Dog Health Questions: Positive reinforcement dog training has failed me. any tips?

I am trying to train my dog to not be a spaz. she is so hyper when she see's new people, and i am trying to keep her off the couch. i have tried for a long 3 month and more. everyone says do the whole positive reinforcement. and i do very strictly. i am very coincident but she just dint get. are they are like whistle i can blow when she does wrong. i don't wanna harm the dog but some ting else to try. my family coming for the holidays i cant have her like this. she has neve been allowed on couch sine we got her at 8 weeks she is 1 year old now. i only play with her on the floor. ( I sit on floor with her)

Dog Training Fundamentals

Recommended Answer:
try putting balloons on the couch. just the cheep kind you blow up.

Universal Principles For Successful Dog Training

• the only good way to do it is positive reinforcement.
  i get all this from victoria stillwell on ITS ME OR THE DOG
  ever watch that show on animal planet? she's a very good dog trainer so here are some tips i learned from her:
  
  1. Hold your dog back until she calms down and give her a treat
  2. priase her when she does something good
  3. when she gets too excited, do not give her ANY attention at all
  4. when she stops barking, give her the attention
  
  trust me it'll work


• it would be hard to train your dog yourself. there are specialists at the pet stores, but if you want to do it yourself, here are a couple tricks i think might work.. not sure though.
  
  if your dog ever jumps on the couch, gently push her off (so you dont hurt her) and associate a word with it, like "no" or "down" or "off"
  and when she gets off, give her a small biscuit
  keep saying the word every time she goes to the couch, and still push her off or restrain her from getting on the couch. you might need a lot of dog biscuits though
  after a while, she should get off the couch whenever you say the word. the same would apply to meeting people i guess.
  
  im not really sure if this will work, but hopefully youll see some improvement soon. good luck


• Try and crate your dog when guests are coming over. Once the guests are in the house and the dog stops being a spaz then you can try and let your dog out. If she goes into spaz mode put her back in the crate until she calms down.
  Getting your dog to stay off the couch. THis will be difficult since you have ingrained a behavior that was acceptable to you. You allowed her on the couch for so long but now you want her to stop. I recommend place training. Get yourself a dog bed or a carpeted door mat. Put you dog on this and call it "Place" Teach your dog to stay on "Place. This will take some time and the dog will learn that this is the "Place" she needs to be.


• How often do you exercise her?
  
  It is very very normal for any puppy to be "hyper." Training doesn't necessarily help to calm a dog down. It helps to keep them focused and to learn. Puppies are naturally active and have tons of energy. Even with training puppies can stay hyper up until 3 years old.
  
  If you are worried about your guest then maybe keeping your dog in another room may be an idea or having her go to a doggy daycare during the day. I'd also try giving her more exercise, longer walks. Give her one before they arrive to get some of the extra energy gone.


• It sounds like you're doing really well! I would try giving her more excerise time and also take her to more socialization times. Keep going with the positive re-enforcement training. Try talking to the trainer you had and express your concerns. If you didn't have one maybe consider taking a class and then you can express concerns and review basic commands.
  
  Keep consistant with your words. You may need to block her off from the family room until your family leaves is she won't settle. What we did was block them off during food and let them out afterwards.
  
  Good luck!