Tips to Help Washington the Honest Shepherd Stop Acting Aggressive at the Door

For this Los Angeles dog training session, we teach 1 year-old German Shepherd Washington to stop acting aggressive when people come to the door.

Dogs who act aggressive at the door often do so for two reasons; thinking that protecting the house is their job and because their humans haven’t taught them how they want them to behave.

I spent the first part of the session addressing the leader follower dynamic so the humans can demonstrate to the dog that they have door duty under control. Increasing his exercise, petting with a purpose and rewarding desired behaviors when they are voluntarily offered will all go a long ways towards helping the dog learn it doesn’t need to guard the door or house.

To teach the dog what behavior the humans want when people come to the door, I handed one of the guardians my camera so I could share tips to stop a dog from acting aggressive when people come to the door.

Stopping dog’s from acting aggressive at the door is one of my favorite things to do as LA’s dog behavior expert because its usually a pretty dramatic change. That was certainly the case with Washington, a super smart dog. It only took a few minor corrections before he understood to stay behind an invisible line away from the door.

To help the guardians remember all the positive dog training tips we covered in this in home LA dog training session, we filmed a roadmap to success summary video.