My dog barks at our visitors

The problem

My dog loves us but doesn't trust our visitors and barks and lunges at anyone that comes in our house.

Why do dogs do this?

There may be a number of causes for this:

1. Was the dog abused in the past? If so, the aggression is most likely to be linked to fear.

2. Did he lack the appropriate socialisation? If so, it is likely to be linked to fear and a misunderstanding of social norms. Lockdown has not helped with this.

3. Was he deliberately trained to be aggressive? This is much harder to deal with and you will definitely need some professional help.

4. Is he aggressive because he is guarding you, or his territory?

5. Is there an aggressive reaction to all people, or does it manifest specifically towards men, or children, people in uniform, etc

Depending on the type and level of aggression you may need to seek professional help as this is potentially a dangerous situation. If the aggression is mild and is likely to be fear related then you may be able to try the following approach.

What works for me?

1. My advice is to keep your visitors safe and keep your dog shut away in another room when visitors first arrive. Try to keep your dog relaxed (maybe with a chew or kong) before they greet your guest so that the arrival of a guest has a positive association. You may need to train your dog to settle happily in this space before you use it to shut him away for visitors.

2. You need to ask your visitors to make themselves as non confrontational as possible. So ideally sitting down, head turned away and avoid all eye contact with the dog. Keep this up and tell them don't be tempted to stare at the dog as this is very confrontational. If your guest cannot follow your instructions then do not introduce them to your dog.

3. Plan your meeting space. Meetings in doorways are always tense so carefully choose your meeting place where you have plenty of space to keep your dog at a distance and to make a quick exit if needed. Even better is to have your dog greet your guest away from the house and then walk home together.

4. Put your dog on a lead where you have good control for introductions and you need to be really calm and confident as any anxiety from you will be passed to your dog and they may feel the need to protect you.

5. Never approach visitors head on, but from the side or ideally come alongside in parallel and stay at a good distance (several meters). Give the dog lots of praise/treats when she is calm and non reactive. After a few seconds, lead your dog away. You can repeat this a number of times and if she continues to stay calm and the lead is slack, then your visitor can throw some treats on the ground well away from them. DO NOT encourage your guests to lure your dog over with treats - or she may be tempted to get too close and then panic.

6. If she starts to show any sign of anxiety, then create some distance by putting yourself between her and your visitor and herd her away. Ask them to take a step back or turn their back on her to diffuse any tension. If she can't stay calm, then put her in another room until she calms down, then you can try again a bit later.

7. It's not going to be an overnight cure, but each positive experience will help her build confidence and trust. Each negative one reinforces the barking and lunging sadly, so you need to maintain distance and only praise and reward good behaviour. Soon your dog will learn that visitors mean good things happen!

How to set up your room for best chance of success of meeting visitors

All rooms are different, but the image below gives an idea of what positions will work best and which are too close or too confrontational

• no head on meetings (only sideways)

• guests are sitting down

• don't let your visitors stare or make eye contact

• have your dog on a lead and keep plenty of distance away from the visitors

• be able to retreat back to place of safety if the dog gets anxious