Q: My dog will not stop barking at visitors. I’ve tried giving her treats, taking her to another room, and even outside. What should we do?
A: This can be a frustrating problem for both you and your visitors, especially if everything you have tried is not working. Dogs might bark at visitors because they feel afraid or anxious about having strange people enter their space, or even from over-excitement when meeting people.
A method that often works well is to change your dog’s association with the location visitors enter from. If they always enter through the front door, rather meet them outside in the garden or driveway, and walk around with your dog on a lead for a few minutes.
Ask your visitors to completely ignore her. Give them some of your dog’s favourite treats and, while you are walking around with her, ask them to casually toss treats away from where they are standing. Allow her to move away from the people to get the treats.
This should teach her that visitors equal tasty treats, and that it’s more rewarding to move away from them than it is to bark at them. When you go inside, enter through a different door, if possible, letting the visitors enter before you and your dog. Let them sit down before you go inside.
Another option is to give her a stuffed Kong, a snuffle mat or similar interactive food toy. Give this to her only when visitors arrive, so that she makes a positive association with them being around. Have a few practice sessions by inviting just one visitor at a time, and explain to them, before they arrive, what you are doing and how you would like them to help.
You should hopefully soon start to see improvement.
Alyson Kingsley-Hall, behaviourist
