How to Stop a Dog From Barking at Visitors (12 Helpful Tips)

Stopping Dogs From Barking at Guests: The Importance of Early Intervention

If your dog barks at guests, early intervention is paramount, as this behavior can very easily get out of hand. But what can you do if your dog's barking at guests has become an ingrained behavior and it seems like nothing works because your dog is so focused on barking that he struggles to pay attention to you?

As with most undesirable behaviors in dogs, you will need to take a multifaceted approach, combining management, behavior modification and some training. Let's take a closer look at what each of these strategies entails.

Management

In a nutshell, management entails preventing a dog from rehearsing problematic behaviors. As the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

It will take less work to train a dog who has just started barking at visitors than a dog who has been rehearsing this behavior for a long period of time, as the latter has a long history of reinforcement.

However, even in cases of dogs with an established history of exhibited problem behaviors, management plays an important role. Management prevents the dog from further rehearsing the problem behavior; this means less stress hormones circulating in the body, which helps pave the path for behavior modification.

Management is also good for those times when you do not have time to actively work on the problem behavior and want to prevent full-intensity exposures that evoke barking. Last but not least, well-instituted management helps keep everyone safe.

Behavior Modification

Behavior modification entails changing how the dog feels about a stimulus or situation. In most cases involving dogs who are fearful, territorial or uncomfortable around guests, behavior modification involves desensitization (exposing the dog to their triggers at the lowest levels of intensity) and counterconditioning (creating positive associations with the trigger).

Training

Once a dog's emotions are better under control, it is possible to implement training. Training often involves some type of differential reinforcement, which entails teaching the dog an alternate or incompatible behavior and reinforcing that so as to make reacting to the trigger redundant and no longer worth it.

Training may be all that is needed in dogs who simply bark to alert their owners about the presence of an intruder and then are fine with the guests.

12 Ways to Stop a Dog From Barking at Visitors

As mentioned, to stop a dog from barking at guests, you will need to implement a variety of strategies in order to reduce the behavior. Once established, behaviors become more and more ingrained and habitual, so it will take some effort to implement changes and establish new routines.

1. Implement Management

As mentioned, management entails taking steps to prevent the dog from rehearsing the problematic behavior. Even if a dog is allowed a certain degree of barking at guests, this allows him to act on his judgment, which can undermine even the best behavior modification protocols.

It's also important to mention that dogs who bark at guests may do so out of feelings of fear, and dogs who are fearful may be prone to biting if they feel the need warrants it. Management, therefore, helps ensure the safety of guests.

Management Strategies to Prevent Barking

• Prevent the dog from barking at people from behind windows. I like to use window film to reduce such reactivity. The window film can be a short-term or long-term solution.
• Prevent the dog from lunging and barking at people from behind fences (a long line can be used when accompanying the dog out in the yard).
• Keep the dog in an area that doesn't evoke barking (farthest room of the house, taking the dog on a walk or car ride while visitors are in the home)
• Ensure all gates and doors are securely closed.
• Disable the doorbell if that evokes barking (you can have guests text message you upon their arrival rather than knocking or using the doorbell).

2. Become a Pro in Dog Body Language

If your dog is prone to barking at guests, it's important for you to learn how to recognize early warning signs that suggest your dog is starting to get amped up and ready to bark. In reality, all dog owners benefit from a lesson in doggy body language, as this helps recognize signs that dogs display as soon as they're starting to feel a bit uncomfortable.

Signs Your Dog Is Going Over Threshold

Following is a list of some early precursor signs that may indicate a dog is going over threshold:

• Stopping panting
• Pulling the lips back
• Tensing the facial muscles
• A wrinkled forehead
• A "hard" stare
• Weight shifted toward the front of his body (as if on tiptoes)

Pay Attention to Your Dog's Triggers

Of course, not all dogs are created equally. Recalling what has evoked your dog's barking at guests in the past may be helpful.

• Does your dog appear to struggle with men? Women? Children? People wearing hats? Carrying stuff?
• Does your dog bark only when seeing the guests from the window or fence?
• Does your dog only struggle when guests first enter the home, and then afterward he does fine?
• Is your dog nervous about guests laughing, gesticulating, talking enthusiastically?
• Does your dog bark when guests get up or as they get ready to leave?

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If you notice certain triggers, you can work on them specifically, although many dogs may start reacting to specific triggers, and then their reactivity generalizes to other aspects, leading to dogs just barking at guests in general, no matter what the guests do.

3. Reduce Barking From Windows

If your dog is prone to barking upon seeing people or guests arriving through a window, you'll want to work on low-level exposures and create positive associations with them.

Desensitization, in this case, will entail creating set-ups for low-intensity exposures so as to lower the dog's threshold. Dogs are in a more responsive state when they are not overwhelmed.

Desensitization Strategies

A good desensitization plan may encompass the following.

• Keep your dog on a leash at a distance from the window.
• Have volunteers practice walking back and forth outside at a distance from the window.
• Watch your dog's body language to ensure he remains under threshold.
• Take steps to reduce your dog's threshold if he manages to bark or show signs of feeling emotionally charged. Often this entails increasing the distance from the window.

Counterconditioning to Create Positive Associations

Counterconditioning will entail creating positive associations with people walking past the window. This often means feeding a dog high-value treats upon observing people, as done in the "Look at That" exercise, but in this case, it's specifically adapted for "window watching."

Please note that you should only use high-value treats if your dog isn't prone to resource guarding.

Combining Counterconditioning and Desensitization

Desensitization and counterconditioning are often used together as they have a powerful synergistic effect. It's easier for dogs to form positive associations with people walking by the window if they are presented in a non-threatening way at a distance and without them talking loud or running around.

If implemented correctly while using high-value treats, after several repetitions you may see what is known as a positive conditioned emotional response. This is a good sign that your behavior modification is working!

Desensitization and counterconditioning work best in cases where barking at guests stems from underlying fear, which, in many cases, it does.

4. Practice Having Guests Walk By the Door

Once your dog gets good at not barking at people walking by windows, your next step is to increase the stakes and start doing some other exercises near the door.

Disable your doorbell and tell your guests not to knock. Instead, keep your door wide open while your dog is on leash and you're equipped with lots of super-high value treats handy.

Do the same exercise as done by the window with your dog on leash, but this time you and your dog will stand by the doorway facing the front of your home and have people walk back and forth.

You can use Jean Donaldson's Open Bar/Closed Bar method for this to help your dog form crystal-clear associations. Basically, treats are delivered contingent upon seeing people walk by, and treats are stopped when no people are seen walking by.

5. Practice Having Guests Enter the Home

If your dog does fine with watching people walk by the door, it's time to start having guests enter. In this case, you want to keep your dog farther into the home at a distance from where he remains under threshold. Instruct your volunteer guests to keep the visit really short, just a second or two for now.

As soon as the guest enters for a second, drop several high-value treats on the floor and stop delivering the treats as soon as the guest exits. It's important to make it extra clear that the visitor's presence makes great things happen.

After a few reps, you can very gradually increase duration by tossing treats for a little longer, but make sure your dog remains calm and comfortable. As with training sessions, you also want to keep these sessions short and fun so that you end them with your dog eager for more future sessions rather than feeling drained.

6. Train Your Dog to Lie on a Mat

Training your dog to lie on a mat can be helpful when you are adding more duration to the exercises, with guests hanging around for longer. Start training your dog to lie on a mat before being introduced to visitors so that he's calmer and relaxed and knows what to expect. Here is more information about how to train your dog to lie on a mat.

Once your dog gets good at this, keep him on leash and have several tasty treats handy. Keep the door open as usual. Once your dog sees the person approaching, ask him to lie down on the mat. Then, kneel next to him and feed him treats as the person enters. Stop feeding treats once the person leaves.

Repeat several times until your dog seems to get a hang of this and you notice a positive conditioned emotional response.

At some point, get a large dog cookie ready, and the moment the guest enters, give the cookie to your dog (if he's still lying down on the mat) or ask him to lie down and give the cookie. Have the guest stand there until your dog is done eating the cookie and end the session here. Rinse and repeat over the course of several days.

7. Practing Having Your Guest Sit Down

As your dog improves, start preparing a long-lasting goodie to give your dog at a distance from the couch where your guests normally sit. "Long-duration enrichment can help replace the time the dog spends guarding with a more appropriate behavioral outlet," points out Dr. Haug.

Your longer-lasting treat can be a bully stick, dental chew or a stuffed Kong. Keep this in one hand, and keep several treats in your treat bag or pocket.

With your dog on leash next to the mat, as soon as the guest enters, ask your dog to lie on the mat and feed several treats in a row. Once the guest sits, give your dog the long-lasting chew. As soon as he is about done, ask the guest to leave. Repeat for several days.

8. Create a Safe Area

Now that your dog is calmer with the guest sitting on the couch, it's time to keep the leash off, but you want to keep your dog securely behind a tall baby gate (I like to use the one made by Carlson), pet gate or inside a secure exercise pen with the mat right behind it. Choose the distance wisely—you want your dog confined at a distance where he can hear and see the guest without feeling overwhelmed.

As soon as the guest enters, ask your dog to lie down on the mat and give him a long-lasting chew, then sit on the couch with the guest, chit-chat as you keep an eye on your dog, and once your dog is done eating, every now and then give praise and toss some treats his way.

At some point, you may want to introduce things your dog may react to but in a low-intensity way. For example, you can have your guest cough lightly, laugh lightly or stand up, with you tossing your dog a treat right after so to create positive associations with those actions.

Make sure to feed a few treats as your guest is about to leave and starts walking towards the door, as many dogs bark at guests walking around and leaving.

Note: Long visits or visits with children or animated guests may cause excessive stress. Even if your dog is behind a baby gate in his "safe" space, he may still get stressed after a while, so it may be best to cut visits short or give your dog a place away from all the havoc to allow him to finally relax.

9. Know When to Progress

If your dog is doing well 80 percent of the time on a given exercise, this means your dog is likely ready to progress to the next level. In training terms, it's likely time to raise criteria so you can progress to the next step.

Depending on what point of progress your dog is at, this may mean adding more than one guest or maybe asking guests to talk a little louder or gesticulate more.

10. Know When to Take a Step Back

What should you do if your dog happens to react negatively to something? If your dog reacts poorly, evaluate what may have triggered the reaction, take a few steps back in the process, and then present whatever triggered him at a significantly lower level of intensity.

For example, if your dog was fine with women guests entering the door yesterday and today your dog barks at a man entering, take a few steps back and practice having men walk by the door before practicing with them entering. You may even need to split walking through the door into smaller increments, such as entering one step, then two, then four, and perhaps use higher value treats.

11. Use Gentle Behavior Modification Methods

While it may be tempting to try quick fixes such as delivering corrections through bark collars or using harsh physical methods such as scruff shakes, alpha rolls and muzzle grabs, it's important to stray away from such methods.

According to the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, adoption of these methods can be dangerous to people as well as animals and pose a threat to the dog's welfare by inhibiting learning, increasing behaviors related to fear and distress, and potentially causing direct injury.

12. Work With a Pro

A dog barking meanly at guests can pose a danger to you and your guests. Touching a dog who is barking and in an aroused state may lead to a redirected bite. Guests may be at risk too, because dogs who bark are generally fearful and asking for distance, and this can make them prone to biting.

For these reasons, it is important to work alongside a behavior professional for safety purposes and the correct implementation of behavior modification.

To reduce stress and improve welfare, look for a professional using gentle behavior modification methods based on positive reinforcement, operant conditioning, classical conditioning, desensitization and counterconditioning.

What About Doorbells and Door Knocks?

If your dog goes into a barking frenzy upon hearing the doorbell or a knock on the door, you may be wondering how to get your dog's barking under control in these specific circumstances since, during management, your guests shouldn't be using either option.

Believe it or not, desensitization and counterconditioning can be used in this context as well. The process would entail lowering the volume of the doorbell using recordings that you can easily find on YouTube, or you can record your own doorbell sound and play it at a low volume while feeding treats.

More about the process can be found here: how to make our dog less reactive to doorbells and door knocks, and below is a video demonstration.

Reduce Your Dog's Barking at the Door

Something Else to Bark About

In many cases, dogs bark at visitors because they're not comfortable around them (either because they weren't socialized much as puppies or they are somewhat territorial/fearful), but there is a different category of barking dogs who, rather than dreading guests, can't wait to meet them!

Some dogs indeed bark because they are super eager to meet guests, but they are frustrated because a door or some other type of barrier prevents them from rushing to greet them. Once the barrier is removed, these dogs are happy to interact. Barrier frustration in dogs is common.

In some other cases, dogs are simply barking to alert the presence of a stranger. Once owners acknowledge and welcome the presence of these guests, these dogs settle down and relax.

Both types of barking can be tackled by training dogs to engage in some alternate behaviors, preferably something that will keep their mouths busy. Here are some options:

• Have your dogs bark once or twice to alert you, and then call them for a fun treat toss game that will have them searching around and keeping busy for a bit. For convenience, keep treats handy on a tall shelf by the door for this specific purpose.
• For toy-loving dogs, they can be instructed to go grab a toy and carry it happily around as they greet.
• You can train your dog to go to his mat, where they will receive some special treat, the moment he senses the presence of a guest. You can turn knocking or a doorbell sound into a cue that tells them to rush to the mat to get treats.

References

• American College of Veterinary Behaviorists: Position Statement
• Clinician's Brief: Territorial Aggression in a Dog by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Lore I. Haug
• Veterinary Information Network: Behavior Modification for Territorial Aggression in Dogs
• Overall, Karen. Clinical Behavior Medicine for Small Animals, Mosby, 1997
• Do Dogs Mean to be Mean? Understanding and Helping Aggressive Dogs, Dr. Debra Horwitz
• Territorial Aggression in Dogs by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Lore I. Haug

If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting), please consult with a dog behavior professional for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos, and general information provided online are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this service, you are waiving any liability claims or other types of claims related to any of your dogs' behaviors against you or others.

© 2023 Adrienne Farricelli CPDT-KA, Dip.CBST