Your Dog’s Ding-Dong Drama
The busy holiday season is fast approaching! And while that means great food, fun, and happy memories, for many dog parents it might also represent their dog losing their mind every time the doorbell rings!
It’s one of the most common, yet untrained, K9 behaviors. Dogs overreacting to a ringing doorbell or someone knocking! So why do dogs everywhere lose their minds over doorbells or knocking?
It’s a complex combination of an initial trigger, protective instincts, excitement, anxiety, fear, or stress, and most importantly, learned responses from barking and the door opening! And to your dog, it’s mission accomplished!
Dogs and Doorbell Drama
· Strongly reacting to a ringing doorbell comes from a dog’s instinctual need to protect their territory and people.
· Once the trigger happens, dogs join in to alert their owners that something is happening. Much like a pack of wolves communicating and alerting other members through barking or howling.
· The sudden and startling doorbell sound also overwhelms a dog’s hypersensitive ears. Depending on the dog’s temperament, this often triggers an emotional response (depending on the dog’s temperament), such as:
o Fight-or-flight.
o Increased excitement, anxiety or stress; and
o A protective response.
· It’s also important to remember that your dog’s reaction to the doorbell is a learned response reinforced over time! Repeated exposure reinforces the dog’s automatic behavior. If the owner is excited, stressed, or overreacts, the dog learns even faster to overreact to the doorbell or knock.
Calming the Doorbell Drama!
The good news is that your dog can learn to stay calm! They can learn to associate positive experiences with the doorbell or knocking, rather than excitement or anxiety, through desensitization, counter-conditioning, and positive reinforcement, along with an owner’s calm behavior. Learn how to teach your dog to stay calm when the doorbell rings with the infographic below!
