Barking when visitors come

[Jenn and Bogey]

Bogey is almost 7 months. He is the sweetest, mellowest pup....when it's just our family at home. When we have guests come over though he can go crazy. He barks at them like crazy. With adults it's not so bad. He can sniff them and then he'll settle. My problem is when my kids friends come over. They are nervous (can't blame them) with this crazy dog barking at them and don't want him sniffing them. I keep him on leash because I don't want to scare the kids. I try to distract him and practice "sit." But he's so wound up he's not listening. He does bark on leash outdoors at people too. But outdoors I am more successful with distracting because I can see them coming. I can usually get him to sit and focus on me before they pass by. I do have an appointment with a private trainer, but they were booked until March. Any help would be so appreciated! Thank you!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Keeping him on a leash is a good plan but I would go so far as to put him in a "time out" space until he can settle. A crate or isolated room would work. 

We have had similar issues with Rooney (who is 4) so I will share what I came to see as the issue with our guy and you can take or leave it. :) (All dogs are different and you know yours best, but this is the approach we have taken). We felt the problem for Rooney was that he saw himself as the one "in charge" of the house and family. Therefore it was his responsibility to alert us to new people in the house and to then control their movement around the house. He never jumped or was aggressive with people, but he would bark and get right at their feet as if to try and herd them where he felt they should or shouldn't be.

We have since taken steps to make it clear to Rooney that he is not in charge of anyone, and that in fact all of the people in this house are well above him in the hierarchy. We have used a combination of Doggy Dan and Cesar Milan's approaches to gently establishing ourselves as the leaders in the house. We give him no attention when we first enter the house or anytime he is being too excited or demanding attention. He is never allowed to command attention even in ways that can seem sweet like laying his head on our laps, or putting his paw on our knees. When he does those things we ignore him until he lies down and settles. Then we will call him to us and give him attention and affection. He always eats last now and we never ever feed him from the table or people food. We have implemented Doggy Dan's "Thank you" technique for barking at the window and it has worked wonders. 

Most importantly, we have a zero tolerance policy for barking at guests in the house. One bark and Rooney is taken to his time out spot until he can settle down and be quiet. I'll be honest, it is still a work in progress. He still barks but he is getting better and once taken to his spot he settles down much more quickly now. When we let him off we make sure our guests know that the best thing they can do for Rooney and his training is to completely ignore him unless he becomes totally calm. If he lies down and truly becomes disinterested in what people are doing that is when we will tell our guest they could call him to them and give him some attention (only if they want to).

Like your dog, Rooney is a dream when it's just our family at home but I think then we can make the mistake of over-doing the affection and attention so that our pup starts to think he is King of the house. I've noticed Rooney is much more relaxed in general since we have started making him earn his attention and have started to convince him he doesn't need to protect us or be in charge of us.

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Also, I realize Rooney is no longer a puppy but I thought our experience was still relevant to your question. :) 

[Jenn and Bogey]

Thank you so much Lori! Nice to know I am not alone in this. We do practice Doggy Dan's five golden rules, but I'll pay attention to see if we are slacking somewhere. Today I put him in timeout when he was barking. It took a long time for him to settle. I'll keep at it. Thanks again!

[Lori, Rooney & Zuzu]

Yep! Consistency is key! And the more ingrained the behavior is, the longer it will take for him to let go of his old patterns. I've come to the conclusion that we likely will never get Rooney to stop barking when the doorbell rings, that's just too much to ask of a dog of his personality. But if we can get him trained to understand what we expect of him once we have welcomed that person into our house (no barking, calm greeting etc...) then I will be happy with that. For now though, we have to take him to his time out spot every time until he settles. And if he gives even one bark once we let him off, then it's back he goes!