New puppy barking at 'garden guests' since lockdown

[wanderwonderwanderwonder]

I have a ten month old terrier puppy. We had him since November and he has always been very friendly with guests in the house, hardly batting an eyelid. Since restrictions have lifted and we have been able to have guests in the garden once again, every time a new person comes in he will bark relentlessly at them for 15/20 minutes and again every time they stand/move etc... I have never experienced this with any of my past dogs and think it is really off-putting for guests. Any advice please?

Depends why he’s barking. Looking for attention? Scared?
Does he approach them, or bark for a distance? Do they guest interact with the puppy?

Get some treats handy, and when a guest enters ask them to get the dog to ‘sit’ and then reward.

I have been doing the treat thing!
I think he is very excited, he doesn't appear scared, he approaches them and yes guests interact. Not sure if this riles him up to become more excited and bark more!

I would distract

Personally I would give him the treats not the guests. If you encourage the guests to give him treats he will become more excited in seeing people and then may bark more. You want eventually him to focus on you when there are exciting/scary people around.

So treat him, if he can not stop barking increase the distance between you and the visitors( Chris Whitty will be pleased!) so that he can take the treats without being in a barky state.

I agree you need to be the one to treat, but only once he's quiet.

Could be he's unsure of strangers being in his garden so you need to work on teaching him to 'calm down' which is what I use with my dog if she barks at outside noises.

Choose your word and as soon as he's quiet, even if it's a takes a while, treat him and tell him good boy.