The New Year is here, and it is inevitable during this time that relatives will come home to pay New Year greetings. Friends who have dogs may have a problem, that is, when guests come, the dogs always bark, which not only prevents them from chatting and interacting with the guests, but also makes them feel uneasy. And the more you restrain the dogs, the more energetic they become. So what should the owner do to stop the dog from barking at the guests?

The reason why dogs bark at visitors

If guests come to visit your home, most dogs will behave quite unfriendly and bark at the guests. In fact, the main reason why dogs behave like this is because dogs have strong territoriality. The territory and members of the family are the areas they want to protect. If a stranger suddenly "invades", it will regard the stranger as a potential threat. It hopes to scare away this "invading" enemy through its cry.

If your dog notices that a guest has touched something that belongs to him, he may ignore your scolding and continue to bark at the guest. That's because it feels that this "intruder" has threatened its territorial security. At this time, do not punish it or shout to stop it. If you hit your dog, it will have the opposite effect, and your dog may become fearful in the future. If you shout loudly to stop, the dog will mistakenly think that you are the same as it, and you will notify your companions by shouting loudly, which will instead give it positive encouragement. Not only will the dog bark more and more fiercely, but it may even act aggressively if it sees an "intruder" and refuses to leave its territory.

How to stop your dog from barking at guests?

1. Step by step: Before guests come to visit, first take the dog to a room to stay. When a guest arrives, take the guest’s things and let the dog smell them to let him get used to the smell of the guest first. When the dog barks, stop it with a clear command. If the dog is quiet and does not bark, reward the dog with small snacks. When the dog can get along peacefully with the guests in the same space, the owner can guide the guests to try to interact with the dog and even feed the dog some snacks. Or soon, guests will be able to get along with dogs!

2. Appropriate rewards. Many animal behavior experts have done similar experiments. That is, when the dog barks, the owner makes a strong action hint, such as clapping his hands. If the dog can calm down, he will bring some snacks. Reward your dog. After a period of training, the dog will calm down obediently when it hears its owner clapping his hands when barking.

3. Divert the dog’s attention in advance. When the dog keeps barking at guests, the owner can use educational food leakage toys to attract the dog’s attention in advance. Put snacks inside the toy, and when the dog smells the food, he will try his best to get the snacks. For dogs, this works tooGive their bodies and brains a great workout. Some food leakage toys can even adjust the difficulty of leaking snacks. If the difficulty of the toy is increased, the dog can play with it all afternoon.

4. Take the dog out of the living room. If the dog is really out of control, the owner can take the dog out of the living room and go to the balcony or his own cage to sleep. A leash is the best way to control your dog and give it a sense of security. With the pull of the leash, it can know that it should be as calm as when facing strangers when walking. If the dog is really afraid of strangers, it is best to put it back in its own cage.

Out of a sense of territorial protection, many dogs will bark at visiting guests. At this time, the owner should not scold or punish it, but should guide the dog correctly to make it understand that the guest is not an "intruder", so that the dog and the guest can live in peace~