Dogs who are anxious or fearful of strangers struggle when those scary people enter their own home. Knocks at the door or the bell ringing often results in a mad dash to the front door and fierce barking. Some dogs will calm down after a while, only to start up again as soon as the guest gets up from the couch, or returns from using the bathroom. Here’s what you need to know when addressing this problem.
Connections with leash reactivity
Most dogs who are scared of people entering their home are also leash reactive around strangers. Please read through this article all about leash reactivity, whether or not your own dog lunges or barks on leash when passing strangers. The underlying principles will be the same during training in your home.
Go ahead and read part two (Foundation Training) and part three (Training Around Triggers) as well. You will want to teach your dog the same exit strategies, and we’ll be using the same principles of desensitization and counter-conditioning, the Engage-Disengage Game, and possibly BAT and the Play Way.
For dogs who are indeed reactive to strangers on leash, I like to address this problem first. I find that it’s easier to teach a dog to accept a stranger coming into their home if they have already learned to trust that people just walking by on the sidewalk won’t hurt them. This part is usually faster and easier. You can still get a head start on desensitization and counter-conditioning to triggers associated with the door (see below)
Management
As noted above in the leash reactivity overview, management (preventing your dog from rehearsing the unwanted behavior) is critical to success. That means that you need to keep your dog from barking out the window. Some options are:
Close blinds
Cover windows with privacy window film
Use pens and gates to keep your dog back from windows
In addition, don’t leave the dog out in the yard unsupervised. When outside with your dog, immediately interrupt any barking that happens and put your dog back in the house.
Cover your doorbell with a paper or cardboard, or purchase a smart doorbell that doesn’t give an audible tone and just notifies your phone that someone is at the door. Place a sign on your door that asks people to text or call you when they arrive instead of knocking, and for packages to be left at the door without any knocking.
Avoid having guests over during the training process, or put your dog in a back room before they arrive. Play some calming music or white noise for him, and give him a stuffed food toy or chewy to entertain him.
If your dog has ever nipped or bitten someone, you should be using a muzzle during training. Start on muzzle training ASAP - see this article for resources.
Meeting guests outside
Some dogs do much better with accepting a new person coming into the home if they are able to greet them out front or in the backyard. In this case, we will be using the leash reactivity training exercises to do a slow introduction to the new person, then have them go into the house ahead of the dog. This can either become the permanent new routine for greeting guests, or it can be a temporary measure while you work on the exercises listed below.
Triggers associated with guests entering
In order for your dog to calmly greet people at the door, we need to teach him to be calm about everything leading up to it - the doorbell, knocking at the door, his owner suddenly getting up and approaching the door, and opening it up. The most straightforward approach to this part of the training is pairing high value treats with the sounds and activities that currently set your dog off in a barking frenzy. Here is a great video by Emily Larlham showing you how to break this process down into little steps:
You’ll need to work on this separately from having people over. Be patient - the more your dog has a history of getting worked up about activity at the door, the longer - and more carefully - you will need to do the counter-conditioning process to reach success.
We may also choose to have your dog go to a station near the door and stay there as you open the door and welcome guests in. This would be integrated with the counter-conditioning process above.
People approaching the home
We can work on this part of the training without worrying about any of your dog’s triggers around the door itself, by having your dog in the house and on leash, with the front door already wide open. We’ll recruit a helper to play the role of a guest approaching, and break the process down further by having them start out just standing on the sidewalk, then taking just one step toward the door before retreating, then two steps, and so on. Your dog will be learning to play the Engage-Disengage Game while this happens. Eventually your dog will be able to watch calmly as someone walks all the way to your front door and enters the house.
Guests within the home
You can now have someone come into your home - hooray! But that doesn’t mean that your dog will be comfortable right away with the guests walking around, playing an active game, or petting the pup! Here are common triggers involving guests within the home that we will continue desensitizing the dog to:
Standing up from a couch/chair
Walking out of sight and reappearing
Telling an animated story or reacting to a game
Hugging their owner
Making during eye contact with the dog*
Approaching the dog*
Petting the dog*
* Note that some dogs cannot progress to the point of allowing new people to approach and pet them, and that’s okay - we will teach them to quietly ignore the guests and receive the same in return.
If your dog has ever nipped or bitten a guest, they will be wearing a muzzle when guests enter the home. Depending on the details of your dog’s behavior and previous aggression, you may be able to remove the muzzle once your dog accepts a particular guest into their trusted “inner circle.”
Prognosis
As you can see, teaching your dog to calmly accept strangers entering his home will be an involved process, but it can be done. It will require recruiting a series of helpers who are good at following directions. While you are in the training process, you will need to work around your dog’s needs and avoid having people over, or put the dog away first. The payoff will be a happy, calm family member who is a delight to guests for years to come.
Exactly how long it will take depends on how worked up your dog gets, how fearful or anxious he is, how often you practice, and how well you execute the training plan. I have worked with owners who were shocked to see that after a month of training, their dog was able to sit quietly by their side as a brand new helper waltzed through the front door and took a seat on the couch. Other owners decided that it wasn’t worth the effort to teach their dog not to freak out at activities around the front door, and had all guests greet the dog in the front yard first, then enter the house after the initial excitement had passed. Still other owners kept up the training for several months before it all came together.
We will be doing a series of private lessons in which I teach you, the owner, all you need to know so that you can continue working with your dog to your desired level of success. I will also provide ongoing support after the lessons are done, to troubleshoot any issues that come up.