Love Me, Don’t Leap on Me – Greeting Guests Training in Citrus Heights

Let’s talk about greetings. Specifically, your dog’s greetings.

Because right now, when guests come over to your home in Citrus Heights, your dog isn’t saying “hello.” Your dog is saying, “WELCOME TO THE THUNDERDOME.”

The doorbell rings.
Your dog explodes off the couch.
Someone opens the door.
And suddenly your guest is being hugged… aggressively… by an animal that weighs as much as a small coffee table.

You’re standing there saying, “He’s friendly! He’s just excited!”
Your guest is thinking, “Why is this creature on my chest?”

Good news: this is fixable. Great news: it doesn’t require yelling, apologizing, or holding your dog like a furry football every time someone knocks.

Welcome to Sit Happens, where we help dog owners in Citrus Heights teach polite greeting behavior through in-home socialization and obedience training—so your dog can love people without attempting to climb them like a tree.

🛎️ Why Dogs Lose Their Minds When Guests Arrive

Dogs don’t understand social norms. They don’t know that greeting guests with four paws on the floor is considered polite behavior. All they know is:

New person = excitement
Excitement = movement
Movement = jump

From your dog’s perspective, jumping makes perfect sense. It gets attention. It gets reactions. It gets hands on their face immediately. That’s a big win in dog logic.

And the problem isn’t that your dog jumps.
The problem is that jumping works.

🐕 “But They’re Just Being Friendly!”

Yes. Absolutely. They are very friendly.

They are also:

• Knocking over children

• Smearing muddy paws on clean clothes

• Startling guests who don’t like dogs

• Making hosting stressful instead of enjoyable

And here’s the thing—your dog doesn’t need to jump to be friendly. They just need to be shown a better way to say hello.

That’s where greeting training comes in.

🏡 Why In-Home Greeting Training in Citrus Heights Is the Only Thing That Makes Sense

Let’s be realistic for a moment.

Your dog doesn’t jump on people at a training facility.
They jump:

• At your front door

• In your entryway

• In your living room

• When guests walk in carrying food

• When someone bends down and says, “Oh hi puppy!”

So that’s where we train.

At Sit Happens, we provide in-home greeting and socialization training in Citrus Heights, because greeting behavior has to be practiced in real life—with real doors, real guests, and real excitement.

No staged nonsense. No “they behaved in class but not at home” frustration.

🎓 What Greeting Guests Training Actually Teaches

This isn’t about turning your dog into a statue. It’s about teaching impulse control, calm behavior, and clear expectations when people arrive.

Greeting training focuses on:

• Keeping four paws on the floor

• Sitting or going to a designated spot when the door opens

• Waiting for permission before greeting

• Staying calm through excitement

• Learning that calm behavior gets attention—not jumping

Once dogs understand the rules, greetings stop being chaotic and start being predictable.

🧠 Why Dogs Jump Even More During Holidays and Gatherings

If jumping is already an issue, holidays and gatherings make it worse.

Why?

• More people

• More energy

• More noise

• More food

• Less routine

Dogs feed off chaos. The more excitement in the room, the more they think, “THIS IS MY MOMENT.”

That’s why greeting training is especially important before:

• Holidays

• Parties

• Family gatherings

• Visits from friends

• Any event involving doorbells and snacks

🛠️ How Sit Happens Fixes Jumping at the Door

We don’t just say “stop jumping” and hope for the best. We give your dog a job to do instead.

✅ Step 1: Identify Triggers

Is it the doorbell? Knocking? Seeing people through the window? We figure out exactly what sets your dog off.

✅ Step 2: Teach a Default Behavior

Sit. Stay. Place. These become automatic responses to the door opening.

✅ Step 3: Practice With Realistic Scenarios

We rehearse guest arrivals repeatedly—because dogs learn through repetition, not lectures.

✅ Step 4: Reinforce Calm Behavior

Calm greetings earn attention. Jumping earns nothing. Dogs learn this very quickly when the rules are clear.

✅ Step 5: Coach the Humans

Because consistency matters. We show you and your family exactly how to respond so the training sticks.

❌ Common Greeting Mistakes That Keep Jumping Alive

You’re not doing this on purpose—but these habits make jumping worse:

❌ Letting Guests Pet While Jumping

Your dog just learned that jumping works.

❌ Yelling “Off” Repeatedly

After a while, that word means absolutely nothing.

❌ Holding Your Dog Back at the Door

This builds frustration—and frustration explodes once the door opens.

❌ Only Addressing It When It’s Bad

Training happens before the chaos, not during it.

🐾 What Polite Greetings Actually Look Like

Imagine this:

• Doorbell rings

• Your dog goes to their spot

• Guest enters

• Dog sits calmly

• Guest greets dog after calm behavior

No jumping.
No apologies.
No awkward laughs.

Just a dog who knows how to behave—and an owner who finally enjoys having people over.

📍 Why Citrus Heights Dog Owners Choose Sit Happens

We don’t rush training.
We don’t blame the dog.
We don’t expect perfection overnight.

We build habits that work in real life.

Dog owners in Citrus Heights choose Sit Happens because:

• Training happens at home

• Plans are customized

• Greeting behavior improves quickly

• Dogs become calmer overall

• Owners feel confident again

📞 Ready for Calm, Polite Greetings?

If you’re tired of bracing yourself every time someone knocks, it’s time for a change.

📍 Serving Citrus Heights
📞 Call Sit Happens at (916) 886-9908
🏠 Book your in-home greeting training session today

Your dog can still be friendly.
They can still be excited.
They just don’t need to leap onto every human like it’s a reunion tour.

TL;DR – Friendly Doesn’t Have to Mean Chaotic

• Jumping is a learned behavior

• Calm greetings can be trained

• In-home training works best

• Sit Happens fixes the issue at the source

• Hosting guests becomes enjoyable again

Because love is great.

But love… with four paws on the floor?
That’s even better. 🐾