Guests have arrived for the big football game or the holiday party you have been planning for weeks, maybe months! Your dog has had exercise and is calmly chewing on a chew toy. The guests approach the front door. Your dog stops chewing and listens intently, maybe for the second time since the guests drove up. You have a moment of “oh great,” anticipating your dog’s next move. A knock sounds on the door, and your dog is up like the Tasmanian devil making a beeline for the front door, barking its head off before grabbing your favorite shoe to present to the incoming visitors, whose clothes are not prepared for the four pawed greeting you are trying to prevent. Does this scenario sound familiar? Maybe your dog is worse? Maybe it is not so bad? But the general process of dogs greeting visitors is familiar to dog owners. So, what can you do? Read on to find out!
Management and Training
To solve a behavior problem like this, you have two things you must do. One is short term, and one is long term. The short term is management, which is mainly what I am going to discuss here. The long term is training. To really solve a problem like door manners, you have to teach your dog that the sound of knocking, doorbells, people approaching the door, and pretty much the whole door greeting process, is uneventful and holds no value. Today, I am going to mention a few aspects of the training mixed in with the management. Let’s go!
The Gate
Start by managing where your dog can go by setting up a gate to prevent it from reaching the door. When you do this, practice nothing interesting happening around the door. Hang out at the door while you text, fiddle with things by the door, and open and close the door (make sure your dog is secure behind the gate and cannot escape) until your dog stops paying attention to you while you are at the door. Then, invite a friend over. But instead of hanging out by the door, have them come in without pausing at the door. Have them walk into the house and out of your dog’s sight without stopping to say hi to your dog. All this time, make sure your dog has something fun to do on its side of the gate, such as a treat search game. If your dog is “triggered” by doorbells and tends to bark or display other high-arousal behavior around the front door, consult a dog trainer.
The Extra Room
The training mentioned in the previous section is a must! Your dog must have training for this kind of thing, or the problem will not go away. But now let's look at some non-training tips that can help you out. First is the extra room. When you are preparing for a party, you will want to set your dog up in a private room in the house, away from the guests. In the room, put a bed, some toys, maybe a blanket, and whatever else your dog likes (that is safe for it to have). You can even put a camera in the room so you can keep an eye on your dog. Condition your dog to feel safe and calm in this room. Make sure you do this conditioning both with people and without people in the room. You may need the help of a trainer if your dog struggles with separation anxiety. If you know your dog deals with anxiety, please consult a trainer and vet before using a separate room for your dog when guests arrive, as it can cause more fear problems, including destructive behavior.
The Social Dog Greeting Tips
It is often better to just let the dog have its own space during parties. However, some dogs do really enjoy having people come visit. But they are just too excited. If you want to have your dog out with the guests, you can approach this process with a few tips that can help encourage calm behavior.
Make sure all greetings are done fully inside the house, not at the front door. Dogs often learn that the front door is an exciting place because that is where the new people hang out. So, make sure to immediately bring your guests into your house instead of hanging out at the front door.
Tell people to ignore the dog. This one might seem a little sad for the dog, but I can assure you, it is a great way to approach greetings. Dogs who love to meet people love to get their attention. If we teach people to only give the dog attention when it is calm, the dog will learn that being calm (or at least acting calm) can gain it attention from the new people. Telling people to ignore your dog until it is calm can be a huge help in teaching your high-energy dog to stay calm at greetings.
Give your dog treats for staying calm. When you bring your dog out to greet people, make sure it knows you have the treats. You can even set it up like a training exercise. Go around the room three times with your dog. The first time you go around, give your dog treats for staying focused on you (before you start, tell people what you are about to do so they know to ignore the dog during the first round). The second time you go around, give it treats for letting people pet it while it keeps all four feet on the ground (if the dog is not comfortable with people petting it, please do not bring it out into a party). The third time you go around, give the guests treats and have them give the dog treats for laying down, sitting down, or any behavior that is calm and easy for the dog to do. Then you can end the “training session” by giving your dog something fun to do that will encourage low-level activity (such as a bed with a treat search).
Enjoy the Party!
High-energy dogs do not always mix well with parties. This is why I often tell people to just have the dog comfortably stowed away in a safe space where it can keep to itself. So, if your dog gets too excited around new people and you know it will not be able to control itself, do not have it out when people arrive. Sometimes, it’s just too much. If people would like to see the dog, bring the dog out to greet guests after they arrive and only one or two guests at a time. Do not bring people into the dog’s space. Bring the dog into the people’s space. If the dog chooses to come out, you can let it say hello. But only if it can remain in control of itself. If the dog is going to just start zooming around and barking, or jumping on people, leave it in its room or take it directly outside, where it is allowed to do those things. If the dog does not want to come greet people, do not force it to do so, no matter how much people ask.
Also, please keep in mind that it is not a good idea to have dogs and children together at parties. Dogs and children together is a risk in the first place. But at parties, it can be even harder to keep an eye on everyone. Dogs frequently find children very stressful, and leaving them alone together, or not paying attention to them, can be a recipe for disaster. So please stay safe!
If your dog needs a new cozy blanket to keep it warm and feeling safe while strangers are in its house, check out my store, where you can find some blankets that are great for both humans and dogs! Stay tuned for next week’s post about interaction strategies that can help calm your high-energy dog!
Photo Credit: Unspash - Partick Hendry
Very good information. Thank you
I love reading your article! Thank you for sharing some great information which is also very practical.