# Barking at people entering the house!!



## Snowflake14 (Dec 28, 2014)

My pup, Snowflake, isn't a big barker except when someone comes to the door. Then she runs to them and sometimes gets out the door. Ugh. I've tried giving treats to distract her when someone is arriving, carrying her to the door (she gets too wiggly when she's excited), etc..

She has a loud bark for a small 8 month old pup!!!


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

I think the much more important thing is to make sure she doesn't run through any doors without permission. I've never had any luck in teaching my dogs not to bark when someone comes to the door. If you teach her, tell me how!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

I don't mind Kodi alert barking when someone comes to the door. But I do insist that he STOPS barking when I tell him "OK, I've got it!"


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

I like that my two bark when someone is around. A few years ago my first Havanese Sparky started barking when the doorbell rang. I didn't answer the door. He then wanted to go out on the deck in the back. I let him out and went upstairs. I watched him start barking and looking over the deck edge. Some guy with RED gloves came up on the lower deck to the backyard. I yelled what are you doing and he took off. I saw him get in a car across the street with another guy and drive off. I called the police and was able to give them partial license plate#. They found the car a few months later with stolen items. Sparky saved me!!!


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## Ollie"s Mom (May 23, 2014)

Wow Heather, that is quite the story. Sparky was a smart little man.


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

It was pretty scary! The police probably could have caught them if I had thought to call as soon as I saw the guy, but all I could do is think what will he do to Sparky so I yelled. It was amazing how fast several police cars came. Contractors down the street saw the car when it got trapped on a dead end street. I wouldn't have been able to identify the guy for the case because it happened so fast. I was just so glad Sparky was ok.


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

Yay for little Sparky!


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

Sparky Dog my little hero We miss him so much...


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## harmony (Jan 18, 2015)

krandall said:


> I don't mind Kodi alert barking when someone comes to the door. But I do insist that he STOPS barking when I tell him "OK, I've got it!"


That's how I feel, too. Luna is really good about stopping barking when we say, "It's okay, Luna," when it's just someone walking past the house or a noise from outside - you know, alert barking. But she is not good about it when someone comes into the house - or even downstairs after being upstairs for a while. That's more of an excited, "I'm so happy to see you!" bark, and she will only stop barking for that if we pick her up. That's something I was planning to work on with her this next month, now that she's our only dog again. I think I would like to train an all-purpose stop barking command rather than training her not to bark at all. I like having a watch dog, I would just like the barking to be under my control better. But, honestly, I don't really know how to approach training that.


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## Ari214 (Oct 9, 2014)

Snowflake14 said:


> My pup, Snowflake, isn't a big barker except when someone comes to the door. Then she runs to them and sometimes gets out the door. Ugh. I've tried giving treats to distract her when someone is arriving, carrying her to the door (she gets too wiggly when she's excited), etc..
> 
> She has a loud bark for a small 8 month old pup!!!


We have similar issues with Kipper. Our trainer told us we should work on the "Stay" command while having distractions such as the front door opening. To do this safely, you tie your dog to a leash tied near the door. Start by opening the door slightly and rewarding them when they obey the stay command. Progress by opening the door more and more, then leaving it open. Then graduate to practicing this by having someone come to the front door. We're still working on it! We keep forgetting to practice but he has gotten better about staying when I open the door to go get the mail and stuff like that.


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## Hsusa (Dec 21, 2014)

I need to practice this with Sheba. I always pick her up when the front doorbell rings because I am very nervous about her dashing outside. It just seems that there are so many things to work on with her! It could be a full -time job.


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## StarrLhasa (Jun 6, 2010)

We trained our two to "settle" (some trainers use "go to your spot" or "place" or mat") when someone would come to the door and they would inevitably bark up a storm. They would each go to a dog bed or mat 20 or more feet away from the door and lay down to wait for their treats. 

Because we have other dogs (fosters and dog sitting) for short or long periods of time, it gets too crazy to try to get every dog to go to a spot and lay down and be quiet, so I have not been reinforcing it and it gets really loud when the letter carrier (especially) comes to deliver the mail. I am going to teach every dog to "go settle."


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

Snowflake14 said:


> My pup, Snowflake, isn't a big barker except when someone comes to the door. Then she runs to them and sometimes gets out the door. Ugh. I've tried giving treats to distract her when someone is arriving, carrying her to the door (she gets too wiggly when she's excited), etc..
> 
> She has a loud bark for a small 8 month old pup!!!






 Teach more appropriate doorbell behaviour

Tough to advise without seeing your dog and the environment in context.

Might need to know a little more so as to understand the dog's motivations for running to the door and barking. Does Snowflake greet the visitor to the door? What does she do if the person reaches out toward her? It would be good to understand whether your dog is scared, over excited, conflicted, happy etc. 
The first thing is always management. So, prevent her from practicing this behaviour, especially since there is a safety issue here re. the dog escaping. So a couple of baby gates within the house are a good idea. Have at least one between the dog and the front door. This can also help with managing over-zealous greeting behaviour. At least the guest can get into the house and the dog greeted when calm. Checkout the videos. You have to teach a dog to bark on cue before you can teach a quiet or shush.on cue.

just to add. Please do not try to stop all barking. It's their means of communication. I write about this in the next issue of Havanese Breed Magazine . It really is a great magazine http://www.havanesebreed.com/pdf?SSLoginOk=true


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## Heather's (Jun 18, 2012)

I am amazed our two know when the two dogs across the street up hill are at the fence edge and bark. They know when deer are in the front yard or in the back without seeing them. If someone is at the door they bark, but not at the postman because know him. My husband will say "quiet" to stop them barking. I like that they are alerting me that something is near since seeing someone in our backyard.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

yep


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