excited jumping

Question
My dog get so excited when anyone walks through the front door that it is begninning to be a problem and i need to lock her up. i don't want her to jump at people or scratch them or us when we come home. she is a 1 year old boxer. help. Thanks

Answer
Well, at least she LIKES people;-))  The truth is that dogs jump up because normal canine greeting behavior involves sniffing the side of the other dog's face.  The dog is simply trying to reach us!  However, understandably, humans don't like being greeted that way, so we need to teach the dog OUR greeting behavior.  The way another dog would signal that no interaction was welcome would be to ignore the dog, and make no eye contact, turning the face away.  So, I advise people to ignore their dog any time it jumps (granted, you have to pre-plan for this - engage your friends and family to help you train).  If a dog NEVER gets any attention for jumping, she eventually stops.  The trick is getting all the humans on the same page and have them ignore the dog no matter what she does.  Some dogs will get even more obnoxious at this point, but that usually signals that an "extinction burst" is near. (Google that phrase)  The second objective is to teach the dog to "sit" to greet.  Some people use a tether so that the dog cannot reach guests, and when the dog sits, they get pats and attention.  No sit means that the guest just moves on and ignores the dog.
If people shove the dog away, or try to command an overexcited dog to "down", "off", etc., it rarely works.  Physically pushing the dog can be interpreted as an invitation to play - not what you want at all.  Or, as aggression - also not how you want the dog to interpret your actions, since some dogs will eventually offer aggression in return.
Hope this info helps.