Dog highly reactive to the door

[Delatron]

I am just waiting for the behaviourist to get back to me (but she’s very booked up)

Just wanted to ask some advice on here in the meantime.

Dog (lab) has always been reactive to the doorbell. He gets hugely over excited, jumps up, mouths, barks. I was working with a behaviourist on other issues (resource guarding/growling in the evening) so we only touched upon this.

It has escalated in the last few nights and last night he ripped my jumper and bit my arm. Broke the skin slightly. This hasn’t happened before and I’m at a loss to know why this has escalated.

Her previous suggestions were to desensitise by knocking randomly in the day and playing the doorbell quietly. This wasn’t working as he still goes crazy then I have to deal with that so we haven’t been practicing.

I don’t know how to desensitise him whilst keeping him under his threshold and quite frankly I’m scared now.

I’m in management mode so will stick a note on the door to say nobody knocks and visitors come through the garden at the back (he is fine with this).
I will keep him shut in the kitchen in the evening so if anyone does knock, there’s a door between us.

Anybody had any success with this? We are off to the vets on Friday so will get him checked over but I don’t think it’s pain. Redirected aggression through over excitement? My huge concern is that I thought he had good bite inhibition and last night showed he does not. Though it wasn’t a bad bite but still broke skin.?

It’s me he runs to when the doorbell goes, not kids
or husband. I turn my back and try and lift my arms out of the way. Maybe this isn’t helping?

Firstly, are you okay? Do you need medical attention of any kind if he managed to break the skin?

Generally the advice is desensitisation - can you keep him on the lead and get someone to ring the doorbell so he can't jump and mouth and leap around all over the place? If he barks, ignore him completely and praise him when he's quiet.

If he knows the "speak" and "quiet" commands then you can use those in the above situation too.

Thanks @cupsofcoffee I used an antiseptic wipe and it’s more of a graze. I’ll keep an eye on it though.

I will practice that with my DH. My worry is that even if he is on a lead he can still jump and bite the person holding him. But maybe the lead will make him focus on who is at the door more and we keep practicing. Everything I’ve read online says the same. To keep on a lead and ring the bell.

I’m too scared to do it now as my DH is in hospital for a week having an op. We’ll start when he gets back. Thank you.

I wouldn't advise starting it yet anyway - give him (and you) time to decompress from what happened. I would also disconnect the doorbell and ask people to come round the back (like you have been doing) just to give both of you a break from the situation.

I hope your DH is okay as well.

Labradors are strong dogs and can have strong mouths. I do suspect his bite was redirected fear/reactivity rather than full-on aggression, though.

Thanks. We’ll try and have destressing week!
I’ll pop a note on the door and the doorbell is broken anyway. I’ve stopped booking supermarket deliveries for the evening as that is a trigger.

He’s quite a reactive/fearful dog in general so we have lots of work to do.

And thanks for the wishes for my DH. He should be out on Saturday and able to help with training in a week or two.

Buy a new doorbell.

Press the new doorbell before it is fitted to the door.
Reward your dog with great treats. Personally I would reward in their bed.

Everytime you press the new doorbell sound put treats in their bed do this again and again and again.

Whehn you dog happily goes to their bed at the sound of the doorbell you can begin to distance the doorbell by pressing it in another room, the dog should still go to their bed.

When this behaviour is ingrained then you can fit the new doorbell to your door.

In the meantime do not let your dog has access to the door when the door is opened, knocked at for the time being but put them a room with the door shut away from the front door.

Thanks @PollyRoulson I was thinking of getting a Ring doorbell. As when they’ve been advertised on tv he doesn’t react to the ring tone. So will do all that association work before we install.

He can’t normally access the front door as he is usually in the kitchen or lounge when someone knocks and there is a door in between. He tends to run for me though. Then I run through the utility to get to the front door and he then tries the lounge but can’t get through to the hallway and door.

We've had this too.

We were advised to record our doorbell and play it to him at a very low level from time to time and reward him every time. Gradually he started to associate the doorbell with good things, and we built up the volume.

Then we worked on sending him to bed or his crate when it went, and rewarding him there.

It has helped massively in changing his association with the noise.

Thanks @Whitepots this is what the behaviourist advised. I just couldn’t get the volume low enough for him to not react. Then she said start playing it out and about when he doesn’t expect it but I couldn’t face him going crazy on a walk.

I’ll need to go back to basics I think with all these things and somehow find a level that is below his threshold.

Hello,

Are you able to fit a baby gate to keep him away from the door until the behaviourist can advise? What jumped out at me from your post is that you say you are scared. I completely understand: we had the same issue (amongst many others!) with our collie x kelpie. He would bark, lunge and nip if people came to the door (it was if he was scared for us that there was a threat and wanted to protect us by keeping us in the house), or if one of us tried to leave.

He would be over threshold very quickly, so no way of giving him treats to reinforce good behaviour. We were also scared and dreaded the doorbell ringing.
We have been working with a behaviourist with him for a couple of months, and on this issue we want him to understand that the door is none of his business - therefore, he doesn't need to guard it. After all, how often does someone come to the door for your dog?

So, our dog is in the utility room behind a baby gate. He isn't allowed to roam where he wants as that leads to trouble. He is a herding dog, and he wanted to try and control who goes where, especially near doors. I'm not saying you need to be as strict as us, but if you can have a baby gate wherever the dog spends most time that might help. You are in charge of the door, and the dog doesn't need to be there! This way means that if we have visitors he is confined in one space and allowed out only when he is calm and sitting nicely.

Our gates came from argos and were the extra tall ones as collies have a lot of bounce!

Good luck with it.

Thanks @Flamerouge it’s interesting you say about ‘guarding’ the door. That could be what he is doing. He’s so over his threshold the minute someone knocks.

We do have a separate utility to the kitchen. Then the kitchen leads to the lounge then there’s another door to the hallway and front door. I think keeping him one area with baby gates would help. Especially when guests arrive.

I think it’s the random knocks that I am not anticipating!
Last night it worked well with him shut in the kitchen and me in the lounge. It’s a shame not to have him in the lounge with me but yes I’m scared of his reaction at the moment so seems the best idea to have him shut in a different room.

Thank you!

Yes, you don't need to do it for ever - just until you get control of the situation via a behaviourist or desensitisation. Our behaviourist explained that doors can be very stressful for dogs: part of their territory, but they have no idea what's going to happen or who will suddenly appear. They don't know what to expect. With our dog it's just easier for him this way: he is hopefully starting to understand that WE are in charge of the door and he doesn't need to worry about it or react to it. He is lots better now we have gates in place; he still will bark if he hears someone there, but he can't start jumping, nipping, etc. And he will calm down a lot quicker and he understands that if he wants to come and say hello to someone he needs to sit quietly and wait first.

Baby gates are also better than doors as your dog will still be able to see, hear and smell you, so they don't feel quite as separated from the pack.

How old is your dog, BTW?

It great to hear you’re making progress @Flamerouge

I think he would find a baby gate less stressful than a door, you are right. It’s definitely a territory thing too. But he doesn’t do it with the gate in the back garden. He barks but doesn’t get over excited and bite. I guess that’s because there’s no knocking/ringing at the back gate so it’s the association with the noise.

He’s 2 years and 4 months. We’ve had quite a few issues, he’s a fearful/ reactive dog in general. I thought labs were supposed to be easy! We’ve spent a fortune on training. Getting there with some things but it’s slow progress. Thanks for the tips.

It is slow progress, I agree. We've had a real struggle with our boy - you are not alone. If you search my other threads you'll see the problems I've had - and also some very good advice from this board. Our behaviourist has been a game-changer for us but we have had to re-set our entire relationship with the dog. We're all a lot happier for it, though.

Keep going and good luck.