Puppies have a lot of hyper energy and very short attention spans.
They are also infinitely curious and want to put everything that they see in their little mouths. This can make puppy obedience training something of a challenge.
When it comes to puppy training, we want to get our puppy to repeat good behaviors, and stop bad behaviors. The more a puppy practices a behavior, the more likely she will repeat it. Therefore, by encouraging good behaviors, we ensure that she will have a good repertoire of people friendly actions to draw upon when she grows up.
Here, we deal with the 3 primary elements of puppy obedience training –
- How to communicate consistently and effectively with a puppy.
- How to encourage good puppy behaviors.
- How to discourage bad puppy behaviors.
1. How to Communicate with Puppy
The first two words I teach my puppy are “Yes” and “No”.
“Yes” is used to mark a desirable behavior and “No” is used to mark an undesirable behavior.
Yes is usually followed by a positive consequence (e.g. a food reward, affection, toys), and No is usually followed by a negative consequence (e.g. withdrawal of attention, timeout).
In fact, we do not need to use the words “Yes” and “No”, and can pick whatever mark-words we want. The best mark-words are unique, and do not frequently come up in normal conversation. This helps to prevent confusion with our dogs.
For my dogs, I use Ack-Ack as a no-mark and Good-Boy or Good-Girl as a yes-mark.
- When my puppy does something good, I say “Good-Girl” and present her with a small treat reward.
- When my puppy does something bad, I say “Ack-Ack” and redirect her into doing something positive.
Consistency is very important while communicating with our dogs. We want to stick to the same yes-mark and no-mark.
In addition, we also want to establish very consistent rules and a fixed routine. This helps our puppy understand what is expected of her, as well as what she can expect from us.
One of the first things that I do with a new puppy, is set up a fixed routine. My puppy schedule includes playing time, training time, walking time, feeding time, and the ever important sleeping time. I try to keep the schedule consistent, so that each of these activities happen at around the same time every day.
Keeping a fixed schedule is good for me, and good for Puppy. It allows me to be more efficient about getting things done, and it sets aside some me-time while Puppy is sleeping and resting in her crate.
It also helps get a puppy accustomed to a new environment, without being overly stressed. In the beginning, everything is new, foreign, and possibly scary for a new dog. A fixed schedule helps to reduce stress, increase trust, and quickly integrates her into the existing family rhythm.
Similarly, a consistent set of rules will help to avoid confusion, and hasten the puppy learning process.
2. How to Encourage Good Behaviors
Puppy obedience training and even adult dog training is centered around two key areas-
- How to encourage and get puppy to repeat good behaviors.
- How to discourage and get puppy to stop bad behaviors.
It is important to recognize though that what we see as good and bad behaviors may not coincide with what our dog considers to be good and bad behaviors.
Dogs, even puppies, think for themselves and have needs of their own.
Therefore, we want to use our newly established communication system to teach our puppy what is good and bad for us. In addition, we must also motivate our dog so that she actually cares about our human values, which very likely, make little or no sense to her.
We encourage good behaviors by using the yes-mark, as soon as our dog finishes doing something good.
For example, when our puppy finishes doing a Sit we say “Good-Girl!” and then present her with a reward. The yes-mark is very helpful in training because it allows us to immediately mark the behavior that we want to reward.
To effectively train our puppy, we want to clearly indicate which action she is being rewarded for. If we wait too long, she will have moved on to something else, and we may inadvertently reward the wrong behavior.
Therefore, quickly use the yes-mark as soon as our dog finishes a good behavior. Then, we can take more time to present Puppy with her reward.
3. How to Stop Bad Behaviors
When it comes to stopping bad dog behaviors most of us think of applying a physical punishment, for example spanking the dog, jabbing the dog with our fingers, or giving the dog a collar correction.
These techniques apply pain to the dog, at which point the dog may stop her current behavior in order to avoid further pain and stress.
However, such pain based techniques are risky. If they are not executed with exactly the right force, timing, and redirection, they may cause more behavioral issues down the road; even aggression. It is especially risky to apply such techniques to puppies because of their young minds, and still developing bodies.
How then can we stop bad puppy behavior?
I have found that the best way to stop bad behavior is through the control of resources. *We* naturally control everything that a puppy wants, including food, toys, freedom, affection, and play.
To encourage good behaviors, we motivate our puppy by giving her something that she wants.
To discourage bad behaviors, we motivate our puppy by taking away something that she values, for example her freedom, or our attention and affection.
Note – This does not mean that we should tease our puppy and take away food while she is eating, or forcibly remove a toy that she is playing with. Doing so can encourage food aggression or resource guarding behavior.
What works best is to withhold something that my puppy wants, but does not yet have. Another possibility is to take away a privilege, such as withdrawing my attention or restricting her freedom.
When my puppy bites at my hands, I give her a no-mark (Ack-ack) and then redirect her to do something else, for example, chew on a toy. If Puppy redirects, I give her a yes-mark (Good-Girl), and reward her with something that she really wants, such as a yummy treat.
If Puppy ignores the no-mark and continues to bite at me, I withdraw my attention by standing up, folding up my arms, and turning away from her. In this way, she loses a valued play-mate, and no longer gets to engage in something fun.
If Puppy escalates her behavior and starts to jump on me or bite my clothes, I take away an even more important privilege; her freedom. I do this by calmly saying Timeout, and then taking my puppy to a boring but safe timeout area.
Puppies often bite at us to initiate play or to get our attention. We can effectively stop puppy biting by teaching her the following-
- Biting = No attention and no play,
- No biting = Attention, play, and treats.
How to Train a Puppy
To stop bad behavior, I have found that it is important to –
- Start by redirecting Puppy into doing something positive. In this way, we turn a negative situation into a positive one. We not only get our dog to do what we want, but also teach her that following our commands, is the fastest way to get to her heart’s desires.
- Make the punishment suit the crime. I always start small and give my puppy many opportunities to choose a path for success. If she continues or escalates her bad behavior, then I slowly escalate her punishment.
- Stay calm at all times. Puppies have high energy and are easily distracted. If we get angry or frustrated, we will only inject more bad energy into an already volatile situation. This will likely cause our puppy to lose focus, become more hyper, and behave in an even more erratic fashion. If we want our dog to be calm, we must stay calm ourselves.
- Set Puppy up for success. Carefully manage our puppy and only expose her to situations that we think she can handle. For example, start by introducing her to new objects that are not moving, then slowly move on to moving objects, then objects that move and make noise, and so on. Start small and slowly move up to bigger things. The more successful a puppy is, the more confident she will become, and the more balanced she will be when she grows up.
Goal of Puppy Obedience
The goal of puppy obedience is to learn how to communicate with our puppy, and teach her how to live well and harmoniously with us.
Obedience training can also help to protect our puppy from inadvertently harming herself and others, or from engaging in activities that may be detrimental to her health (e.g. over-eating, walking on glass).
Obedience training is *not* for acting out our anger, or venting our frustrations when our puppy poops on our furniture, eats poop, and spreads garbage all over our expensive designer couch.
We are not perfect, and Puppy is not perfect. In the initial stages, mistakes will be made, some of which may lead to chewed up designer shoes, scratched kitchen cabinets, and stained carpets. However, this is all part of the learning process.
Puppies, and indeed all dogs do not perform bad behaviors just to piss us off, make us angry, or exact revenge.
Puppies Acting Badly
Puppies or dogs act badly because …
- They do not know that something is bad because we did not teach them properly.
- They were stressed and started chewing, digging, or even pooping in order to relieve that stress (displacement behaviors).
- They felt threatened and thought it was necessary to protect themselves, or their belongings.
The key to puppy obedience training is in learning to see things from our dog’s point of view.
Once we understand what motivates our puppy, we can prevent undesirable actions and encourage desirable ones.
Dogs spend a lot of time observing us, understanding what makes us tick, and making us happy. The least that we can do, is try to return the favor.
Hi there. I just found your website. I’m learning a lot from it. You mention having a schedule for your dog. I was wondering if you could share your schedule? I really need help in setting one up for our puppy! Thanks!
My schedule for when Lara was a puppy was pretty simple. I had about 1.5-2 hours rest time, followed by 1.5-2 hours interaction time and so on. I would take her out for potty as soon as she wakes up, and then we would play outside as a reward for doing potty. Then we would come in, and she would have supervised play with my other dogs, we would do obedience, grooming exercises, etc. Finally, I would sit with her and help her work on her Frozen Kongs. The frozen kongs helps to engage her in something calm, then she usually drops off for a nap after that.
She is more active in the evenings, so I would lengthen play-time then, and shorten rest time.
At night, she would sleep for about 8 hours or more, with potty breaks outside as necessary.
My schedule was a bit different for each of my dogs though, depending on their energy level and temperament. I try to observe each dog and then adjust things to work well for their own particular idiom. 😀
Hi! I have been visiting your site for sometime and it has helped greatly. There is a problem with my dogs which I have been unable to solve. I have a Rat Terrier and a Chi mix. My Rat is a rescue dog whom I trained to the point that he would not go in the house until I would get home to take him outside. Two months later I got him a playmate (Chi Mix) She barely weighs 7lbs. She was utterly fearful of everyone when I picked her up at SPCA but Jose warmed up to her immediately, hence the reason why I chose her. Sadly she pees and poops in the house and when left in the Kennel too long, she would poop in there and be completely uneasy. I associated treats with the Kennel so now she loves getting in there but still pees and poops in the house. Now my Rat Terrier is doing the same thing. Everyday I come home from work I spend two house cleaning up the house before I can even sit down to eat. I could really use some advice or good pointers.
Does she only pee and poop when she is alone or does she also do it when you are around? Does she get really stressed out when she is left by herself?
Otherwise, this is what I do to potty train my dog-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-potty-training-facts-and-myths
Hello!
My boyfriend and I got an adorable Shiba pup named Win about a month ago. We got him from a pet store and within a week he was diagnosed with pneumonia and put in the hospital for 3 days. He’s made a full recovery now but his illness delayed getting the rest of his shots and, since we live in NYC, it has unfortunately meant that he still isn’t able to go outside. My boyfriend and I also both work odd schedules and he often accompanies one of us so he’s not left alone for too long if we’re both working. Since he is unable to go outside, we have been pee pee pad training him and he does fairly well (he seems to recognize the pads and his crate as consistent no matter what environment he is in) but he has taken to urinating on the pad and then running off somewhere secret to poop in the split second someone takes an eye off him. He has also taken to running away when we come to pick him up which we’d like him to stop.
We have another dog (an extremely well behaved pit mix) who he adores and we hope will rub off on him a bit. But in the meantime, do you have any recommendations for training a shiba on the go? We’re slightly concerned he won’t be able to figure out how to go potty outside now that he’s been doing it inside for so long.
A few other concerns:
-He’s inconsistently good about being left alone. In the crate he tends to go to sleep, but in the playpen (unless the other dog is in there with him) he screams and pushes it across the floor and poops everywhere
-he eats EVERYTHING. Paint chips, poop, tape, dirt…literally anything he can find. Sometimes stuff we can’t see until he has it in his mouth. Then he runs when we try to get it from him.
We’ve tried to be positive and calm like you recommend. Most of the time we are but we’re not sure if we’re then affirming bad behavior by being too calm…and there are some grey areas. for example when he does something right and we go to reward him, he jumps up on us which is a bad behavior. He will sit amd wait for treats but he always jumps up first so we’re not sure if he thinks we’re rewarding that and not the good thing he did before it.
Luckily, he’s very social and kind and doesn’t really bit us (he sometimes nibbles gently). He’s definitely a fan favorite but potty training is a big issue for us right now. We’d love a sweet AND well behaved shiba!
Sorry about the novel…We plan on taking him to puppy training when he finishes his shots but we have to wait another few weeks! Any advice is much appreciated. You sound like the shiba whisperer.
Thanks so much!
Rachel
Congratulations on your Shiba puppy!
In terms of potty training, I was able to train my Husky to first go on potty pads, and then later to go outside. Shania had to go for multiple surgeries when she was young, and it was necessary to use pads so that she did not have to keep going outside. After the surgeries were done, I started retraining her to potty outside, and with consistent supervision, she quickly picked-up that going outside was a lot more rewarding than going on her pads. 😀
I made sure to reward her very very well for doing her potty outside with her favorite food, affection, games, and more. I also set up a fixed schedule and consistent rules so that her potty schedule is more predictable and I can anticipate when to take her out. More on what I did to potty train Shania.
In terms of running away, that was also a favorite of Sephy. He really loves to play chasing games, so when people started chasing him, it is a *very big reward* for him. He used to steal the t.v. controller, because he learned that whenever he did that, people would chase him, and a fun game ensues. In this way, I was inadvertently rewarding him for his stealing and running away behavior. Instead of chasing Sephy, I put a drag-lead on him. I *only* use a drag lead when I am around to properly supervise him, and I use it with a flat collar or harness, *never* with aversive collars. In this way, I can prevent Sephy from running by using the lead from pretty far away. I always make sure *not* to cause a hard stop so that he doesn’t hurt his neck.
In terms of alone time, I helped Sephy become more comfortable with being alone through desensitization exercises. I first started with very short periods of alone time (seconds) and then slowly built up from there. More on separation anxiety and desensitization.
In terms of rewarding the right behavior, I establish a yes-mark and no-mark with all of my dogs. In this way, I can accurately mark the good behavior with a consistent verbal cue, and then my dog knows that a reward will be coming. If my dog performs a bad behavior in-between, I no-mark it and tell him what to do instead. As soon as he performs the command, I mark the behavior and then reward him. I *never* reward during or right after an undesirable behavior. I talk more about this in the article above.
As for being calm, that is very important for all of my dogs, especially my Shiba. Sephy is very sensitive to my energy, so if I am not calm in any way, he will pick up on that and get even more crazy. I am calm when rewarding Sephy and I am calm when correcting him. If I am calm, then he has an easier time staying calm himself and listening to me. Being calm does not mean there are no consequences. It just means that I am in control of my own energy, so that I can respond to my dogs in a fair, consistent, and decisive manner.
I have a bunch more Shiba Sephy stories here –
http://shibashake.com/shiba-inu-tips-information-care
Bigs hugs to your Shiba puppy and Happy Holidays!
I recently adopted a husky pup, she’s a little over 10 weeks old and everything was going fairly well, she would whine to go outside, she was affectionate and playful, and she listened for the most part. Up until yesterday. She had numerous accidents in the house, and I attribute this to me trying to clean and not paying close enough attention. She started to do the “kill shake” with my cat, where as previously they’d just play, she refuses to even acknowledge when I speak to her. Not even glancing at me when I say her name. She won’t even look at my face or let me pet her. She actually got up and went to her crate when I tried! This has not happened before. She would never leave my side actually, choosing to play or sleep right at my feet. This is not the case with my boyfriend, however, she responds to him, plays with him and let’s him pet her. So I am very confused as to what is going on! Do you have any suggestions?
Hello KD,
I went through a similar thing with my Shiba Inu when he was young. In our case, a lot of it was due to my own energy. Sephy is a very sensitive dog, and he would very quickly pick up on how I was feeling. If I got frustrated, anxious, or stressed, he would pick up on that, become stressed himself, and act out of character. He was also a lot more affectionate with other members of the family.
Since I was the one that mostly took care of Sephy, this hurt me pretty deeply, which made me get even more frustrated and anxious around him. This in turn made him get more stressed around me, and he would often avoid me.
Once I started controlling my own energy and being more calm around Sephy, his behavior toward me improved significantly. Being calm and in-control was very important with him. I set up a fixed routine, consistent rules, and followed the Nothing in Life is free program. This calmed him down significantly, and I also started to gain his trust.
A bit more on my difficult beginning with Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/build-a-strong-bond-with-your-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/my-dog-training-mistakes
http://shibashake.com/dog/my-shiba-inu-story
My husband and I are picking up our husky on Thursday. This will be our first husky. We had a German shepherd a few years back. Till we moved and could not bring her so she lives with his parents now. She’s 8 weeks old and although excited I’m very nervous. I do have a 1 1/2 year old daughter an I’m worried about training. Do you have any advice? I’m feeling over whelmed but have already paid for my pup so can’t back out now. Is there any advice you can give me to ease my mind? Thank you for your time.
Hello Vanessa,
Congratulations on your upcoming bundle of fur! Husky puppies are absolutely adorable and a lot of fun. They do need a lot of supervision tho, especially in the beginning. What helped with my Husky puppies –
1. A fixed schedule. In this way, puppy has some consistency in a time of change, and also starts to learn her boundaries. It also gives me some time to do chores, and take a much needed break.
2. Consistent rules and supervision. Supervision is really important during the potty training period. After my puppy was potty trained, things got a lot easier, and I got to sleep normally at night.
3. Occasional puppy sitting help. In the beginning, it helps to have others around who can puppy-sit. Husky puppies can be pretty energetic.
In my experience, most club registered breeders will take back their pup if things don’t work out. In fact, the Shiba and Husky breeders I have met also take back adult dogs from their kennel, if conditions change, and there is a need. I would discuss this with the Husky breeder.
I write more about my new dog experiences here.
Good luck and big hugs to puppy! Please share some puppy picture links with us if you have the time. 😀
I am adopting a 2 year old husky this weekend from a bad situation. She had spent most her life chained and used in a puppy farm scenario. She has burns on her neck from a constant bark collar and is very timid and will shy away if you try to touch her. She has had no training whatsoever so my question is where do I start? Do I train her as I would a puppy or would you recommend doing things differently?
Bless you for helping out a dog in need.
This article from the ASPCA has some good information on adopting a puppy mill or timid puppy-
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/virtual-pet-behaviorist/dog-behavior/adopting-puppy-mill-dog
What has worked well for me with my more timid Husky is to go slow, and give her space to get used to her new surroundings. I try my best to always make things positive, slowly earn her trust, and let her come to me on her own accord. The more positive experiences my Husky has, the more she trusts me, and the more confidence she gains. Negative experiences will undermine her confidence, so I do all that I can to go at a pace that she is comfortable with, keep things quiet, and to only introduce her to new things when I am sure she is ready for them.
I also do desensitization and counter conditioning exercises to help her deal with her fear triggers.
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-to-calm-a-fearful-reactive-dog
Happy Holidays and big hugs to your new Husky (when she is ready for hugs :))
Hello, I’m getting a husky puppy soon and I’d like some advice on housebreaking, as I live in an apartment and I’ll be leaving for some hours during the mornings. Is there any best way to teach him to wait till we get downstairs to eliminate?
Thanks
When she was really young, my Husky puppycould not hold in her pee for very long, especially when she was excited. Sometimes, she couldn’t even hold it long enough to get to our backyard door, so I usually tried to anticipate when she needed to pee and I take her out before she *really* has to go. For example, I observed that my puppy frequently had to go after about 15 minutes of play with my other dogs, so I take her out after about 12 minutes or so.
I also set a fixed routine, so that her potty routine became more regular. Here is more on what I do to potty train my dogs.
When Puppy has to go, Puppy has to go. 😀
Hi there
first off thanks alot for your comprehensive articles, very helpful.
My partner and I have just brought home a 10week old Blue Heeler named Jake.
hes a beautiful pup and very energetic.
He is now biting but ill try your methods, but my question is, whenever we let him in the house he will pee any advice besides rubbing his nose in it like everyone suggests?
also He has started humping on occasion, is that a sign of problems to come ie. dominance issues
thanks again and look forward to your reply
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Here are some of my experiences with potty training my dogs.
What I have observed with my dogs is that they usually hump in play. It can sometimes be seen as a dominance move, especially between dogs who are not familiar with each other. Whatever the case, it is not a behavior that I want my dogs to practice, so I institute a no-humping rule. If they hump each other, I no-mark and temporarily stop play.
If my dog humps a person, I no-mark and ask him to do something else, e.g. Sit or Down (something simple that he knows very well). If he ignores me and keeps on humping then I calmly say “timeout”, and put him in an appropriate timeout area for a short period. In this way, he learns that –
Humping people = Don’t get to be with people and lose freedom in the house,
No humping = Get attention and play.
Here is a bit more on dog dominance and bad dog behavior.
Big hugs to Puppy!
Hi,
My husband and I just bought an 8 week old, all white, Siberian husky. We named her Laney and LOVE having her. But for the first two weeks, I think that I got to shower..maybe 4 times? I can’t leave her alone for a second-literally. She is so cuddly, and I love it. She even tries to sit on my lap with her chew toy. This has been harder than a newborn baby.
We live in a 3rd floor apartment. We have a fairly large, gated deck. So using puppy pads, we have trained her to always do her business outside and on the pads. But the problem is that 1. I am her only company the majority of the day. 2. She needs to run and we only have so much space…
Laney loves to play with other dogs and we do that 2 times a week and I take her for walks 2xs s day, sometimes more. We know that she is going get bigger, and quickly, but we plan on being in or own house within the next year. But until then, I really am worried that she is getting depressed. I play with her A LOT, I have a variety of toys, I play music for her, take her to the park, etc. but again, it’s just me until my husband is home from work.
We have a good and consistent schedule, which includes 3 naps- 45-90 mins long each time, 2 walks, 4 feeding times (just smaller amounts. We are up 6am-11pm), lots of cuddling and playing. But she even looks depressed sometimes and just cries. And her tummy has been bothering her and I seriously think that it is because she is depressed and feels like she is being held captive.
What kind of advice do you have for an apartment environment with only 2 people? We will have kids within the next couple of years too, but wanted to make sure we had a good, solid, well trained dog before we start that! I grew up with a large Samoyed and have had experience with huskies before, but not puppies… We are active, we are healthy, we feed her healthy foods, she has not had human food once, we give praise and discipline appropriately (firm voices, no treat, withhold cuddling, never hitting), I just don’t know what else I can do for her to help her be happy with us.
Thank you for all of your advice, I have been on your site for her whole 90 min nap!
Congratulations on your Husky puppy!
Laney is a very lucky girl. 😀
My Husky Lara also had upset tummy when she was young. Both my Huskies have sensitive digestive systems, and they also have food allergies, especially to grains and strangely, some types of fish. What is Laney currently eating? Does she have soft poop or gas? When did her tummy start bothering her? What kind of upset tummy symptoms is she showing? Has she been to the vet for an initial check-up?
When does Laney cry? What is the surrounding context? Is it in response to not getting to do something or not getting something that she wants? Could the crying be from her upset tummy?
From your description, it sounds like she has a very active schedule. Is she energetic during play? What makes you think she is depressed or unwell?
Also, you probably already know this, but I am very careful about where I take my puppy when she is young and before she has gotten fully vaccinated. Puppies still have developing immune systems, and are infinitely curious about everything, so they are susceptible to infection.
http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=1151
http://www.dogforums.com/first-time-dog-owner/14886-when-start-walking-puppy.html
@shinashake
Thank you for your reply! Her tummy has settled so much in the last week, all solid poos in healthy amounts and only a couple farts when she’s in deep sleep:) we ended up switching her dog food and I add a little water to her dry food to make it softer and she really likes that. The depression seems to be getting better too, which leads me to think that her bouts of just laying there whimpering and looking misterable were probably related to her tummy aches and bloating.
She also seems to want CONSTANT attention. No matter what i am doing, she wants to be touching. Sadly, this mist isnt always possible, do leaving her alone more than 10 seconds is devastating to her and she cries, barks or acts out. This is partially my fault, as I have given her attention 24/7 since we have had her. So I am trying to get her to be ok with being alone even for just a fee minutes at a time. It’s hard though because she literally looks so sad when you don’t play with her!
We are making a large “porch potty” for her so hopefully that will help with stabilizing her potty area vs her play area, allowing her to feel like she has more space to run and play. Now it’s just getting through the MUST CHEW EVERYTHING phase.
Thank you again for your reply and all the great nfo on your site!
It is great to hear that her tummy is much better. 😀
Haha – yeah, it is very difficult for me to resist my Husky’s ‘look’ as well. They use it to great effect.
Big hugs to Laney!
Hi,
We just got out little boy a week ago and he’ll be 10 weeks tomorrow. He is nipping and even intended to bite my stepdaughter yesterday. She was only trying to divert his attention from something he couldn’t have. What are the best suggestions you have for this. We have 6 people living here ages ranging from 14 to 20 for kids and my Husband and I. Butch, our Siberian Husky, seems to listen to me and my Husband fairly well considering the short time we’ve had him, but the kids not so much. I spent all day yesterday working and playing with him and he seemed fine most of the day, he challenges me, but I don’t back down in my direction and he does end up getting the praise as he will change action. Once the kids started coming home keeping him reeled in got more challenging. I feel Butch and I are developing the Alpha, but not sure what to direct the kids to do?
Thank you 🙂
Puppies are energetic and easily excitable. Running, fast movement, loud noises, excited physical interaction, and more will get a puppy even more hyper, which is when they will start to bite even more because they want to join in on the fun, play, and interact with the people around them.
The best way to keep my puppy calm is to direct others to be calm around him. I also set up a fixed routine for my puppy and consistent house rules that everyone implements in the same way. Consistency is very important in dog training.
In the beginning, I also found it useful to keep a leash on my puppy (only with a flat collar and only under supervision). With a leash, I can more easily control my puppy and prevent her from jumping on people, rough play, and more. If necessary, I can clip the leash onto my belt to keep my puppy with me so that I can properly supervise her, manage her excitement level through play-breaks, and teach her how to interact with others.
More on what I do to train my puppy not to bite on me and others-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-tips-solutions
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting#timeout
I also do bite inhibition training and follow the Nothing in Life is Free program.
Given that there are many people involved, including children, it may also be helpful to consult with a good professional trainer. Dog behavior is very context dependent, so having a professional see things first-hand was very helpful for me, and helped me to resolve issues more effectively with my dog before they escalate.
http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/