Dog going mad when someone at front door

[sandr]

Can anyone please offer any suggestions to stop the dog going mental every time someone knocks on the front door?

Its driving me MAD.

I have tried a water pistol, I have tried telling her off, if I lock her in another room, she goes even more mental.

She also bolts out the front when the door opens, she doesn't run off, just goes at who ever is there.

She never did this in our old house, we have lived here nearly 6 months.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Are you only putting her in the other room when the door goes? So she knows 'why' she is being put there? Also, you getting all het up and angry and frustrated won't help (you sound frustrated in your post, so I bet you get frustrated when it happens) and will transfer to her.

Here's the way the dog sees it: The doorbell goes. She makes a noise. You get frustrated/stressed at her behaviour - but she doesn't see it like that.
Oh no, she feels stress, defensive stress and stress from you - the door going is a bad thing. There is a stranger in her space. This is bad. She thinks: I will make lots of noise. Oh look, the stranger has gone away. Phew, job done. No more stress.
The next time she does it, the stranger goes away again. Success. Repeat ad nauseum.

To be honest I would get a door/stair gate and prevent her getting access to the hall/door areas during the day or when the door is likely to go, so that it is normal for her not to be near the door anyway.

You could also employ the services of a stooge for a few weeks. Stooge comes to door, several times a day. Rings or knocks, a LOT. You ignore any silliness. Do not praise her or open the door until she is calm. This is more labour intensive but is a better way to teach the dog that a door-knock isn't a stressfest.

 

[Lobelia_Overhill]

try 'reverse psychology', instead of locking her in a room, or yelling at her, praise her to the heavens for letting you know someone is at the door.

Not saying it will work, but it's worth a try!

 

[CorvusCorax]

try 'reverse psychology', instead of locking her in a room, or yelling at her, praise her to the heavens for letting you know someone is at the door.

Not saying it will work, but it's worth a try!

That might encourage her more TBH - praising her for kicking up a stink means she is probably more likely to kick up a stink - I would only praise when she is calm and quiet or at least when she has scaled back to a few barks and a bit of whining.

JMO though

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Ehmm, if a burglar comes to your house, would you rather the dog barked or just kept schtum?

She's obviously feeling protective of you as pack leader and your space and this is why she's barking, and TBH do you really want the situation where strangers come to your door and dog doesn't react?

She will look to you as pack leader for your response, and if you "go mental" you are reinforcing her fear that someone is invading the pack space and she's right to get excited!

Personally I'd try rewarding/praising the behaviour you want; so you reward her and tell her she's a good dog for telling you someone's around, and then wait for her to quieten down before you reward her.

The other thing you could do is to get a friend to ring the doorbell (and the dog will predictably react), but you then ask her to "sit" or whatever, THEN when she does it you reward INSTANTLY (i.e. within two seconds, dogs don't relate to rewards later than this time-span apparently). You'd need to do it quite a few times but the important thing is for the dog to know what YOU want rather than a lot of noise and you getting stressed coz dogs pick up on that.

Victoria Stilwell on TV is good with this sort of thing, she's often on Channel 4 - "Its me or the dog" and whilst I wouldn't adopt all of her stuff its good to watch for ideas on how to tackle problems like this.

 

[Lobelia_Overhill]

That might encourage her more TBH - praising her for kicking up a stink means she is probably more likely to kick up a stink - I would only praise when she is calm and quiet or at least when she has scaled back to a few barks and a bit of whining.

JMO though

oh you're just trying to start an argument!! LOL

 

[CorvusCorax]

No I'm not!!!!

 

[Pheme]

Ok, this is my first post on HHO! I'm guessing since it's only started when you moved, she's feeling insecure about the new house, and it makes her uncomfortable enough to find someone else coming in an intrusion which she reacts to, then feels you getting stressed, reads that as visitors are something to worry about, and that compounds the problem. Dog Appeasing Pheromone spray might be a useful tool whichever method you use to combat the problem, they come in collars, sprays and difffusers. I've had the spray since I got my dog and it's improved her behaviour in the car no end, and just recently got the room diffuser just to see if it would make a difference. It's plugged in by her mat in the kitchen, and she is now happy to settle on her mat and watch the morning chaos until walk-time(7.20am on the dot she's at the door with her leash in her mouth), rather than scampering about under my feet, desperate for attention.
I've seen it used a lot in vet clinics (I trained to be a vet nurse), and at dog shows, and I can honestly say it makes a real difference.
I can understand where Lobelia is coming from with her suggestion too, it's more about adjusting your reaction to her going bonkers and trying to create an atmosphere of positivity around visitors rather than stress. Does the dog want to eat the visitors, or just be first to check them out? If she's the guest-eating type, fence her away from the door if possible. If she just wants to be nosey, get her to sit-stay before opening the door, and encourage guests to pay her some positive attention.
I hope you find something that works, good luck!

ETA - wouldn't using a water pistol just make an association between guests and bad things? <getting squirted> therefore maybe worsen her reaction to guests?

 

[TheFox]

Have you tried moving her back from the door and getting her to sit in a 'safe space' further up the hallway where she should stay whilest the person is welcomed ect. By moving her back you therefore claim the space as your own and would reduce the anixety and by moving her back into the 'safe space' if takes away the stimuli and therefore should reduce the behaviour she displays. Hope this helps

 

[Brownmare]

Our Jack Russell used to do exactly this. I actually wanted her to bark because I don't hear the doorbell from upstairs plus the burglar factor so my solution was:

1. When she barks I say calmly "thankyou Susie, that's enough now"
2. If she continues barking I ask her to DO something for me, usually come here but also sit / down if she is already by me. I can then praise her for that & get her attention away from the door.
3. If she still barks she gets sent to bed / shut in another room and ignored until she settles.

I only open the door when she is quiet and ask guests to ignore her until she is calm. This has worked really well for us but it sounds like your dog may have some insecurity issues in the new house so there may be a way to solve the problem from a different angle by making her feel happier and more secure in general.

 

[Luci07]

My bitch yells when someone walks past my house and are a bit slow and really lets rip when someone comes up the path. I rely on her to let me know when someone is there!

The downside is when she suddenly started really yelling in the middle of the night -which she did a couple of nights ago - pretty sure if was a fox after next doors chickens but OMG... gave me a very nasty turn (and yes, coward here, sent the dogs downstairs first!)