How To Stop Your Dog From Barking When The Mailman (or milkman) Knocks On Your Door
By
From Eric Letendre, AKA “The Amazing Dog Training Man”
When my buddy Wes called and asked me if I could give some advice about how to handle a dog that barks when the mailman rings the doorbell I was not surprised. In my 18+ years of training dogs, about 90% of the dogs that I worked with barked and became uncontrollable when the door bell rang.
Dogs go crazy when the door bell rings for a few reasons. One is that dogs are territorial, another is that when the door bell rings, it is usually the highpoint of the day for your dog.
You dog hangs around all day waiting for something to do. The door bell rings and “YAHOO!” we got company.
When you go to the door, your dog is excited, jumping, barking and you’re saying “Down Buddy,” “Stop jumping boy,” “Buddy, get off the mailman.” The whole process is very rewarding to your dog. What you need to do is control the whole situation and make sure that you don’t continue to reinforce the behavior.
Watch what happens the next time someone rings your doorbell. Your dog will run to the door and start barking. If you don’t follow your dog, what you’ll notice is that your dog will look back at you as if to say, “What are you doing? We got company, get over here and open the door.”
In order to gain control of your dog’s behavior, you need to control the door and access to it. Here are some steps for you to follow to control your dog at the door.
Step one: the doorbell rings your dog runs to the door. You wait and watch your dog. As soon as your dog looks back at you, call your dog over to you.
Step two: Once your dog comes to you, walk over to the door. Ask your dog to sit and stay. As you reach for the door, your dog may become excited and get up. Ask your dog to sit and stay again.
Step three: As you open the door a fraction of an inch, your dog will probably get up again. Quickly close the door and ask your dog to sit and stay again.
Step four: Keep repeating until your dog holds the sit stay as you open the door.
You are using access to the door as the reward for your dog. The whole process is very simple, but it is easier to show you than to write about it. So we have put up a video for you to watch on Wes’s website. The video is short and you can see exactly what steps you need to follow to gain control.
Click on the video once to activate it, then click on the play arrow in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.
Good luck and happy training!
Eric “The Amazing Dog Training Man” Letendre