Dog barking when someone comes to door

[lemongrassdog]

Hi,

I have a 4 year old black lab named Abby. She's a pretty well-behaved dog (much better than when she was a puppy!), but she goes crazy when someone comes to the door - she charges at it, leaping up at the glass, barking like mad. I believe there may be an element of protectiveness in it initially, but it's mostly excitement. She stops barking as soon as the person enters, and although she's still excited, the level of excitement drops too.

I've watched the SitStayFetch video on problem barking, and as they suggested, we've been removing her to the bathroom for some quiet time every time she barks at the door. If the person at the door goes away, then she calms down nicely and is let out. If the person comes in, then she continues to bark in the bathroom (and moan and cry) until we let her out, or until they leave. So, this approach doesn't seem to be working.

Any other suggestions? I run a dog-walking and home-boarding business, so I often have clients bringing their dogs over, and it's rather embarrasing!

Thanks,
Ali

[KOPsBecks]

Hey Ali,

Well I think the best way to deal with this is not to remove Abby from the situation but instead to teach her the alternative, and CORRECT, way to act.

When she starts barking you need to create a command that she will listen to eg. quite, sometimes she may become so excited that you need to get her attention first to give the command, for this I can recommend filling a tin with stones and shaking that to shock her.

Now to desensitise her to people coming to the door you will need to enlist the help of a few friends for the day and arrange times for them to come over. It will be a long and boring day for you but necessary to make progress. Have each person individually come up to the door and do whatever triggers the barking normally, whether that be ringing the doorbell or knocking etc. If Abby barks use your command(QUIET). As soon as she is quite, then say your command(QUIET) again and instantly reward.

Repeat this over and over again, its a pretty tiresome exercise thats why I suggested getting a few friends because people will get sick of it pretty quickly. Keep going until Abby doesn't bark at the trigger anymore and she responds to your command(QUIET)

Hopefully this helps, just make sure not to reward her for barking and don't yell at her as she will just think you are joining in the game.

Becks