Derailing habitual over-excitement

I would work to develop an "evening routine" for a while...a pretty unchanging pattern (or as unchanging as possible) for Erik to develop.

The Relaxation protocol works well.....my only problem with it is that I do it every once in a while with my guys as a refresher, but I always end up stopping around day 9-10....lol. But that's my problem, not a problem with the procedure!!

Make sure he's well exercised right before he comes home. If you need to, take him out by himself for an extra walk/run.

Does the pig's ear work? What if you give him something utterly uber-fabulous before he comes home. Give it to him twenty minutes before you expect him home....it'll give Erik time to use up some of that mental energy by putting it into something else, rather than trying to calm him down after he's gotten ramped up.

You may or may not consider using a kennel or a less-used room as a timeout. Not a really horrible punishment, but as a way to calm down, and to develop a clear word associated with it. Clearly he is over-reacting to your husband's arrival so it is attention-based, so you can use that attention as a reinforcer. You may want to develop a "conditioned punisher" that tells the dog just what it did incorrectly, and then calmly walk the dog to its "spot" for a 30-60 second break. If the dog really wants to be around your partner, then Erik should learn pretty quickly that in order to stay around your partner, he must be quiet and control himself.

If you have the time (I'm listing things that come into my head here!), you may set it up so that everytime Erik gets overstimulated, your partner turns right back around and leaves the room/house. In other words, it's self-segregation, a similar time-out except that the human is leaving the room, not the dog. It may or may not work, depending on the underpinnings of the behaviour and whether partner wants to try that or not.

You may leave some treats right by the door, and teach hubby that the second he comes in the door, he is to grab a handful and throw them onto the floor behind where Erik would be. This tends to catch dogs in their tracks and distract them from their original purpose. Then, when Erik is done eating up the treats, he will turn to your partner and your partner can either ask for a behaviour, or if Erik is not ready for that, throw another handful behind him. A few treats thrown on the floor often distracts them from the original goal. And it may even be easier, if it's possible, to keep the treats outside of the house, in a vehicle or something, so that your partner is ready from the second he walks in.

 Just a few ideas of things you may try, combined they likely will have a beneficial effect.

Rule number one - ignore excitement, reward calm.  Relaxation protocol is great, but at times when you are not doing it, the fall back position is rule number one:-)  Also, if you have time, set him up for success by exercising him before partner arrives, so that he isn't quite as keen. 

Kim_MacMillan

Make sure he's well exercised right before he comes home. If you need to, take him out by himself for an extra walk/run.

 Ignoring him has limited effect. We have been doing that and some days he'll give up, but I think we're setting ourselves up for failure with that one. Inevitably, one of us cracks and goes "Erik, shh!" and he quiets for a moment because all he wanted was for someone to take notice of him.

Yesterday's efforts were quite successful. I took him out just before I was expecting my partner home and started playing with the flirt pole, but then it promptly bucketed on us, so he was actually MORE worked up. We'd talked about the pig's ear that morning, so when the boy came home he got a pig's ear immediately and sat down with Erik before he really started his barking routine. It did work. We don't want to set Erik up to expect something good every time the other half comes home, though. Erik would get that connection and start anticipating and it would only work against us. Giving him the pig's ear ten minutes before my partner arrives would be ideal, I think.

I don't want to do time outs because they are about the worst thing you can do to Erik. In fact, I've just stopped shutting him out when we are eating because it was making him more over-excited and he couldn't handle his frustration. He is still learning to handle frustration. 

Thanks for the ideas. I think the more things we do to try to disrupt this habit the better our chances of success. Erik found day 1 of the relaxation protocol extremely boring and kept adding tricks to it. He was doing some very cute spins-and-sits. Kivi on the other hand completely aced it and just sat there waiting for his treats.

corvus

p. We'd talked about the pig's ear that morning, so when the boy came home he got a pig's ear immediately and sat down with Erik before he really started his barking routine. It did work. We don't want to set Erik up to expect something good every time the other half comes home, though. Erik would get that connection and start anticipating and it would only work against us. Giving him the pig's ear ten minutes before my partner arrives would be ideal, I think.

I come home pretty frazzled many days, it is high stress for me too. Having two competitive poodles dancing around me is not quite what i want. I just came home for a few days and didn't let them in for a 1/2 hour or so. My homecoming is now a non event, and i can de wind before dealing with two lovely dogs that really want my attention. By doing this delay, we make the cue of a car coming up the drive a non event.

Oh yeah how is this for training and genetics? Which dog is the one that hits the ground first when asked to sit, the really bouncy drivey boy poodle jumping up besides me 4-5ft , or the girl that has had a lovely life and wouldn't know what hardship was???

Most of you would guess right :))

 Your partner should take the dog for a walk when he gets home.  Person comes home, dog is expected to sit nicely while partner gives dog a little shoulder massage for a minute.  Partner then changes into walking clothes clips on leash, and they go for a nice walk.  Both of them will feel better.  Walking the dog will get your friend out in the fresh air and help to form a good break between work and home.  He will probably feel much better after a 30 minute walk and both of them will settle down nicely.

The problem with behaviors like over-excitement is that they can easily be self-rewarding. So even if you are ignoring the behavior, the fact he gets to run around and bark is enough of a reward. What you need to find is something that he likes MORE than running around like a lunatic and use that as a reward for calm behaviors.

On top of it, I would work on training an incompatible behavior (such as a go to your crate/mat), and work on hard on making that more rewarding that running around and barking. So chewing on that pig ear, maybe.

Also, more exercise right before your partner gets home.

 Ari, it seems, lives in a perpetual state of over excitement (everything in her world is OMG THIS IS FANTASTIC) and any behavior she does is self rewarding. We've developed the routine of a quick play session when we get home. She now even knows to get a toy when we get home (usually after an excited jump or two lol, but we're working on that).

I wouldn't see anything wrong with having your partner maybe steal a toy and use that as soon as he comes home. That way your not spending too much money on treats or anything of the sort. To be honest, you don't even have to be "all there" to just throw a toy around for a bit. It may give your dog the physical outlet he needs to settle down.

It would be ideal if your partner could just snap a leash on and take the pup for a walk. Walking is a good way to relax for both human and canine alike 

When my Yorkie was a puppy she would flip out when I came home from work. We all know how yappy yorkies can be... ;) Here is what I did...

Every day I'd get home, walk straight to the couch and lay down for a 1/2 hour nap. If Lexi wouldn't calm down, I'd ask her if she wanted to go in the crate. Eventually she realized if she wanted time with me when I got home, she had to be calm and relaxed. 

It worked, but now at two years old she is starting to slack. She was getting pretty bad again for awhile, she would even nip at our Golden Retriever's heels when I entered the house. Maybe a competitive thing? Anyways, I'm back to ignoring everyone when I come in the door, and she seems to be improving.

LittleLexi

I'm back to ignoring everyone when I come in the door, and she seems to be improving.

That's how I deal with overexcited dogs.

 I live with a giant perpetually over-excited dog and truly, ignoring him until he settles is best.  He doesn't bark but he whines and does circles like mad.  We have this down but it is difficult with guests as they don't really understand that they really need to pretend the hundred+ pound dog with the painful whip tail doesn't exist.

corvus

 Ignoring him has limited effect. We have been doing that and some days he'll give up, but I think we're setting ourselves up for failure with that one. Inevitably, one of us cracks and goes "Erik, shh!" and he quiets for a moment because all he wanted was for someone to take notice of him.

  I get exactly this from one of the dogs in our house.  The excessive vocalizing seems to be in direct reaction to a lack of eye contact/interaction to begin with.  ie, you're on the computer or watching TV or reading something where you're not looking at or interacting with the dog.  Demanding is one thing, perceiving a "problem" is another, and it sounds like Erik has perceived a problem with partner not connecting to him when he comes home.  Not a problem with you, because you connect with him.  I suspect it's why your partner massaging Erik while he ate a pig's ear was successful - interaction/connection.

I'm not a behaviorist, but I have experienced these things you describe, almost to a T.  Giving the dog something to do *other* than the barking really is the key for us, not ignoring it.  You know, the whole telling the dog WHAT to do is better than telling them what not to do.  Barking is one of those things that can be done in a crate, on a bed/mat, so ignoring and telling them to lay somewhere else aren't necessarily going to exclude the barking.  Is your partner finding time to be with Erik one-on-one outside of the coming home over-excitement in the recent past?  Meaning, later in the evening, or on the weekends, do Erik and your partner have good direct interactions?

That sounds like it exactly, Paige.

He has really improved over the last month or so. I spent two weeks away from home for work just before Christmas and his relationship with my partner definitely improved. The crazy barking when my partner comes home has mostly stopped. My partner gives Erik a lot more attention and Erik has learnt to control himself a little better as well. The massage has really helped and at least Erik now has a focus for his vague feelings of not being noticed enough. He barks at us because he wants us to stroke and massage and cuddle him.

We have also been teaching him that "shh" doesn't just mean shut up, but shut up and lie down and relax. That seems to have helped a lot as well. He can do that and it sort of calms him down in spite of himself. Then when he is calm we can interact with him. He's usually satisfied with a couple of minutes of attention.

I think there's a fine line for Erik between "I want attention" and "I really need attention". On Christmas day he was in a strange place tied up for the first time in his life and all these strangers kept unwinding him from the pole he was tangling himself around. He became distressed and started barking. I called him over and invited him into my lap and he practically flew into my arms for a cuddle. After that, he had regained his sense of emotional balance and he was right. He has a tendancy to become overly vigilant, and we are starting to learn that he just needs a bit of structure and help to calm down, and the over-vigilance is a symptom of some other problem, like having excess energy or subtly fretting for some reason.

corvus

On Christmas day he was in a strange place tied up for the first time in his life and all these strangers kept unwinding him from the pole he was tangling himself around. He became distressed and started barking. I called him over and invited him into my lap and he practically flew into my arms for a cuddle. After that, he had regained his sense of emotional balance and he was right. He has a tendancy to become overly vigilant, and we are starting to learn that he just needs a bit of structure and help to calm down,

With my younger dog Sam, he has some suprising gaps in his socialiasition, and out of nowhere it will show. The good thing is that he learns quickly that these new things aren't going to do horrible things to him.

One of the things that i wont do is initiate play in these circumstances no matter how or what. I prefer to deal with and  "reprogramme " Sam when he is like this. Yesterday we were waiting for the groomers to open so i popped along to this grass area next to a railline. For US readers, it is really next, you can dam near touch the train. He was great and we did a bit of heeling and goofing around. Then a old training mate yelled out he knows my habits, and Sam went nuts. I have no idea why but my mate was good and after 5 minutes or so Sam was Tail up wagging and interacting with my mate. It took a little bit of patience. At that point i then worked with Sam on heeling around my mate and playing with me.