How To Stop Your Dog From Barking At Guests
To have a pet dog is one of the most satisfying things a person could have. If one will be stressed out or tired from all the things that happened in a day, one greeting and cuddle from the pet dog will have those fade away.
But as a pet owner, you will have the responsibility to have them trained and behave. It is not just about them learning tricks or where they will do their business or know what your property is, but it is also about how they will treat your visitors.
Barking would be a natural thing for them to do for we know that they are territorial and for them, your visitors are intruding. It also not really a bad thing if you think about it because it also means they are on guard. But of course, it will be bad if your visitors will get intimidated or scared. And add to that, it will also get noisy.
It may be hard to stop them completely, but with patience and time, you can definitely train them to not to do it every time.
1. Quiet Them Down
This is the method that will be easiest to do. You will just need to have some treats as a reward for you to be able to train them. To start with this, you will need to have someone. It could be a neighbor or friend. Dogs would know if someone is at the door and they will start barking immediately.
To do this, you would need to have your friend knock or ring the bell. Once the dog starts barking, you will have to command them to stop. They might not understand it at first, so you need to have patience with it. Once they understand what it means to quiet down, give them a treat. Keep practicing until the dog gets used to it.
2. Ignorance
Another thing you could do is to ignore them. It would be hard if it gets really noisy though. But there is a method of training about ignoring the dog for them to stop.
You will also need to have help with this. You will need to have them knock or ring your doorbell, and what you will do is to ignore it. If your dog barks, ignore them also. Once they stopped, give them treats. Continue doing this until they will stop barking when someone knocks or rings. With that, they will be ignoring it as the time comes.
3. Keep Them Away
If you know that you will have visitors coming, they could be easily be hidden away at their designated spot inside your house or a dog house. But of course, it will be a different story if your visitors are unexpected.
With their designated spot in your house, you could train them to have them stay there every time someone knocks or rings the bell. You will have to this repeatedly. You can ask for help with this. If they manage to stay at their place, you can give them treats as a reward.