To be cross about visitors not liking my dog

[calamityJayne1]

I have a Labrador who is the daftest dog you’d ever meet.

Due to my work children and parents visit my house. They know I have a dog who is harmless yet people still make comments like why is he barking and I don’t like dogs and physically wincing if he comes near them.

This is only on arrival and I put the dog in a different room for the duration of their visit, but I am getting really tired of anti dog people making comments and someone even asked me to ensure the dog was locked in a different room on arrival!

Given the fact that new people are informed I have a dog and he’s playful and barks I don’t understand people’s reactions. I understand not everyone likes dogs but why can’t people stop act like snowflakes and move on?

AIBU to feel totally fed up and only invite dog friendly people to my house?

I don't have a dog myself, but I do volunteer at a local boarding and rehoming charity.
I'm not 100% confident around dogs, but being a volunteer means that I get to meet lots of different breeds and personalities.
The worst part is trying to figure out what harness each dog needs and getting it on!
Some stand still and others run around like banshees. But touch wood, none have been 'vicious', they are just very exited to go on a walk.
I find that after five minutes of trying to get a harness on, they calm down and stop jumping up.

They're alerting the household because they think they are the alpha who needs to protect the pack,

Ah - I didn't realise my very nervous and anxious rescue dog, who wouldn't say boo to a goose, actually sees herself as a an alpha dog ... . Or maybe she just wants to tell me there's someone at the door 🙄 .

Yes yabvu in my opinion. Always disliked dogs. Don't understand why dog owners think it's ok to let their dogs come near people they don't know. If it's people coming to your house for work then the dog should be put away. If it is people coming socially then you just shouldn't invite people who don't like dogs if it really bothers you

Medievalist
A nervous and anxious dog especially needs the reassurance that someone else has taken on responsibility for the pack.

Sorry but there was an incident outside a shop today where a little girl & her dad walking in front of me and my son were trying to walk along the path when some man's "playful friendly" dog jumped up at the poor girl and she was so frightened she fell backwards in to my son almost putting him to the floor - no apologies from the dick head dog owner just a 'he's friendly he means no harm!' He's lucky it wasn't my son the dog had jumped at otherwise I'd given the prick a piece of my mind. Fucks me RIGHT OFF when people do not control their animals and act like you're some kind of monster because you don't like being jumped at /barked at by a strange dog.
So in summary YABVVVVVU . HTH.

Mathanxiety - you don't know my dog. If you did you'd know how ridiculous it is to suggest that she has taken on responsibility for our pack.

mathanxiety you are being rediculous and presumptive. A dog barking puts burglars off breaking in. This is desirable behaviour, especially in a high burglary area. It's silly to say that a dog will bark once someone is breaking in: that's too late.

Can you get your dog to sit and stay sitting, for as long as the time you say?

If not, YABU.

Jumping up is never acceptable. It is what puppies/young dogs do because they want to be near the face, but they need to be consistently told it is not liked and to keep paws on floor. What if a frail old person came round?

Discipline is hard work, because it is love and constant attention. It is much easier and rather narcissistic to avoid doing it.

ScreamingLadySutch - I don't think the op has said her dog jumps up.

He barks when someone comes to the door. Then stops after a few seconds.

He does approach people. But Labradors are extremely friendly dogs and do like to say hello.

We haven't been told that he jumps up.

No, the OP didn't say that her dog jumps up. I don't think she did herself any favours by saying, 'He's the daftest dog you'd ever meet.' That led to posters assuming that he jumps up. But no, there's nothing to suggest that in the OP.

Sadly, the OP hasn't come back to answer some of these questions.

Some of the assumptions people are making on this thread are astounding. By 'daft' the op may have meant soppy, soft, playful, rather than that he jumps. I've got a very daft dog. He doesn't jump up.

Of course the op hasn't come back - why would she?!

Again, Medievalist, a dog can be trained not to bark when the doorbell rings while still being free to bark if he senses someone poking around in the bushes or when he hears a window or door being interfered with.

The OP's dog is apparently 'playful', 'daft' and tends to have the anxious/aggressive response when people come to the door.

People have 'winced when he comes near them'.

People have asked the OP to put him in another room when they are at her home for whatever service they are paying her for.

For some reason, the OP is happy to pander to the clients' unreasonable demand to put him away for the duration of their session with her.

I think we can infer that this dog makes a thoroughgoing nuisance of himself.

A dog barking puts burglars off breaking in

You have no idea if your dog's barking has put anyone off breaking in. It's really silly to assume that there are burglars prowling every street and only for the barking would you be targeted.

All you can actually be sure of is that your neighbours are cursing you and your dog.

www.labradortraininghq.com/infobites/why-do-dogs-bark-at-the-doorbell/
A short training video is included here.
Work on your more dominant dog if you have more than one.

Seriously, I adore my dog and put her happiness well ahead of most of my visitors'
However .... she sits quietly before I open a door (Thank you, sit and wait being the key words here) and she then waits until/if invited to greet people only if they 'coo' at her.
Take your dog to obedience class and solve this problem - you will BOTH be much happier.

I have a friend like you. She thinks I dont like dogs. I dont like her dog because she hasn't trained it not to be a yappy jumpy pain in the arse.

She understood how her young children were wary of dogs before she got it but was pissed off when her young children's school told her not to bring her yappy jumpy pain in the arse to the school gates.

*A dog barking puts burglars off breaking in

You have no idea if your dog's barking has put anyone off breaking in. It's really silly to assume that there are burglars prowling every street and only for the barking would you be targeted.*

I live in London. There are regular burglaries. Many of my neighbours have been burgled. The publicly available local crime statistics show a huge amount of local burglaries. The police have dropped leaflets through my door more than once to say my neighbours have been burgled, and to be aware. Yes there are many burglars, I can say that confidently.

There has been research done, and a noisy dog is an excellent burglar deterrent. Anecdotally, I haven't been burgled, when my neighbours have been. I don't have a burglar alarm, just a dog.

mathanxiety To use your own words, I think you are being very silly to make incorrect assertions, to try to justify your opinion

As you admit, that is an anecdote.

Regardless of your burglar-to-honest-caller ratio, you can still train your dog to stop barking and making a nuisance of himself when the doorbell rings. They will still bark in case of attempted burglary unless the burglar rings the doorbell.

It is desirable both from the dog's pov and from the pov of the people at your door to have a dog who knows how to behave when normal everyday sounds interrupt him.

It is anecdote, but is also backed up by research. Training a dog to not bark for the doorbell but bark for burglars is pointless. A dog cannot tell difference.

Burglars often ring the doorbell first to check if anyone is in (then offer to clean windows, or another ruse). A dog barking in this situation is a very good deterrent.

Waiting for them to brake in is far too late. I don't want damage to my property

'A dog cannot tell the difference'
Isn't that kind of the point of people's annoyance?

A dog can actually tell the difference if trained. You can condition dogs to sound. You can train them to ignore a doorbell. They could accompany you to the door and be just as much of a deterrent.

I can't stand dogs! And owners who think that you must love them as much are being dicks. Dogs have no boundaries.

I particularly dislike them: leaping up at me, licking me, sniffing at my foof, barking, whining, putting their nose in my bag, licking my feet, having a wet nose, wet toys, and all the slobber and hairs everywhere.

To add to that, I can't cope with the smelly shit, bad breath, stinky fur, farts, burps, and the smell of their food. The stench of a house with a dog in makes me want to vomit.

If that wasn't enough, they're either noisily barking, whining, chewing bones, lapping up water or licking their bums. Yuk yuk yuk!

Seriously, in my opinion, there is nothing pleasant about dogs.

Okay, we get that you don't like dogs, @gokartdillydilly but do you have to be so rude about it? There's a very irritating type of dog hater who is always looking to rile dog lovers on these threads. Pot and kettle spring to mind when you refer to some dog lovers as 'dicks', i think.

I'm not a particular dog lover, but I have nothing against them either. (I just don't want the commitment of owning one.)

What about guide dogs? Even you must agree that there's something 'pleasant' about them.

mathanxiety As I said before, burglars often ring doorbells. I am not always home. A dog does not know if the person ringing the doorbell is a burglar or not, no matter how well trained they are.

I don't hate dogs, I'd never gave one though

And I'd be wary about visiting a house that has dogs, because I don't want to be barked at, slobbered on and leave with dog hairs on me (DD is allergic to most dogs too)

Another case of the OP being told 'YABU' and never returning!