Teaching an Excitable Goldendoodle to Calm Down When People Come to the Door
By: David Codr
Published Date: January 2, 2020
For this Omaha dog training session we teach a 2 year-old excited Goldendoodle Toodles to stay calm when people come to the door.
I arrived a little before my apprentice Taylor so I used her arrival to share the tip to teaching a dog to calm itself down when people come to the door.
Teaching a dog to stay calm when people come to the door is all about practice, patience and good timing. By waiting for the dog to calm itself down the immediately starting the process of opening the door, Taylor was able to help the dog learn being calm at the door is the best way to get the humans to come inside.
Many people confuse excitement in dogs for happiness. But an excited dog is far more likely to make mistakes or get into trouble than one that is calm and balanced, just like humans. Practicing starting the process when the dog calms down and stopping the instant it starts to get excited again is a form of Operant Conditioning and its a great way to teach a dog to be calm when guests come to the door.
Id like to see Toodles guardians arrange to have friends or neighbors come by (at least on a day for a week) to practice this exercise to teach dogs to stay calm and behave when people come to the door.
Later in the session, I noticed Toodles shying away when I tried to take her photo. I decided to use this as an opportunity to show them how to stop the dog from turning away when anyone tries to take a picture.
This tip also works for dogs who are scared of the camera. Many dogs fear the camera because they weren’t exposed to it as a puppy or due to humans being frustrated that the dog moves away when a camera is moved in front of their face. If the guardians practice this exercise with 5-10 treats one or more time a day for a week, Toodles should start posing for the camera when she hears the “Cheese” command.
To help the guardians remember all the dog psychology tips we shared in this in home Omaha dog training session, we recorded a roadmap to success video.
Categorized in: Dog Behavior
