How Do You Keep Your Dog Calm When Strangers Come To Your Door?

[fainty_girl]

How do you keep your dog calm when strangers come to your door?

Both of my dogs are very overprotective when strangers come to the door...Tilly is by far the worst though, lots of crazy barking and jumping/launching at the door, then she wants to shove through the door. I think they definitely play off each other too, because if one barks the other has to join in. Jessie is very vocal normally.

Any tips on how to calm them both down?

[Teebs]

Kaos has always been a pain at the door, gets so excited to see who is there and jumps all over the place

I started to lock her in my bedroom whenever someone arrived, once she settled down, she could come out. I have done this for about 12 months now.

Now the doorbell rings, and she will go and sit in my bedroom without me telling her to - it is so much easier!!

good luck

[laeral]

Are your dogs crate trained?

If so put them in their crates until they calm down. Then they can come out and visit.

[huski]

I wouldn't say they are being over protective. You could try putting them on leash so you can control them a bit more easily, or as others have suggested crate them. I would also work teach them that they cannot greet people before you or get attention from anyone until they are calm and are sitting nicely. When people come over tell them to completely ignore the dogs. You greet the person who comes in the door and allow the dogs to approach them when you say so.

[fainty_girl]

Kaos has always been a pain at the door, gets so excited to see who is there and jumps all over the place

I started to lock her in my bedroom whenever someone arrived, once she settled down, she could come out. I have done this for about 12 months now.

Now the doorbell rings, and she will go and sit in my bedroom without me telling her to - it is so much easier!!

good luck

When Tilly is being completely OTT I have tried picking her up and putting her in the nearest bedroom.

Are your dogs crate trained?

If so put them in their crates until they calm down. Then they can come out and visit.

Nope I don't have any crates here. With strangers coming to the door it is not always people who will be coming in the house too...eg. grocery delivery person, parcel delivery, real estate salesman, etc. I also don't let the dogs go up to delivery people/salesmen, etc because not everybody likes dogs.

[Cosmolo]

I would teach a send to a bed first. And then controlled interactions on lead after that.

[fainty_girl]

I wouldn't say they are being over protective. You could try putting them on leash so you can control them a bit more easily, or as others have suggested crate them. I would also work teach them that they cannot greet people before you or get attention from anyone until they are calm and are sitting nicely. When people come over tell them to completely ignore the dogs. You greet the person who comes in the door and allow the dogs to approach them when you say so.

Yep I do tell people to ignore the dogs if they are coming into the house. With Tilly since early on i've tried to reinforce the idea that you get a pat when you sit. First thing every morning when she sees me, she will sit down for a pat.

If a tradesman/salesman we've never met is coming inside the house and we know in advance, we put the dogs out in the yard temporarily and ask the person if they are comfortable with dogs.

[Staranais]

With my last boy, I premacked it - he had to hold a down stay on the other side of the room (practiced under distraction elsewhere), and the reward was he was released to run up and say hi to the person at the door (after I'd checked they were happy to meet a very enthusiastic staffy). If he were to break the stay I'd intercept him and plonk him back on the bed, and he didn't get to say hi. That only happened once or twice though, since we'd practiced the down stay until it was solid elsewhere.

Haven't managed anything similar with the new girl yet, though!

[Bjelkier]

My lot have been taught to go to their beds and stay there while we have guests, they don't like it and you can feel them watching you like a hawk for the minuet I tell them to get up but they stay there.

[kiesha09]

Hi have the exact same problem!! I would like to teach a go to the mat but their arousal levels are through the roof when someone comes. I don't think I'd have a hope in hell to get them to stay there.

What would be your steps to training a go to mat ie. what are your steps of increased distraction?

[Aidan]

You've had a lot of good suggestions, I just wanted to add that the good thing about this problem is that the set-up is EASY, i.e the environment and all the antecedents are easily controlled. It is always in the same place. So having friends over to help you train whatever you decide you want instead of OTT behaviour is made that much easier.

One issue that I suspect with dogs who bark at the door is that subconsciously, the owners see benefit in it, and therefore don't take steps to remedy the problem. I know this is the case in my home, when my wife was heavily pregnant I trained my dogs not to bark when someone knocked at the door so that when our baby came home she wouldn't be disturbed during sleep.

Training this took just a handful of sessions. It was easy for me to do, and easy for both of us to maintain. But we didn't maintain it... It took me a while to figure out why.

[Staranais]

One issue that I suspect with dogs who bark at the door is that subconsciously, the owners see benefit in it, and therefore don't take steps to remedy the problem.

That's a good point, Aidan. I quite like it when my girl barks at the door, and I suspect that other people do too, at least in some circumstances (late at night, home alone, etc), so people are often probably not as consistent at discouraging the behaviour as they could be.

Mind you, I just like a few barks, which is why I taught "bark up" and "quiet" away from the door, so I can ask for a "quiet" when she's had a little bark.

[Erny]

I would teach a send to a bed first. And then controlled interactions on lead after that.

There's that, although that can be pretty hard to achieve with some dogs. With my previous girl and with my current boy, if people come to the door my first action has been to guide/usher them to the next room and close the door. My previous girl cottoned on to this very quickly and when a knock on the door came she would rush through to the next room automatically as that became her practised response. My current boy is beginning to get it although in his excitement he gets a bit confused and does a couple of laps around the room before scooting through the door to the next room.

I find this an easier practise for both the dogs and also for the people. Also then easier to transfer that habit of going away from the doorway instead of going to it, to a mat or even to a crate.

Once inside I then ask the visitors to wait on a second whilst I manage my dog - I put him on lead and control his behaviour around them. By this stage the visitors have already been asked to ignore him.

Edited October 20, 2009 by Erny