Question:
New to your site. LOVE IT! I have a 2-year-old choc lab that does the same thing as the original posters lab [Help! Hyper Lab!]. The turning the back trick does work but you have to find someone willing to do it and the pizza man rarely has the time…lol. Hershey also goes crazy when the doorbell rings. I thought I would try to “desensitize” her one-day…RIGHT!!! I would ring the doorbell…back her up to the living room after she charged the door (she’s not angry by the way… she wants to give kisses and play). I spent the better half of the day ringing that darn doorbell and guess what… She still charges the door and barks like crazy. Any advice?
Answer:
The Labrador Brats do the same thing even to this day when the doorbell rings at our home. The trick is to get the dogs under control before you even think about opening that front door and letting your guest in.
Maintaining control over the situation and not getting excited yourself in crucial. All too often, we dog owners will try to run after the Lab, pull at it frantically or push it aside. This is meeting energy with energy – which does not work.
Instead, you need to control your pup first and foremost. If you know someone is coming over, put the pup in another room until your guest has settled in. If you do put the dog behind a closed door, never open the door while they are excitable or barking. By opening that door when they are energized, you are giving attention to the bad behavior, which will continue the bad behavior in your house.
If you know the pizza guy is coming, you can do the same thing. You can put your dog in another room or you can have someone else in the house to hold the pup quite a distance back from the door.
The key is not to use energy to hold them back and not to give attention to unwanted behavior.
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