Tomorrow is Halloween. (I hope you remembered to buy some candy for the trick-or-treaters.) Before they start ringing the doorbell, think about the upcoming visitors and what’s best for your dog. Do you have a puppy that you are trying to socialize; you may want to have the dog with you on a leash when several groups come to the door. Along with the Halloween candy for the kids, you bring a dog treat and ask some of the kids (or parents) to give the puppy a biscuit, thereby providing the developing puppy a new experience with a positive outcome. (Concept: all novel experience are good! Build confidence in your pup!) Teach the pup that it is not ok to bark at people coming to the door. You are the one in charge of the house, not the pup. However, don’t overwhelm the puppy with too many visitors.
On the other hand, if you have an older dog, or one that is not comfortable having lots of people come to the door, in order to minimize stress, you may want to kennel the dog out of earshot of the door. Also, think about dogs outside in kennel runs. It may drive them crazy hearing myriads of people filtering by and them not getting to see what’s going on. Their most common response is non-stop to barking. Your yelling at them to “shut-up” every time only reinforces their barking. It may be best to put the dog in a kennel box in the house during the trick-or-treaters and work on their barking at visitors later when you have more control of the situation. Happy Halloween!
