If your dog barks like mad every time someone comes to the door, or walks past your house, then you may be dreading Halloween. I know that I used to!
I’ve even been known to put a “TRICK & TREATERS NOT WELCOME” sign on my door, because dealing with Sam’s barking, stress and anxiety was just too much to cope with.
But... let's flip this on it's head for just a moment, because you can turn what could be a stressful night (few nights) into a perfect training opportunity with a different mindset, just a little thought and a bucket load of patience!
Here’s how to use unsuspecting trick or treaters to teach your dog how to behave when people come to the door.
Start now… don’t wait until ghosts and witches and ET’s start knocking on your door on the 30th!
Keep a bucket of your dogs most favourite treats by the door, or somewhere handy.
1. 3 or 4 times a day for a few days, randomly jump up whilst saying “Trick or Treaters!” And rush towards your dog’s bed and scatter a GENEROUS handful of treats in their bed.
2. After a few days, jump up and call out “Trick or Treaters!” And see what your dog does. If you’ve been doing this with loads of fun and enthusiasm and rewarding GENEROUSLY there’s a very strong chance that your dog will rush to their bed in anticipation of their reward.
If they do this? Tell them how amazing they are and give them a big JACKPOT of treats!! If they didn’t, go back to step 2 for a few repetitions and then try and again.
3. Once they are rushing to their bed every time you leap up calling out ’Trick or Treaters!’, then start to wait for a couple of seconds before rewarding them and then after 3 or 4 successful repetitions, wait a couple of more seconds, and slowly, slowly build up the time between your dog rushing to their bed and their reward appearing.
Don’t rush this stage, reward generously when they get it right and ALWAYS reward them when they are ON their bed.
4. Now you need to add in the sound of the door knocking or your door bell. When your dog can see you, gently knock on your door (the inside works fine), then call out ‘Trick or Treat’ and reward him for running to his bed. If this was too difficult, then try again and knock more gently. Slowly increase the intensity of the knock.
5. The next step is to knock when he’s not looking, call ‘Trick or Treat’ and reward his amazing decision to rush to his bed.
6. Then get someone else to knock on the outside of the door… and watch him fly to his bed!
And if trick and treaters are just too much and your dog is worried… then that’s ok.
Halloween just isn’t for him - leave a bucket of treats at the end of the drive saying “My dog is worried by ghosts and ghouls, please help yourself” and snuggle up on the sofa!
That’s what Sam & I will be doing!
