How do I teach my dog to be calm when meeting people?

To help your dog learn to be calm when meeting people, it's best to begin practicing somewhere quiet. Reward relaxed behaviours, to begin with you may just need to reward your dog for any behaviour that doesn’t involve staring at you, pulling on the lead, or barking. Sit quietly on a chair with your dog on the lead and a blanket on the floor. Drop tiny bite-size treats to your dog as a reward for settling down on the blanket. Gradually reward more relaxed behaviours. When your dog is relaxed, start increasing the time they must be settled before you reward them. Slowly start building up distractions by practising the ‘settle’ in increasingly busy areas or ask a helper to create a distraction by walking past, progressing to more exciting activities like sweeping or skipping. If your dog becomes unsettled or gets up, ignore them and wait until they settle again before rewarding them. Try to resist telling your dog what to do during training, the aim is for them to learn for themselves to be calm and to relax.