in an apartment where outside time is always on a leash, I exercise her frequently and we have adjusted fairly well. Believe me, we have tackled and overcome a myriad of behavior issues as she grew up. I have never punished her in any way except an occasional dirty look and grumble at 2am, instead I have trained her by rewarding good behavior with toy time and tug-of-war, both of which she loves more than food. The only problem I cannot seem to help her past is her overexcitability when someone comes over. She is all over a guest, jumping, licking, all affectionately, but far too much. If I restrain her or remove her from the room she wails and cries so that I cannot enjoy the visit anyway. She is certainly not hungry for attention, and she is not left alone for extended periods. She does get very excited when I come home, but I can calm her quickly. It just does not work when other people visit. She is a great dog, but no one can appreciate that because she just spins into orbit whenever company comes. Any suggestions?

Answer
Hi, Elizabeth,

Thanks for the question.

It sounds to me like Sophie has a bit of social anxiety, which in this case is triggered by an impulse to bite anything that moves around the "den" door.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the idea/folklore that whenever you take your dog for a walk you need to always go through the door ahead of her; if she goes through first that means she thinks she's alpha?

The reason this myth exists is that when researchers were observing the behaviors of captive wolves, they noticed that the wolf they thought was the most dominant would always snap at anyone who tried to go through a door or cross any threshold ahead of him. But we now know that while there IS a real instinct behind this behavior, it has nothing to do with being alpha, which is another myth. (Wild wolves don't exhibit this behavior in any way, shape or form, and the latest research shows that there really is no alpha wolf or pack leader in wild wolf packs anyway!)

Okay, so going back to the instinct that actually DOES cause the snapping behavior around doorways sometimes seen in dogs and especially in captive wolves: what is it? It's really very simple. Any movement around any threshold causes the dog or wolf to have a strong urge/impulse to bite whatever's causing the movement. It's a safety mechanism going back to when dogs/wolves actually lived in dens and had to be able to defend themselves when they crossed thresholds into unknown, potentially dangerous territory. In other words Den = Safety, Doors/Thresholds = Possible Danger. It's a very ancient instinct, and yet it still causes issues like Sophie's today.

There's another piece to it in cases like Sophie's: dogs are extremely social and would never want to bite a potential friend. It goes against the grain; their social rules forbid it. So whenever a dog feels a sudden urge to bite someone in a social context, they immediately come up with a secondary way to download that oral tension. Some download their oral tension by becoming over friendly, exhibiting excessively licking instead. Others won't stop barking or spinning around in circles. Well-adjusted dogs will simply go grab a toy and bring it to the owner or whoever just came through the door, and maybe ask for a game of tug or fetch, or just keep the toy to themselves as a kind of pacifier.

Okay, so now you understand the CAUSE of Sophie's sudden surge in energy, that it's precipitated by this ancient impulse to bite everyone who comes through the door (including you!), and that being as openly social as she is, she also feels just as impelled to REPRESS that sudden urge, you simply teach her that her job when visitors come over is to go grab a toy and either bring it to you or to your guest.

The easiest way to do this is to teach Sophie what "Where's your toy?" means. Then every time you come home, say "Where's your toy?" and praise her when she runs for it brings it to you. Then if you play a quick game of tug or fetch and she'll settle down much quicker. Once she learns to do that in association with YOU coming through the door it'll be much easier for to translate that to these other charged situations.

Just one other thing, when you play tug with her, try as much possible to only do it outdoors, not inside the apartment. And you should always let her win and praise her enthusiastically for winning.

Let me know if you need any clarification or need further information.

I hope this helps!

LCK