Door Crashers

Ada is a door barker but I think that training her to stop is going to have to wait until we move out of my parents place. It is way too handy to have her alert my mostly deaf father to the door bell in this manner to stop it at the moment. lol.

What we really need to do is teach the little dingalings that a screen is NOT something you can walk through. They've both bounced off it a number of times now.

I used that technique when my Lola would bark at skateboarders, bicyclers, etc. when we were on our walks. I'd keep treats in my pocket and when I would see a perspective victim approaching, I would offer her the treat before she had a chance to bark. We have the odd spectacle when she's in a rare mood, but for the most part it works!

Now we're working on her barking at pedestrians while we're driving!

Maureen

Great idea Sarah!

Thanks for posting that!

Ross you will have ot let us know the outcome of your training

I have to try this on Bubba outside, the little schnooger boy likes to bark at any movement down in the driveway or across the street on the sidewalk!!
Most of the apt dwellers hav enow met him and know that they might get a big surprise when they open the side door
However, I wonder if this would work .......

Can you teach a 14 + dog new tricks LOL!

What a great idea! I'm having issues with both Cash & Rosie barking at the door and was wondering how I was going to solve it. I'm going to try this. They're both certainly very treat driven so I'm sure, with practice, that it will work for them.

THANKS!

I came across this method for keeping your dogs calm when someone is at the door, it is working very well for me so I thought I would pass it on.

I used to let me dogs bark once or twice and then say "enough" and they would back off, but over the last few months they have kind of been competing at the door "who can scare the big bad mail man away first" kind of stuff so I thought I would nip all the barking in the butt before I got too annoyed with it. Pugs are natural "watch" dogs and barking can be a problem for some of these guys.

I was reading through some of my books and came across this method (which seems silly at first but has been really working for me).

You start by desensitizing you dog to the sound of the door almost like priming when you use clicker training. You have someone go outside, knock or ring the door bell and immediately after the sound you give your dog(s) a treat. Keep repeating it until when they hear the door they look at you for a treat (from 3 days to a week depending on how many times a day you repeat the exercise and how well the dog(s) catch on).

Even if the dogs bark at first, put the treat right in there face to distract them, it will seem as if you are rewarding them for barking but you are not you are priming them to expect a treat and look at you for that treat when they hear the sound of the door.

After you have your dogs attention when they hear the door, have the person you are practicing with come in the house, put the dogs on a sit and keep feeding them treats as long as they are looking at you and sitting down. If they get up and approach the person at the door bring them back to a sit and treat them when they are making eye contact with you.

So I now have a bowl of treats at the door and this technique is working really well for my girls, be consistent and calm and it should work for any dog.