Why does my dog bark at guests? How to train her to be calm?

Many dogs get very excited when visitors come to the door! I would recommend asking guests to call ahead for now when they are coming over, so that you can put Vesta on a leash before they arrive. Use the leash to keep her under control, and use treats to reward her for sitting or other calm behavior. Once she calms down a bit, your visitors can also ask her to sit for treats and petting. It takes lots of time and patience to work on this issue, so be patient with Vesta while she learns! Ideally, I would also recommend finding a good reward-based trainer in your area who can work with you in person to make sure you're making progress - you can search for a qualified trainer in your area here: www.ccpdt.org

Get him acclimated to people so it isn't a big deal when you have company. Make him "work" for everything (food, attention, walks, etc.). This can be as simple as having him sit or wait before being fed, taken out or played with. When company arrives, make him wait to greet. Do not allow him to initiate contact. Use a leash to control him if necessary. A head harness such as the Gentle Leader or Halti can provide a means to control and quickly correct negative behavior. Ignore him when he barks at company. If he jumps up, turn away from him. Be consistent and be firm. Do not yell as this will likely get him more riled up.

This is a very difficult problem. This is link to a behavioral issue that can be resolved with training. I would recommend asking a trainer to come into the house to help you. Also I would start working on basic commands, like sit, come and stay. That way when people come over you can re direct Ripley. IT will be very helpful to have someone like a trainer work with you one on one. I hope that helps

I am so sorry to hear about Ivanhoe! This type of behavior is often due to anxiety. I would strongly recommend talking to your vet about anti-anxiety/ behavior modification medication which can make a huge difference! Training is often completely ineffective if the fear/anxiety threshold is not lowered. Once medication is instituted, training is often MUCH more effective. I hope this helps! Best of luck to you all!

I recommend having Lilly in the crate when people come over. When they are inside and settled then let her out of the crate to greet them. They should not focus on her just continue socially with you. If she's calm they can pat her but I wouldn't do anything to get her excited. Over time she'll learn that when she's under control she can be with visitors. If she gets too excited then I would put her outside or back into the crate, This is not punishment per se but rather a time out until she can control her behavior. Training her will take time and patience but it will be worth the effort when you have a well behaved companion. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Lilly.

What you're describing sounds like a reaction to the general excitement level and maybe the volume in the room. Some dogs will actually become aggressive that type of situation (for example, they will bite ONLY when there's a touchdown -- not so fun for the visitors). As far as stopping it, keeping her a quiet separate area during big gatherings is one way, as long as she doesn't bark to be reunited with the group. You can also try feeding her a continuous steam of small treats to help change her emotional reaction to these events. One thing to avoid is any yelling or punishment, since that may push her over the edge from barking to aggression

Many dogs have this problem - it's called leash reactivity :) It happens because Laika is so excited to see another dog, and frustrated because she can't immediately run over to them - which leads to barking and lots of crazy, uncontrollable behavior. Fortunately, this behavior is usually very treatable with a good training plan. Normally, a training plan for these dogs involves using very tasty treats to reward calm behavior at a distance from another dog - it's critical that you're far enough away that she can be calm and take treats, which means that you may need a lot of distance at first! Once she understands the game and is doing well, you can gradually move closer. It can be hard to do this on your own at first, so I would really recommend getting in touch with a good reward-based trainer who can help you in person. He/she can help by setting up controlled training situations at first with a calm "helper dog" to help both of you get the idea of how to work on the problem, until you're ready to transition to real life scenarios like passing another dog on a walk.