Is there any way to stop door barking?

[WetRainbowRoses]

Im quite sensitive to noise and loathe barking and have no clue how to fix this.

I have a chihuahua, yes, I know, a famously barky breed.

He is actually generally pretty quiet.
He doesnt bark at noises like other dogs barking, fireworks, cars, the wind etc, nor does he bark when the doorbell goes, nor if I stay in the room with him while DH answers the door nor if I pick him up and carry him with me to the door.

But if I’m on my own and the door goes and I answer it he will erupt barking.
Not just one or two barks.
A string of deep (not yappy) barks.
Usually when the delivery person (or whoever it is) starts talking.
It makes no difference whatsoever whether he can see the person or not.
Unless I’m literally holding him he barks and barks and barks until they go.
He completely ignores me when I tell him to shut up and whilst I could just carry him with me each time the door goes that wouldn’t be terribly practical because 9 times out of 10 it’s a delivery driver and I need my arms free to accept the packages.

Is there anything at all I can actually do to stop this, it’s incredibly irritating.

You need to desensitise him to the sound of the door.

So, either get a friend to help by standing and knocking, or use door knocking sounds online. Play the noise and let him bark. As soon as he's quiet for more than a second or two, say "quiet" and reward him.

Eventually, you'll be able to play the sound of the knock and his reaction will be to look at you for his reward rather than barking. You could also train him to go to his bed or a certain room of the house when he hears the door go.

Telling him to be quiet/shut up will not help - he doesn't know what those words mean and when you start (to him) barking/shouting along - he'll think it's the best game ever

It is hard. I have a vocal breed too. He does understand "quiet" but I have to catch him at the right moment, lol.

There's some good advice on this on the FB group Dog Training Advice and Support (the original genuine one). But it boils down to what @fairylightsandwaxmelts sayd. STill working on it with ours.

You need to desensitise him to the sound of the door
I’ve already done this since puppyhood!
He is fine with the bell ringing/door knocking, it’s when the person who is at the door starts talking that he starts barking.
And only when I’m alone, if I stay in the room with him and DH answers the door, he’s fine.

My mum's dog is 8 and still does this. She has a front porch so she leaves him to shout his head off at the living room window whilst she closes the door and goes into the porch to answer the door.

I doubt you will be able to desensitise him to the door bell BUT what you can do is train a different behaviour when he hears the door bell.

Put a mat on the floor get someone to ring door bell put treat on mat. Do this over and over again. Your dog will hear the door bell and run to the mat. He may still bark to start with dont worrry about that as time goes on and he anticipates the treat on the mat for the doorbell sound he will run to the doorbell and eat the treat. Many dogs (not all!) find it hard to eat and bark.....

Move the mat further away from the doorbell as he gets better at this so you can then open the door whilst your dog is ocupied on the mat.

Dogs love this game

Also if it is the talking that gets him barking when you are on your own just say the greetings you say at the door eg Hi, how are you, morning etc. Say it in the same cheery voice and your dog will probably bark. So add this onto the mat game

Doorbell rings treat on mat, say you happy greeting and more treats appear on the mat.

While I'm sure there are plenty of ways to train out of this, I was reading the other day about someone who trained their dog to take a toy to the door when it went. Because they had to carry the toy it stopped them barking. Genius.

Also if it is the talking that gets him barking when you are on your own just say the greetings you say at the door eg Hi, how are you, morning etc. Say it in the same cheery voice and your dog will probably bark

Unfortunately, it doesn’t tend to start until the other person speaks which makes it nigh on impossible to do anything.

So, say the bell rings, he’s absolutely fine, I open the door, still fine, it’s a delivery person and I pick up the parcels, still fine then I say ‘thanks!’ and the person leaves without speaking - 90% of the time he’s fine and quiet.
May occasionally slip out one small bark but generally he’s fine.
But, say I open the door and the delivery person says for example ‘parcel for you’ that’s it, he’ll start barking.

Some chihuahuas have no idea that they are not guard or hunting dogs. He might well be defending you. Have you tried popping him on his lead when you answer the door?

Is it absolutely the hugest problem in the world? Unless you're receiving 10 parcels a day

He might well be defending you
He’s a bit shy, definitely no fighter!
I suspect he is scared of the ‘intruders’ and can’t cope when I’m not right there with him given he is fine when I am holding him or in the room with him when DH answers.

Is it absolutely the hugest problem in the world?
No, but it’s extremely annoying and I don’t like the thought of people seeing him barking at them and probably thinking things of him that just aren’t true, that he’s a nasty, aggressive, barky dog when he is in fact quite a shy and very gentle submissive little boy and not nasty at all.
I’d like to find some way of stopping him doing it.

Can you put him in another room when you open the door

Hardly a big problem. He appears to be quieter than most dogs. Just close the door quickly before they get a chance to speak