How best to handle this

[K9soul]

Somehow just posting this and explaining some aspects has made me think much more in depth about it over the past couple hours, and I have some more ideas of some things to try in a broader sense that may help improve the situation.

[Giselle]

I don't think your training is asking folks to conform to dog standards. I fail to see how that likeness can be drawn, but that's just my opinion

Several suggestions immediately come to mind:
1) Provide an alternative behavior. Sit works. But it's boring and tends to build up frustration. Hand targets work. Retrieving a toy works. Presenting a paw works.
2) Teach self-control. The "turn-around-until-calm" method works relatively well, but I find the "don't-step-into-the-house-until-dog-is-calm" works infinitely better. You also won't be subjecting your guests to pawing and jumping and licking. You'll just need them to be patient for a couple minutes and stand outside until the dog is calm.
3) Premack it <--- my personal favorite. There are healthy desires and unhealthy fixations. If Raven gets so worked up over close family members that she can't inhibit herself, you might consider training her so that the trigger is LESS valuable. It doesn't mean that she'll learn to dislike them; it just means the value of their company will decrease to a point that she can control herself in their presence. Basically, Premack says you can increase the likelihood of a low probability behavior by rewarding it with a high probability behavior. So, take Raven. High probability= Raven will jump and act rambunctious towards your parents. Low probability= She will be calm and stay near you. Essentially, this is how it would go:
- Parents come in the door. Raven jumps on them.
- You call Raven. She doesn't come but she gives you an ear or head tilt. As long as she acknowledges your existence, you click/treat. She comes to you to retrieve the treat.
- Release her to greet your parents again. Maybe she jumps again. That doesn't matter right now.
- You call Raven again. She comes more readily this time.
- Release her to greet your parents.
- Recall. She comes without fail now.
- Release.
If you repeat this enough, Raven chooses to stay by you. She will reach a point where she refuses to go away from you when you release her. And if you're regular about this, the value of your parents will decrease and the value of staying by you/recall will increase. This is often dubbed "come-and-go" training, but it has its basis in Premack's principle.

Good Luck It does require minimal parental/familial participation, but they won't actually need to do anything other than stand there.

[K9soul]

Thanks Sophie . Some of that ties in to a few of the ideas I had. What I have in mind is doing a bit of training and work with her when I'm with my parents, both at their place and at mine. This will serve multiple purposes. Among them getting her attention fixed on me, associating their presence with pleasant things, not getting scolded or ignored. Also I think my parents are more likely to want to participate if they see me working with her, and see her in a more positive light when she makes steps forward. They can see her focus and do some work on whatever, be it heel, stay, touch the target, I'll probably mix it up to keep it interesting. Right now my older two seem like "the good dogs" and she is the rambunctious wild one. I can help turn some of that perception around even by focusing her energy into something more positive. I'm actually kind of excited to try some things out now. I think this could just change the overall environment and feel of the situation to one that is more productive.

[lizbud]

I am really glad you were able to come up with a few other ideas for
Raven. I'm sorry I couldn't talk a little longer about the problem. I was
running a long scan on my pc & also fixing dinner,so I was distracted.
Sorry about that.

I do think your parents could help with this, if only to ignore Raven for
a few minutes when they enter the house, till she calms down. (example)
Good luck with the training.

[K9soul]

Just wanted to give a little update here. Raven did much better yesterday (Sunday) when we went over to my parents'. Although I must say all the people involved (myself included) did better too in regards to handling her energy. First I took her for a jog/walk about an hour before going over (in the cold pouring rain too!). That seemed to take an edge off, and she definitely seemed a bit more settled to begin with. I could not find my treat pouch/clicker (going to have to replace THAT again ), so I just kept her leashed initially when I got there, anchoring myself and her when she was straining/trying to jump and then letting her approach when she settled more.

My parents seemed calmer and more attentive to her when she was behaving which I feel was a huge help in and of itself. She got lots of tidbits and treats when she was being good. She really settled down pretty fast and then was laid back and relaxed the rest of the visit. She really is very eager to please and VERY quick to pick up on positive reinforcement for a behavior. All in all I was very pleased with how it went and the whole visit was more relaxed