7 month old excited when anyone at the door

Discussion in 'Labrador Training' started by Bertie_lab, Dec 31, 2020.

  1. Bertie_lab

    Bertie_lab Registered Users

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    Hey all,

    Our 7 month old lab Bertie has come on leaps and bounds around the house. We still don’t completely trust him to be on his own around soft cushions but he’s perfect if we’re about to watch over him.
    Our main issue is because of lockdown we haven’t had any visitors to the house for the last few months, he used to be great with delivery drivers, he’d come to the door, greet nicely and when I went back inside he’d follow me but now he’s far far more interested in the driver than me and gets SO excited when the doorbell goes. The other day he ran off after the delivery man and tried to get in his van. We’ve tried learning manners when opening the door - sit, stay and treat which he’s great at in practice when no one is there and we always make him sit before we open the door for walks but he loses his mind once he sees there’s actually someone there. We’ve started putting his lead on when we open the door but he gets more excited and lunges and leaps. We tried putting him in a different room with treats when the bell goes but he’s more interested in whose the door than the treats and he’s cottoned on and now will ignore any treats (even high value) - I’m also not convinced that putting him a separate room is resolving the issue.
    We haven’t been able to have any visitors come in the house for months so we haven’t been able to get to the point where he’s calm and can be rewarded, the interactions with delivery men are so quick and he’s so frantic I just don’t feel like we’re getting anywhere. As soon as the door is closed he’s calm again and I reward him for calmness.

    If it was guests we knew we would happily spend time with them at the door, reacting calmly, opening and closing a few times but it’s impossible to ask a delivery driver in advance to do the same thing.

    I’m also 5 months pregnant so when he’s lunging on his lead it’s not the easiest situation to control (his lead manners on walks is 80% good) but this is really something I was to sort out before baby arrives and I have make sure baby is safe and dog isn’t running off after a delivery man.

    At the moment we are still putting lead on, sitting before door opens and treating for calmness afterwards... it’s the bit where the door opens that it all falls apart so all advice is welcomed!
     
  2. SRW

    SRW Registered Users

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    Teach him the "Sit" command.
     
  3. Bertie_lab

    Bertie_lab Registered Users

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    He knows the sit command. He has known sit since day 2 of us having him since a puppy, he knows stay and when he train him with no one at the door he will happily sit patiently while we open the door wide and stays put, the issue comes when it’s someone different and more exciting there. As I mentioned with lockdown we haven’t been able to have floods of people round to get him used to it so all his interactions with new people at the door are quick and exciting for him.
     
  4. SRW

    SRW Registered Users

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    He may know what the word "sit" means but he does not know the command. If he did there would be no issues when people come to the door. He would still be excited but sit when told.
    It would be in your best interest to work on his obedience training before your baby arrives.
     
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  5. Bertie_lab

    Bertie_lab Registered Users

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  6. SRW

    SRW Registered Users

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    Introduce distractions when teaching the sit command.
    One thing I like to do from day one is teach sit before meal time. Set his food down but require a sit before letting him have it. Start jest a few feet away holding a pup, as soon as he sits release him. I use the "kennel" command to release and put the food in his crate at first. This kills two birds with one stone, teaching Kennel and Sit at the same time. Soon the pup should sit without restraint until released. When the pup has that down you can move farther away from the food dish and teach him to stop in route to it. A check cord can be helpful. Release the pup and then command Sit when he is halfway to the food. You can also work on recall in this way.
    Spring the Sit command on the pup in lots of situations with different distractions. Always teach and reteach, don't allow refusals, be prepared to enforce your commands.
     
  7. Bertie_lab

    Bertie_lab Registered Users

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    We enforce sit before almost everything we do. After his walk he sits whilst we put shoes and coats away. He sits whilst we get his food ready and waits for it to be placed on the floor and is released. Our release word is ‘OK’ and we ask him to hold his sit for some time. It’s the adding in of distractions that we are struggling with because at home we can’t have any visitors to cause distraction.
    the issue with the door is that we can’t prep the person on the other side to be boring so he will sit nicely until the door is opened, then see it’s someone new and potentially fun and then he loses all focus. It’s reinforced when a delivery guy makes a fuss of him and then leaves.

    On walks he sits on command where there’s distractions on lead and off lead he’s getting better as long as we ask him to sit before he gets too close to distraction. He’s come on a long way off lead but we just can’t crack people coming to the door.
     
  8. SRW

    SRW Registered Users

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    That is a tough one. You could try teaching it with the help of a friend repeatedly coming to the door, kind of make a drill out of it.
    Another possibility is teaching the "place" command. Teach the dog to go to a place mat, platform or small square of carpet on command.
     

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