Hi, Sara,
Unfortunately, many people actually like the dog to jump on them. I had a dog I raised from a puppy. Since I always got down on the floor to play with her or bent over to her level, it never occurred to her to jump. She didn't jump on me; she didn't jump on other people. Then some males in the neighborhood taught her to jump on them. Fortunately, she never carried it to jumping on little children, but she was never as good as she'd been before. In my experience, this is a male thing. They really do want the dog to jump up on them. They encourage it. Women are less happy about it.
So how do you get them to stop unless they are invited? You need the help of friends that don't like being jumped on. First teach your dog a "place" command (it can be "place" or "mat" or any word you want, as long as you are consistent on what it means). The "place" command should carry with it a "wait" command -- "place" means go to that special location and stay there until I give you another command. Now you send your dog to "place" everytime the doorbell rings or there is a knock. Your helpers come over and wait outside until the dog is in her place. It may take a while before the helper can come into the house, but you don't want to let them in until the dog stays in her place. Now, when a new guest comes, she can stay in her place until she's calmed down and has seen the new person is acceptable to you. If the new guest is afraid of dogs, you will be happy you can leave her in her place until the person leaves. Far better than having to drag your dog off a frightened person! (Thank Victoria Stillwell for this method of controlling jumping dogs.)
Let us know if any of this helps.
kjd
|