Adolescent dogs often struggle with greeting people appropriately. This may be due to overexcitement or fearfulness which can peak during the teen stage.

One exercise which can help your dog understand how to interact with visitors involves setting up a controlled outdoor introduction.

When your visitor arrives, meet them at the door and give them a selection of treats. Ask them to go ahead of you to a designated greeting spot, which should be open and quiet. Now bring your dog outside and stop a short distance away from your guest.

Ask them to wait for any calm behavior from your dog, such as standing still, sitting or lying down before getting them to throw a treat to the ground just behind your dog.

This will do 2 things - reward your dog for polite behavior and encourage them to remain a little distance away instead of rushing at people.

Practice this with people that will have an ongoing relationship with your dog. You can also try having them pet your dog whilst you feed them a treat. Only proceed to this step when your dog is relaxed and happy to be around the person.

If you consistently practice this your dog will happily offer appropriate behavior whenever somebody approaches.