My Dog Goes Crazy When the Delivery Truck Arrives!
This issue’s training tip is contributed by dog trainer Dana Shulman CPDT-KA, who is a dog lover, dog sports enthusiast, and rescuer, which led her to enroll dogs with AKC Canine Partners. In her adult life, she has picked up many a lost dog from the side of the road. This has led to working with a lot of different breeds, mixed breeds, personalities and eventually, to a second career in her first love, training dogs and their people! In this article, Dana addresses a common issue for all dog owners – how to handle the arrival of delivery drivers!
In my dog training classes, I often get questions about how to get dogs to stop barking excessively and jumping at the door when delivery drivers show up. This is normal dog behavior, and when we look at it from the canine perspective, it’s easy to understand and turn around. One of the jobs dogs create for themselves is protector of the castle. In their minds, these delivery drivers are intruders and must be kept from entering, and in almost every home, dogs have a 100% success rate. To their credit, as they see it, no delivery driver has ever made it inside, so it becomes a very self-rewarding behavior. Simple to them: intruder shows up, tries to gain entry, dog barks, intruder retreats and leaves the premises.
There are a couple ways to set your dog up for success here. Often, we realize there is a delivery driver approaching. We don’t get up because we know he will come and go. In your dog’s mind, this leaves them to handle a situation that they don’t fully understand. It’s important to verbally acknowledge when our dogs are barking, even if we aren’t sure why. Remember their hearing and sense of smell is far better than ours. Get up and ask a simple “what do you hear?” Ask them to sit or wait while you check things out. It’s important that they wait while you check things out, so they see you are handling the situation. Look out the window, front door, back door, whatever area is causing them concern. If you don’t find anything but they have waited in a calmer way, tell them what a good job they have done and give them praise or even a treat. If a delivery driver has come and gone, I allow my dogs to sniff the package as a reward, and they seem to relish that.
In this way, you are working in partnership with your dog, rather than leaving them to make decisions about a situation they don’t fully understand. Dealing with delivery drivers becomes a joint effort. Your canine partner will learn to come get you rather than taking matters into their own paws.
Dana teaches group classes, from Puppies to Distraction Proofing and a few things in between, and also, volunteers with a nationwide rescue. Her training philosophy is opening the lines of communication between Handler and Dog so that each may understand what the other is asking. Dana believes anything is possible with positivity, patience, and consistency. She currently shares her North Carolina home with one husband and five dogs who compete in a variety of dog sports.