Pet care: Wild and crazy with visitors

Q: I have a rescue dog, a 2-year-old chiweenie. She absolutely loses her mind around visitors, jumping, whimpering, spinning and wanting to be petted. I try to stay calm; visitors not so much. What can I do?

Dr. Nichol: Your party girl’s loss of impulse control is an embarrassment to everybody, except her. It would be tempting to reprimand her but understand that our dogs regard any response from us as a validation of their behavior and of their emotional state of the moment. There’s more. Your reaction would set the example for “Weenie.” Her takeaway: Guests arriving = emotional catharsis. Forget corrections or novel punishments. Ignore behavior you don’t want.

What??!! You have to do something, don’t you? Set your little nutball up for success by putting her in the other room with a food-dispensing toy, like a Twist ‘n Treat, prior to your guests’ arrival. When they burst through the door with their raucous shenanigans and back slapping, Weenie will be busy elsewhere. After your peeps are seated and settled, you can quietly lead this pupster out on-leash. With greater distance, there will be less arousal, so sit with her across the room from your pals.

Is this guaranteed to work? Of course not. Behaviors and emotional states happen in the brain, where a plethora of neural circuits work together to produce mayhem. You’ll be on duty for the rest of Weenie’s life. Anytime her agitation escalates, you must dutifully ignore and lead the leash (there is “no dog” on the other end) to a different room and close the door. You can try bringing her out again later, but it’s OK if you don’t. There is no requirement for dogs to meet visitors. Total avoidance is fine.

If you are a consistent leader, and repeat the above hundreds of times, your happy girl may learn something: that abandoning her dignity always results in the loss of social interaction, followed by an opportunity to earn it back by being calm. As decorum returns, you will reinforce — very quietly. Repeat hundreds of times.

For help with behavior problems, you can sign up for a Zoom group conference at drjeffnichol.com

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