Snapshot: Having a dog at your home can be entertaining and be used for guarding as well.
However, you cannot expect your guests to be friendly with your dog at the very first instance. The very first welcome by the dog for your guest makes them feel intimidated.
The sound of the doorbell means several indications for the dog. A dog can communicate using its barking sound and showing somebody signs.
When you have a keen look at the kind of emotions exhibited by the dog’s eyes, body language signs, and intensity of barking sound, you could sense what your dog is trying to perform.
Things you could do to stop your dog from barking at the door
There are certain things you could do to stop your dog from barking at the door. This makes them feel guests feel warm and welcome.
- Receive your guests before they approach
This is one of the things to do if you had not trained your dog to not bark when guests arrive at your home.
You could put up a sign at the gate of your home saying please walk in without ringing the doorbell. You could also put on some loud music which overshadows and superimposes the doorbell sound. This would ensure that the pet doesn’t get disturbed at the sound of the doorbell.
You could also create a comfort zone for your pet within the premises of your home. There are some places within the boundaries of your home itself which don’t hinder the external noises. You could leave your pet there and distract the pet by placing some toys and other playthings around it.
In case there is no lawn or any private space inside your building premises, then you can leave your dog at a pet caretaker’s place. They don’t charge you a fortune for taking care of a dog for few hours. Also, it would serve as a change of place and break for your dog from its usual routine. The caretaker’s place has a lot of other dogs that keep your dog entertained.
- Distracting the dog
You could give your dog a new task when someone rings the doorbell. Once you start practicing it, it becomes a habit for both you as well as for your pet. If you implement this method, you should wait until the dog starts barking. Not every guest can handle the excitement exhibited by a dog when they see a new person approaching the territory. Also, when you distract your dog with a new task, its mouth gets occupied which prevents them from barking incessantly.
- Interrupt your dog
When the doorbell rings, you need to interrupt your dog from barking continuously. You could do this by having some default noises which doesn’t depend on any external devices or things. You could clap or stomp your feet or use some command language to interrupt their barking.
Make a dog get used to the sound. Dogs get overwhelmed, excited, or frightened only when something new is put to them. You could get your doorbell sound recorded and play it to the door quietly for quite some days. Once the dog has stopped barking on hearing the sound at low volume, you could increase the volume steadily and keep playing until the dog gets accustomed to the sound.
- Sit, stay, and quite
Once someone rings the doorbell, ask your dog to sit down on the floor to prevent the dog from moving hastily here and there. The guests get frightened when they look at your dog moving here and there and in a very excited manner.
Once the dog has sat down on the floor and remained there for a while, you need to give a command to the dog to stay quiet.
You could first practice this with your near and dear ones and friends. Once the dog has gotten used to this kind of practice, then it would exhibit the same when the other people arrive at your home.
- Socializing your pet
You need to take your dog out for a walk and make it interact with a lot of people. Once your dog knows the difference between how usual humans could approach it and how a person who wants to intrude your space would approach it, it would get imbibed on how to receive people when they come to your home.
Also, when you socialize your dog with a lot of people it makes the dog livelier and more fun-loving. When the dog interacts with different people, the kind of reactions they give would help the dog to learn by itself how to behave with a new person and how not to.
- Provide a lot of exercise time
When your dog has much excess energy within, it could lead to the dog getting excited for no reason at all. Sometimes even the sound of the doorbell could increase the energy levels of your dog to a great extent. You could avoid this by taking your dog out for a walk for at least 30 minutes a day.
It is much better if the exercise time for your dog is about 2 hours a day. It is recommended to take your dog for two walks. One can be in the morning hours and the other in the evening hours.
If you can’ take your dog out, it is better to get a dog caretaker. Also, different breeds require different levels of physical activity. Depending on your dog’s breed, you go should allocate a specific time for its exercise.
- Separation anxiety
The dog would bark much louder and longer than the usual barking time when it is suffering from separation anxiety. If your dog is left alone in your home without any person around him or her, it could lead to the dog developing separation anxiety.
Whenever you leave your home, it is recommended to make sure your dog is occupied with some of the other activity that avoids the fear engulfing the dog due to separation from the owner.
- Ignore
Just like how to get rid of something, you ignore it for a while, and eventually, it stops. The same treatment can be applied in the case of your dog’s barking as well. If you find your dog barking continuously when guests arrive at your home, then it is suggested to ignore the dogs barking and never try to even yell at the dog.
This kind of technique would require a hell of a lot of patience as it would work well in the long run.
Moreover, you need to make sure your guests don’t get irritated at the continuous barking sound of your dog. You could practice this technique first with your near and dear ones alone first and then you could check how well it would behave with the people who meet your dog for the first time.
What could be the other possible reasons your dog is barking excessively?
Now that you are well aware of how to prevent your dog from barking at the door when guests arrive and still you find your dog barking all the time, you need to be knowing the possible reasons why your dogs keep barking even without a guest being in your place. Apart from knowing How to Stop a Dog from Barking at the Door, this is much important as well.
- Protecting Purpose
The dogs don’t like when anyone walks into their territory and the term anyone means a third person who is not well known to the dog. When the dogs are barking for protecting purposes, they get very loud and aggressive.
- Alarming the owner
The dogs are also want to bark to alarm the owner on how they feel. The dog could feel hungry or not feel well and it could indicate the owner only by barking. Also, the sound of barking would vary when it wants to alarm the owner.
- Loneliness
When your dog is left alone for a long period, it became very bored and unhappy. They express this emotion only by barking loudly. Dogs are generally in packs or they would always love to get surrounded by people. They can’t handle loneliness for long hours.
- Wants attention
The dog wants to gain attention from the owner to inform the owner about its needs and requirements. If you don’t provide attention to your dogs barking, it would keep barking at you until you provide the required attention.
- Greeting people
Dogs love to pounce on people when they arrive at your home. This is one of the best ways for dogs used to express their affection towards people.
Knowledge of how to stop your dog from barking loudly and why do the dog’s bark is essential for the dog owner. The dog owners cannot expect anyone and everyone who come to their home to understand the behavior of their dog at the very first instant.
Though the dog could belong to one particular breed, the behavior of every dog could vary and this can only be observed only if there is a good rapport between the owner and the owner.
