Cockapoo reactive to visitors - help!

[tarapinn]

I am becoming more and more stressed about my 1 yr old cockapoo barking every time we have someone come to our house. He doesn't just do it on their arrival and then stop. He just will not stop for ages. He may settle eventually but if the visitor moves again (this might just be a hand movement or shift in the chair) or goes to get up he will start again.

Most people ignore him (at my request) whilst I click the clicker and reward every time he looks to me and not the visitor. I will also scatter treats away from the visitor so he gets rewarded but doesn't have the anxiety of moving towards the person.

I can't put him in another room as he just barks and whines and paws to be let out. (Yes he is v needy!!)

We have a busy house. I have 4 dc and friends pop in or kids parents pick their kids up and each time he is a barky nightmare. Obviously the visitors are more frequent as restrictions ease so I need to know how to stop this. I cannot imagine my stress levels if he continues to do this for the next 14 years!

I know he is anxious and I want to help him but am I doing it all wrong??

Sometimes what starts off as a nervous reaction can turn into a bad habit that we are accidentally reinforcing when we try tto deal with it!
Why do you think he is anxious? Are there other situations when he gets barky and what do you do to stop him then?
Do you have a crate and is your pup happy using one?
It is impossible to know what is really going on without seeing the the situation in person but I would hazard a guess that your pup is not scared but is getting over stimulated by visitors and is partly picking up on your frustration about the situation and also the fact he is getting treats in the mix at slightly random times which wil add to his excitement. This is pretty typical for young dogs.
What has worked for me and my hyper dog is using a crate with a chew distraction to keep him occupied for arrivals and departures. It's not a time for a pup to be charging about.
Same for when I am am chatting with my visitors, not time for pup to be dictating when they get to join in. It is for me to decide that, so i keep my pup in their crate to observe the situation and only release the pup to say hi and get attention when the energy level is low and calm.
You need to break the link between attention and interaction and high energy barky behaviour. Obviously a 1 year old dog is still very young so I would expect to keep working at this for quite a while and there will be a tendency towards getting too lively until quite a bit older and more sensible.
He is only 1 so you will definitely be able to fix this!

Thanks for your reply. He is definitely not hyper around visitors. He is anxious and nervy. He isn't crate trained unfortunately but is easily distracted with food so I may try a big bone for 'visitor' occasions.

I just want to have friends round for coffee without the barking 😖

He's still young, get advice from a trained behaviourist. They'll be able to help you and not make the situation worse!

You want a behaviourist - the barking at hand movements or getting up definitely sounds like it’s more fear based.

I’d also recommend a crate, it can be really good for anxious dogs.

But mostly, get help before it becomes a bigger problem.

You would really benefit from help from an APBC or CCAB accredited behaviourist

What happens if you meet the visitor a 5 min walk from your house, they give him some treats and you all enter together? That turned out to be the way my dog would let people in the house (he wasn't letting anyone across the threshold!)

This will not go away on its own but will more likely escalate.

I would get in a good qualified trainer (probably does not initially need a behaviourist)

The trainer should be looking at building a calm area and encouraging the dog to settle in this area and allowing the dog to build up confidence in their own time.

They should NOT be encouraging interaction with the visitor and shoudl NOT be encouraging the visitor to give the dogs treats.

My Snooppup is anxious and nervy around people he doesn’t know! Also a Cockapoo and yes he’s needy too 🙈. We’re getting a trainer in to help because of other problems as well. We’ve done everything wrong I fear!

SnoopDogisamenace do not blame yourself . Puppies come with a lot of baggage and a lot of "stuff" has gone on before you even get them.

Cockapoo's can be notoriously "needy"

The right thing to do is what you are doing now and getting in help

Definitely worth seeing a behaviourist. Also helps with lots of situations if you teach a settle command.

@PollyRoulson thanks for saying that. He’s never been left on his own either (he’s 7mths) because of this wretched lockdown! DH will be working at home permanently now and I don’t work (signed off due to ill-health) but I would like to be able to leave the house sometime 😂. I just keep telling myself that this is fixable 🤞

Thanks for all your thoughts.

I have today posted something on the Dog Training Advice & Support Facebook group in the hope that they accept my problem.

I just want to make sure what I do is right.

Snoop - I think we all have to believe things are fixable otherwise the next years will be very very tough 😓

And I'm sure you've done nothing wrong either. We tried so hard to do the right things with socialisation etc but look where we are now!