People are 'afraid' to knock on the door?

Kuma123

As you all know, I have AA's and a little Schnauzer mix. I have a question:
Do your dogs go NUTS when someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell? If so, how do you react and how do your visitors act/react?

I have had 2 people tell me this week that they are 'afraid' to knock on my door because it sounds like the dogs are 'going to kill me' or 'going to eat me' and, this one is irritating, "How do you live with THOSE dogs? They're awful." One person actually ran to their vehicle and was back in the truck by the time I got downstairs and opened the door.

Needless to say these are not family or close friends so they do not know my dogs much. I would not be saddened if they never came back.... that probably sounds terrible lol

How do your dogs react when someone knocks on the door and how do you handle it?
What are your thoughts?

*When someone comes over and knocks the dogs DO go nuts barking but once I answer the door and reassure the dogs' that everything is fine then they calm down and get happy and playful or they go lay down in their "safe" place if they are unsure of the person. My dogs are not aggressive, have not bitten, and have shown no signs of anything that would concern me... they are just doing what they do "Hey, Mom!!! Someone is at the door!!!" lol. It stops as soon as they see that all is fine. I am not concerned with the behavior, the trainer is not concerned.

Also, just so you know, one of the people has a small dog and no other dogs and the other person has a Lab mix, another unknown mix and a terrier. Just to let you know the dogs they have current/recent experience.

Saya

Some people can be just odd..

Could be due to you having an akita as there is such a bad rep over them. Not saying yours bad it's just to most public eye they're dangerous. It's sad.

Bella my mom's white boxer some people will avoid her. Once at a park a girl was petting Bella and being licked on the face by Bella a boy wanted to pet Bella his mom goes and grabs his arm and takes him and tells him don't pet that dog it's a pit bull..

One she is a boxer and if your going to mistake her for some other breed then mistake her for an American bulldog.. I find American bull dog and white boxers have more common in looks due to the white except boxers has docked tail..

I don't get too many neighbor's knocking or ringing my door bell since I'm sorta out in the country and neighbors I do have don't care to talk much unless they need something which isn't often.

If someone is at the door they do get excited and run up stairs, but they don't bark unless they keep knocking the door too much..

I'm not sure how to help maybe train them to where the dogs go to a mat when they hear the door bell?

Be kinda hard since the excitement of someone at the door.

Have you explained your dogs are just alerting you of someone at the door not vicious dogs?

Bella my mom's boxer is main one who barks at people at the door.

*JackBurton*

Well sounds to me like they are doing their jobs. If somebody tries to enter the property without permission then heaven help them. Kaede barks like that at some people, but she is quite nice to people she knows.

I wouldn't change a thing.

Kuma123

@Saya, thank you for the input! I know how people can be about breeds so I'm not surprised that people respond to your moms dog that way =(
Yes, I've explained it to everyone I know. The dogs are just doing what they do and alerting me....

@JackBurton, Thank you. That is how I feel, too. I do not see anything wrong with their behavior when someone knocks. It actually gives me a sense of security... I know that no one can get into my house without me knowing it lol They only bark when something is going on (someone at the door, strange dog in the yard, etc.) so when the Akita's bark- I listen and go see what has them riled up.

sjp051993

The fed-ex and UPS guys no longer knock on my door. They swear I have 100 pound attack dogs inside instead of 35 pound kai. Even when they actually saw the dogs, they swore I had the attack dogs hidden.

Kuma123

@sjp051993, that is too funny! The UPS/Fedex people don't knock or ring the bell here anymore either lol

cezieg

@Kuma123 They sounds like perfectly normal dogs to me, in fact that's what I would WANT my dogs to be doing when strangers come up to the house. If someone heard barking from my house and that worried them enough to be leaving... there's a good chance they showed up for the wrong reasons :P

@sjp051993 LOL When Ren does her loud alert bark it sounds like a dog at least three times her size it's pretty impressive!

jellyfish

ONE TIME..... Toki did NOT bark at a stranger at the door. Just once. He guess she met his rigorous standards before even ringing the door bell.

Toki has this really long, drawn out yell/bark/howl whenever there is someone at the door. So I've learned the difference between his "i think someone might be up to no good somewhere in the world" barks and his "this person has a rocket launcher and is going to kill us at our front door" barks.


I really, really, really want to either find or make a meme that says something like "this is what I see: an UPS man with my package....this is what my dog sees: rabid zombie infected bin laden terrorist with a trident and rocket launcher to blow us to smithereens with his bear hands, and inside the package is obviously a portal to a conglomerate hell compromised of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights and Dante's Inferno"

Kuma123

@Cezieg, that's what I thought! I like it and it gives me that sense of security and comfort. I see nothing wrong with their behavior. They only bark when there is a reason (unlike the neighbors dogs that bark 24 hours a day..... everyday!!! So annoying. It is the neighbors across the street and they have 3 dogs and they are NEVER quiet!!!!) and I am perfectly ok with my dogs alerting me. I wanted to check with all of you to see how you felt about it or experienced this, too.

@jellyfart, LOLOLOL That is hilarious! True but so funny!

JessicaRabbit

My dogs bark, a lot. When I know someone is coming over, I warn them that they will hear a lot of barking, and then see a lot of wiggling and kisses.
My UPS guy and mailman LOVE my dogs though. The mailman makes a pointe of getting out of his truck to come pet and kiss the dogs. The UPS guy let's Ruby hop in his truck to say high when he stops by.
Considering my husband travels a lot and I am alone in the house often, I am more than happy to have people be a tad unnerved by my roaring beasts. They don't need to know that I am the scariest being in the house, followed by one of my cats....

CarabooA

Yeah, I want my dogs to alert me too. I also want them to sound big and ferocious so that maybe the wrong person IS deterred from trying to come into my home.
However, I do want (when I say "thank you, ok") for them to then stop the barking (still be on alert) so that I can see who actually is there - and then get my pistol if need be, haHA!! :oD Luckily I've never had to do the latter and hopefully never will, lol

Kuma123

I am glad to know you all feel the same as I do. @CarabooA and JessicaRabbit, LOL I have the same thoughts: If someone were coming here for the wrong reasons they should definitely be more afraid of me than my dogs haha

WrylyBrindle

I'm getting Jessica a shirt that says "don't MESS with JESS!"

ttddinh

I like it when my dogs bark when there is someone at the door, maybe u should let them know its to deter bad guys

shibamistress

No one can knock on our door, because we have a fence around the entire place and the dogs are in the yard (if they're out) so this kind of thing happens at the gate. Sometimes people are surprised: they see Bel barking (and Leo wiggling with delight: a person! a person!) and they think, oh, cute dogs (though honestly, Bel the crazy Shiba is probably most likely to bite). That is because they don't see the 110 pound Akita on the deck, watching. When he hits the fence though, most people back away.

Once a guy did come in the yard, though. The dogs were in. It was a process server. The front of our house is all windows so he could see Oskar going nuts, and when my husband opened the door, Oskar lunged at him. (Oskar has a strong sense of propriety. No one we don't know EVER knocks at the door, so I'm sure Oskar thought this was the worst kind of trespass!) The guy dropped papers and yelped. He asked if Oskar would bite and my husband said yes (though I don't know if he would or wouldn't, but why tell the process server that?). Later the guy had to come back as apparently the subpoena had to me delivered only to me. He stood at the gate and yelled, though no dogs were out. When I went out, he said "that is the scariest dog I've ever seen. he looked like a bear."

I just laughed and thought, ha, you've never seen a CO have you? Just think if he'd seen Brad's Lutiyi!

But to show how Oskar really is, yesterday I was talking to our across the street neighbor who said how much she loves Oskar. She said he barks at her everytime, but she tells him "good boy" since as she said it's his job, and when she says "good boy" he wiggles his butt and wags his tail like a puppy!

BradA1878

lol... good boy Oskar. )

PoetikDragon

I visited @brada1878 and when his giant monster of a "dog" came charging at the house, leaped at the kitchen window, planted all four paws on it and bounced off the wall.... well that was scary!

In retrospect he looked like a mountain goat though.

Kuma123

@poeticdragon, LOL I bet that was a bit scary!