Every dog lover enjoys a sweet greeting from a friendly dog, but we never know whether the person coming to our front door has had bad experiences with dogs or not. When our dogs are over zealous during the greeting and visiting process, it can be both annoying and embarrassing, especially if our guest isn’t comfortable around dogs.
Some dogs jump uncontrollably, some bark incessantly and some simply crowd your space or your guest’s space. The first key in fixing these problems is understanding where they stem from. Behind every dog behavior problem is a lack of clear boundaries on the human end, and a lack of understanding and expectation of those boundaries on the dog end.
If your dog barks constantly while visiting with your guests, what they are saying is, “I’m uncomfortable with this situation and I’m letting you know about it”, or, “pay attention to me, not to them, pay attention to me”. Both of these are forms of dominance, therefore, both should be addressed rather than simply ignored.
If you want your dog to listen to you, you have to set clear limitations for them and then implement those limitations consistently. Most of the time, I find that the dog is simply looking to the owner for guidance on how to behave and the owner hasn’t made it clear in dog language. Dogs “speak” in energy and body language.
So how do you make these rules clear to them? Simple. Provide a clear consequence for the wrong behaviors, and a clear reward for the right ones. This consequence may be the command, “off”, or, “no”, or “ehp”. Whatever you prefer to use vocally, because it really doesn’t matter. What matters is the energy and clarity with which you use the word.
Dogs are to varying degrees audibly and physically sensitive, so it depends on the specific dog as to whether they need a physical correction in correspondence with the audible correction. Some dogs have grown numb to both and need their physical space to be crowded out in order to pay attention or calm down.
Keep in mind, it’s all about timing. Your dog wants to know what it’s doing right and what it’s doing wrong. Reward with a vocal reward such as, “good”, or “yes”, the moment that they display the right behavior. Once they know their behavior is correct, you can ignore. “What’s that?” you ask, “I can ignore my dog?” Yes! Ignoring their behavior is a passive way of either agreeing or disagreeing with their behavior, depending on whether you just rewarded them or gave them a consequence.
So remember, clarity in your energy and intention, timing with a reward, and then be willing to ignore. Pass your energy on to your guest, so they know (and your dog knows) that you paying attention to your guest is more important to you than paying attention to the dog.
