Inappropriate Greeting At The Door

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

One of the things we're struggling with is how Murphy responds to guests when they first arrive.  It usually starts with Guinness hearing someone at the door (before they knock or ring the bell).  He (Guinness) gets excited and runs to the door.  That sets Murphy of and he runs, following his brother and barking the whole way.  We keep leashes at the door so that we can immediately leash him up...but he's already in a his "zone" at this point.  It's very difficult to control him, even with the leash...he's jumping and just going "crazy".  Now at this point, Guinness gets all upset himself, and he starts.  It takes a good five minutes of struggling before I get the two of them calmed down enough to do a sit/stay.  Sometimes the visitor is still outside during this, and other times they're standing at the door looking horrified.  After this five minutes of "crazyness" things are fine, and the dogs relax and are great with the visitor.  Anyone else with this problem....how do you handle it?

[Ronna, Murphy & Wilson]

I think at the end of the day there are probably ten different ways to get the same behavior and the methods will be different for different dogs. You and I have achieved the same results with very different methods, I don't think there is a right or wrong just a matter of finding what works for each dog.

I do think that using a squirt bottle or collar pop on my Murphy would probably work although it has never been necessary. On the other hand, I think those same two methods would be detremental to Jack Doodles confidence. This is just my opinion, I am no dog whisperer....just learning by trial and error and observation!

Everyone has great ideas and training methods it is great to be able to read them all here and learn from eachother.

[Carol Brand]

I have found that dogs build the most confidence by working for and with their people. When a correction is delivered fairly and consistently, I have found that even very soft dogs accept and understand that it is a logical consequence of falling to meet expectations. One well delivered collar pop is better than 5 minutes of "Fuffy, sit.... sittttt...... now Fluffy....don't do that.....we don't do that...... oh Fluffy don't jump etc. etc. etc." I think this sort of interaction actually makes a dog less confident because there are not clear boundaries and clear expectations for behavior.

With these dogs who are charging the door and acting like hooligans, it is time to practice a little tough love.

[Adina P]

I agree with Carol. Corrections delivered fairly and consistently make a world of difference. This means the dog understands the correction and how to avoid it. The world made black/white helps a dog with confidence because then they know without a shadow of a doubt what will work and what won't. "If I plop my butt to the ground when I hear "sit" then I get all sorts of praise and joy!" If I don't plop my butt to the ground when I hear sit...I get a collar pop." There's no ambiguity in that.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That picture of your three is going to be my inspiration. That's where I want to be with my guys....that's where I WILL be. Thank you, Carol.

[Carol Brand]

Ronna..... when Murphy broke his stay, what did you do? A collar pop does not have to be hard. In most cases, it just means taking the dog by the collar and putting them firmly back into place. I really think there has to be a consequence for breaking, even if it is a slight one.

[Jamie Petro]

I just found a free Door Bell App for the iPhone, and there are several to choose from. I'm sure there are some for other smart phones. So if you are just practicing, this might be easier than reaching your hand out the door. It may not sound like your door bell though. Just a suggestion.

[Adina P]

Rosco and Boca both respond with a strong reaction to people at the door. Boca's not at the point in training where I can command her to do anything and have her respond consistently. Rosco is past that point. So although he may go berserk, he'll sit and stay or down and stay on command next to the door. I can hardly wait to get to that point with Miss Boca.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Adina, will he still do that even though he sees Boca going "crazy"? I had Guinness to that point in his training, but now when he sees Murphy going wild at the door he's joining in. Once I pull him back and get him in his sit/stay he's fine again, but it's that initial response that's a problem. I'm working on the "place" idea which may help.

[Adina P]

Yeah I haven't worked on the initial response much at all. When someone's at the door and BOTH dogs are near, typically I just wrestle them out of the way or hold on to Boca and just let Rosco annoy the person at the door. I don't fully trust Boca to not run onto the porch as I trust Rosco so I'm not sure I've given him any commands in those instances because I can't enforce anything if I'm hanging on to Boca. Rosco was never a true jumper so can't say I really had any hand in training him to NOT jump...but he's still very enthusiastic when greeting.

[Adina P]

Ok I just tested Rosco to see where we're at, but had to 'fake' a person by ringing the chimes connected to our door bell (which are inside the house). I put on Rosco's choke chain and tab (so we'd be close to a real training session). Whether I knocked on a wall or I rang the chimes and then called out "who's there!?"...he was curious, but he didn't really react and it was easy to make him down on his bed near the door. This isn't really a 'success' because he didn't FULLY buy that a person was there. I'll need to see how quickly I can get him to respond to a directive to go to his bed , down and stay with a real person and both WITH and WITHOUT Boca. The only trouble is that I've done so little entertaining most of my friends and door bell ringers stop by unannounced--hard to practice using surprises and get good results until you've had lots of practice with planned training scenarios where you are prepared and can respond appropriately.

[Linda]

I haven't read ALL the comments yet, but this is exactly what I've been wanting to know. With a new addition to our family, I don't want Fitz to learn these bad habits from Webster. I was seriously thinking about hiring a personal trainer to help. I might have to hire someone to come to my door though.

[DeeDee and Sheila]

Excuse me while I belly laugh. One year ago all I heard about was this menses dog Guinness with the perfect manners, perfect look, perfect looking owner, YOU. Oh, I longed for that. Peace, harmony, smartness,ect. Dreams. . . . Now it sounds like a sh--storm at your house and is TWICE AS INTERESTING and fun to read. I have visions of the front door scene. Gotta run and get my can. Sheila outside barking!!!!! Quiet Sheila! She has now decided on a LOVELY new habit of growling at visitors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She gets times out to laundry room, but still. Isn't that charming????????????????