How To Train Your Dog To Stay Calm Around Guests

Having friends and family over should be enjoyable – but if your dog gets overly excited, barks nonstop, or jumps on people, visits can turn stressful. With the right training and consistency, you can teach your dog to stay calm and well-mannered when guests arrive.

Dogs are social animals, and when someone new enters their home, they naturally get excited. Common reasons for this behavior include wanting attention, guarding their territory, or mirroring your own excitement and stress. Recognizing the cause will help you apply the right training method. If you’re unsure what the underlying cause could be, calling a professional dog trainer can help.

Step 1: Practice basic obedience

Before working with guests, the best starting point is to give your dog a solid understanding of their basic obedience, such as Down with implied stay or Place with implied stay. These foundational commands give you control over your dog in the home and provide clear expectations. The benefit of a solid Place command allows your dog a safe and comfortable spot for your dog to settle in when visitors arrive.

Once your dog knows to go to place on command, start adding distance and everyday distractions. Adding distance when you are sending your dog to place allows you to give the Place command from anywhere in the house, which will be needed when you have to answer the door to greet your guests. While your dog remains on Place, reward them as you walk away and open the door.

Step 2: Set up practical training sessions

When your dog is proficient in the Place command with regular household distractions, the next step is to start adding in the indicators that company has arrived, such as the knock at the door or doorbell.

Start with your dog on place while someone knocks or rings the doorbell. While your dog maintains their place position, reward them for calm behavior (for example, not barking or rushing the door). As your dog becomes proficient staying on their place with these distractions, change the order of events so your dog is loose in the home when the door knocking starts; sometimes company arrives without warning, so it is best for you and your dog to practice any scenario. Then, send your dog to place before opening the door, and reward them when they are on place.

Doing these practice sessions with other members of the household can reduce the excitement of people coming into the home because they are comfortable and used to seeing household members every day. Getting other members of your family involved in training also ensures that the expectations are clear for the humans in addition to your dog.

Step 3: Controlled guest interactions

When your dog is ready, practical practice will turn into reality! Setting your dog up for success starts by keeping your dog on-leash so you can help them stay on place or lead them to the place if needed.

As guests enter the home and your dog remains calm on their place, ensure you are rewarding them for the good behavior! Ask your visitors to ignore your dog to ensure the dog continues to remain calm. Once everyone has entered and the immediate excitement has settled down, you can release your dog from their Place command but keep them on-leash. By keeping the leash on, you can prevent your dog from jumping on people and easily lead them back to place if necessary.

If your dog struggles with being nervous around guests, ensure your visitors are not getting into your dog’s face as they are hanging out. You can help your dog build confidence by allowing your guests to have easy access to treats and politely offering them to your dog if they approach on their own.

Set clear expectations for your dog and for guests. If your dog is barking or whining, advise your guests to ignore your dog so they do not accidentally reward the disruptive behaviors. If necessary, remove your dog from the room until they can settle down, and then reintroduce them on leash to their place to encourage the calm behaviors.

Why consistency matters

Consistency and clarity in expectations are key to teaching and reinforcing new behaviors for your dog. If you regularly have guests visit your home, each visit is a learning opportunity. If you are planning on hosting a family gathering, it is best to start with smaller groups and then gradually increase as your dog is successful.

Training your dog to be calm around guests is not a task that can be completed overnight, and irregular training sessions can cause more confusion. Training sessions should include everyone in the household to ensure the maximum consistency across any situation. For example, if Person A always puts the dog on place when the doorbell rings but Person B lets the dog rush towards the door, the dog will not know what behaviors to perform and can become more excitable when guests arrive due to unclear expectations.

In conclusion

Teaching your dog to be calm when guests come to visit is transformative. This ensures that your visitors have a relaxing entry to your home, and that you can spend more time interacting with your guests as opposed to stressing about your dog’s behavior. Regular training sessions involving all members of your household can build this solid behavior in your dog. Having friends and family over should be enjoyable for everyone, and practice makes perfect!