training to CALMLY answer the door?

[Carol McCasland]

Help!  I am working with Cody to have him act CALMLY when the doorbell rings.  Currently, he runs down the stairs, barking, whining, anticipating whoever is at the door.  He thinks everyone is there to greet HIM!  When someone does come in, he is all over them. No amount of training so far has worked!  I ask people to not pet him, and to ignore him but he is persistent.  After 10 minutes, he's over it and is calm.   He knows how to sit, go down, wait, stay (for no more than a minute), but when the doorbell rings, he is not interested in treats, only getting to the guest.  Any ideas?

[susan toalson]

No ideas, Carol, but I'll be riveted to this site until some ideas materialize! My alfie does the SAME THING.

[Beth Lord]

Well...my Alfie is definitely a work in progress in this area also. BUT, we're working on it & he's come a long way. Yes, I understand that people are more exciting to them than treats!

Basically, what we do with the guide dog puppies is enlist the help of a friend to "set up" the training situation. Also, we set the stage by teaching the command "go to your place" (a dog bed near the door -- he knows he gets extra good treats when he goes there! Teach him this first, apart from the door issue.) Anyway, your friend rings the doorbell; you tell your pup to "go to your place." Try to keep your body language calm. At first, you won't even open the door; just practice that part lots and lots until he's good at it. It's even better if you can practice at different times of day, night, etc. Basically -- the excitement is a conditioned response in anticipation of the visitor; so we need to counter-condition. It'll probably take lots of patience & practice, not b/c he's not smart but b/c they're all so SOCIAL! (which is good, but I understand your dilemma!)

Then, once they get that "OK, so the doorbell ringing isn't all that exciting after all, but when I go to my bed I get treats," -- then you can calmly open the door. Have your helper ignore him totally until things are calm (I tell them to think dog? what dog, I don't see a dog! haha!) Usually I'll tell Alfie "okay," after shaking the person's hand or whatever, so he knows he can come over & get attention. When he was littler I kept a leash on him so I could step on it if he got wild again. I try to have people talk to ME until he is calm, THEN give him eye contact, petting, or whatever b/c by then he's settled down to a good level (though he's still happy & waggy!) When he's nice, I praise him calmly, & maybe give a treat; if he gets too uppity, I tell him "UH-UH" and he's like, "oops, sorry..."

In the meantime while I am working on a "problem" like this...if OTHER people ring the doorbell & I know it will provoke a response counter to my goals, I just remove him from the situation (other room, backyard, crate, whatever). I want to set him up for success.

Does that make sense? I hope it's helpful...I really do believe they CAN do it, they just need us to help them. We're not there yet w/ Alfie by any means but we do have 4 on the floor at all times, and no more puppy mouthing of visitors, so that's progress! Take it one step at a time...I'm sure you can do it and it will be worth it!!

[Carol McCasland]

thanks a bunch. We are working on the 'go to your spot', and he knows to do that. But my front door is on a landing, where there is no room for a 'spot'. I think I have to just make him stay in his 'spot' on the second floor living room when the door bell rings. I was trying to get him to sit by the door when the door bell rings, but he's not getting it yet. He knows he's supposed to , but it's too tempting to greet instead. And you are right he is VERY social. I am working my neighbor 10 year old girl to ring the bell. I will have to get her to not pay him any attention until he is calm. She turns her back on him, but he overwhelms her. I will try your suggestions and see if we get improvement.

[Dixie Moore]

I saw a similar problem on "It's Me or the Dog". The people had 2 huge Old English Sheepdogs, and they were jumping all over an elderly woman. Victoria had them leash the dogs to some I-bolts or something like that in the baseboard. I think you could use a fixed table leg instead; it would have to be something that the dog couldn't pull around. Then, the people would go in the room and sit on the sofa. The dogs couldn't reach the people, but they barked. So every time they did that, the people left the room. The dogs would stop barking, and the people came back in. Probably did it a dozen times at least, but the dogs eventually learned to settle down if they wanted the people to stay in the room. I don't remember exactly, but assume the next step was to let the dogs loose, and if they got too excited, put them back on the tethered leashes, repeating those steps until they settled down. I know that eventually the dogs were able to remain calm when the visitor came in.

[Carol McCasland]

thanks! good suggestion to tether him. I will try that.

[Minga & Malu & Costa]

Yes, this is what my trainer uses, tether them somewhere across the room and then wait until they are past their excitement to let them greet the people.

[Charles & Buttercup]

Sounds like you're on the right track with having your neighbor help out. The biggest reward for Cody is greeting the visitor, so one option would be to remove his reward (the visitor) when he is not calm.

It helps to break down each step to having someone at the door - doorbell rings, you go to the door, open the door, greet person, they enter your house.

At each step if he gets overly excited, close the door on your helper and have her try again. Go slow and reward Cody when he is doing something you want to see more of. Get each step down before moving forward. He will quickly get the message that he will not meet the visitor until he is behaving appropriately.

This takes a whole lot of patience on your part and a tremendous amount of impulse control for Cody. If you feel yourself getting frustrated, take a break. This is supposed to be fun for both of you guys. Maybe not so much for your neighbor! Sorry for the long answer but this stuff can quickly get complicated. Good luck!

[Christine & Shelby]

I've been working on this very same issue with Shelby. I have gotten her to sit and wait.... and let the guest come in, however once the door closes she is all over them. I have given up on the "act like a tree, turn your back, don't look, don't pet" approach, it wasn't working all. However, my new approach seems to be working and Shelby is *beginning* to get the message.

I now put her on a leash if expecting guests or once the door bell rings (remember, she will go to the carpet/tile threshold to sit and wait). Once the guest comes in same rules apply - not petting, eye contact, etc. until I give them the all clear. However, if Shelby jumps up on them.... I immediately give her an "UH-UH" and take her to another room out of sight, close the door and wait for her to settle down, then we go back out to the living room.... if she jumps.... we leave the room and continue until she is able to go in to the living room with guests and keep 4 on the floor.

The first time I did this - it took quite a few tries.... probably 10-12.... now it usually takes only 3 or so, we ARE making progress. However, I do need to be better about setting up visitor training, so we can work on it more frequently.

On walks, it is challenging because I will try to correct the behavior and people will say 'oh, it's ok....' - no, it's not! So.. it seems like every walk we take a slight step backward in our training.

Good luck to you and all of us working on this!!!

[Carol McCasland]

thanks, I think I"ll try the 'removal' technique. This has worked pretty successfully in getting him to not counter-surf. If he does it, out he goes! and he HATES that! There is no worse punishment than to be separated from his 'peeps'! I agree that other people also don't 'get it'. I always tell people to ignore Cody if he's jumping, or to knee him, etc. Most people can't help themselves because he is so cute and persistent!

[Christine & Shelby]

How has it been going Carol?

[Carol McCasland]

we are making very slow progress. Cody is jumping on people MUCH less, but he still charges the door when the bell rings. And still 'attacks' the visitor (with nuzzles), even if not jumping up. Once we get upstairs to the living room, he knows to 'go to your spot', and he's gotten quite good about staying there for a while. (maybe 5 minutes which is huge for him.) Now if I can just get him to not charge the door, we'll have made huge strides. I'm now trying to get him to stay upstairs. That's very HARD!

[Beth Lord]

Impressive! Your efforts are paying off!