Dog V Postman

CB19Kevo

Small terrier is terrorising our postman,Non stop barking once he gets within 3 doors of our property.
Clearly it should not have been allowed to begin at all but the dog is now 1.5 years old and still the same issues.

Any thing that can be done.

Mrs Garth Brooks

Think I read something before that you're meant to ask the postman into the house.

The dog barks at the postman (intruder). The postman, being a postman, comes and then leaves. But the dog thinks that he scared the postman off. Thats the dog's job done. So he barks at him every day.

So by inviting the postman in or having a chat, the dog sees that postman isn't a threat to you.

If the postman is hot, go for it and invite him in.

aonb

Our younger dog really disliked our postman initially - saw him as an intruder & hackles up immediately/barking etc. (same for anyone arriving at the house - protection mode)
So I started watching for the postman (he arrives in a van/v.rural area so we could hear him coming)
First 2/3 days I put dog on the leash, and went and had a few words with the postman (v.nice man) - calling hello from the house as we walked up to the gate. Gave dog little treats from pocket while chatting.

After 2/3 days, let dog out without leash when postman arrived - barking but not aggressive - called him back with a treat, and collected mail from postman, another treat or two. Problem solved v.quickly. The dogs will always bark when the postman/any car arrives at the gate, but its not aggressive & just letting me know theres someone there type bark.

(unfortunately our postman is NOT hot!!! )

ABajaninCork

I've often wondered about this too. My dog can hear the postman from the bottom of the estate. If he's upstairs, then he races to the window to 'see off the intruder who dares to pass his house'. If the postman passes our house, he doesn't bark. But if there is post, then he goes crazy mad barking!

On the occasions the postie has to ring the bell, the dog's out to greet him with mad wagging tail and smiley face :rolleyes:. It's the same if we meet the postman on his rounds whilst we're out for a walk. I'm at a loss to know why that is...

aonb

ABajaninCork wrote: »

I've often wondered about this too. My dog can hear the postman from the bottom of the estate. If he's upstairs, then he races to the window to 'see off the intruder who dares to pass his house'. If the postman passes our house, he doesn't bark. But if there is post, then he goes crazy mad barking!

On the occasions the postie has to ring the bell, the dog's out to greet him with mad wagging tail and smiley face :rolleyes:. It's the same if we meet the postman on his rounds whilst we're out for a walk. I'm at a loss to know why that is...

Thats so cute!! and so typical of a terrier too I guess!

I guess it could be the 'will he stop/wont he stop' excitement - but anyone that comes to our door/gate invokes intruder-mode - I never stop my dogs barking when someone comes to the (closed)gate. Once I see who it is, I immediately tell the dogs 'its ok', and they can stop barking/protecting their house.

Pretzill

Our dogs are more likely to go into protect mode (we're barking like mad here) when someone calls to the front door. Traditionally most known callers go to the back door and it's more of a yippie we're happy to see you bark.

The postman gets the former but I always thought it was because he's putting his hand into the letterbox. If they meet him outside they're all happy and waggy. I have tried to stop the younger two from agressively stealing the mail - a sort of leave it command - good dogs reward it works but they need to be reminded everyday and our postie doesn't keep regular times so it's hard to get them to stop.

rubyru

We moved from an estate into a rural area where the postman arrives in a van and my 3 had started going nuts. I was just getting them out of it and it and one day a new postman arrived and I caught him tormenting the dogs by flicking the post at them. He had a bit of a shock when I told him I'd recorded him.

Now I'm back to square one with the dogs going nuts :-/

Graces7

postlady here manages to access the mailbox without leaving her van while my dogs, safe indoors, tell me she is here.

solargain

Here in the country she has dog nuts & they wait for her every day for a nut each

wotzgoingon

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

If the postman is hot, go for it and invite him in.

Haha! Good one.

SparkySpitfire

Speaking of the postman/FedEx man.... Lads yous have to see this one:



*No postmen or dogs were hurt in the course of this gif

clare82

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here OP but we have a similar problem here with two Jack Russell terriers. If they happen to be inside the sitting room in the evening and someone, almost always unexpected, rings the doorbell they go nuts barking and try to run out to the front door. The thing is that in all the chaos they end up attacking each other. So far all we try to do is beat them to sitting room door so we can answer it...or separate them which is usually a job cos by this stage they've started going for each other. The real worry is that one of them has a tendency to nip at ankles and can't be trusted. Both of them are likely to bolt out the door too which is potentially lethal cos we live in an estate and they've no experience with cars cos they're inside all the time. I've suggested disconnecting the bell and leaving a note to call the house number....not sure if that would stop anything but I'm desperate at this stage!

dkod

I keep my 2 yorkies crates in the hall and they go into bed before I open the door. Pet planet have crates very cheap.hth

Mark Tapley

My dog loves everyone (not great in a guard dog) . She waits for the post woman and sings her a little song(husky cross). Post woman is delighted and I often hear them having a chat. Skye can't actually talk (I'm not mental) but she does vocalise a lot.

DBB

clare82 wrote: »

Hope you don't mind if I jump in here OP but we have a similar problem here with two Jack Russell terriers. If they happen to be inside the sitting room in the evening and someone, almost always unexpected, rings the doorbell they go nuts barking and try to run out to the front door. The thing is that in all the chaos they end up attacking each other. ....not sure if that would stop anything but I'm desperate at this stage!

Hi Clare82,
The answer to your problem lies in the post that follows it!

dkod wrote: »

I keep my 2 yorkies crates in the hall and they go into bed before I open the door. Pet planet have crates very cheap.hth

The problem at the moment is that your dogs have learned that every time the doorbell rings, several things happen. First of all, one of you gets up to answer the door... this in itself is enough to get a dog going. Secondly, you open the door and there's a damn stranger there, trying to infiltrate your defenses and trying to do you terrible harm
Thirdly, the interchange between you and the visitor might be excited and happy, which winds the dogs up even more, and oh no! The intruder might even come into the house at this stage! And that might be scary, or more often than not, it's great oul crack greeting a new person, as they smell interesting, they might give the dogs loads of attention.
Or, it could be that the person is just handing you something and walking away again, in which case, the dogs' barking and shouting have worked to make the intruder go away.
When dogs get really excited but can't get direct or immediate access to the thing that's exciting them, they will get frustrated, and frustrated dogs are very likely to redirect their frustration onto the nearest dog. Or ankle, for that matter. Terriers are utter demons for redirecting aggression in this way, as they tend to be pretty fiery and reactive to sounds and sudden movements.

So, what dkod has done is to teach their dogs an alternative, and more acceptable behaviour. But I'd be pretty sure he/she did not wait for a person to call to the door before attempting to teach this to their dogs. More likely, in a nice, quiet setting, they taught their dogs to get into the crates on command, using food lures, praise, and practising every day, a number of times every day, until their dogs were pretty good at going into their crates on cue.
Then, the doorbell is rung by a stooge (there are remote-controlled doorbells available which are very handy for this). But nobody does anything. No reaction, no going to answer the door, nothing. Once the dogs calm down, the usual command to go into their crates is given. It will take a while for them to calm the first number of times, because they have a history of reacting... however, your own lack of reaction will almost certainly make them rush to the door, then turn around and say "uuhhh... why aren't you coming too?"!
And this is practised many times, so that the doorbell ringing itself becomes a cue to tell the dogs to go into their crates.
In other words, you practise this like mad so that when it happens for real, you and your dogs are ready for it.
I would be inclined to disconnect the doorbell unless you're training, with a view to re-connecting it when the training has progressed: it won;t help your training if the doorbell goes off before the dogs have been sufficiently trained how to react when it happens.
You don't have to get your dogs to go into crates, they can be taught to go into their beds, or to sit inside the doorway. However, the crate is handy, because it means the dogs remain under 100% control whilst your visitor comes in and settles down... handy for people who aren't that crazy about having a wall of terriers greeting them a little too enthusiastically! It also means your dogs can't run out the door by accident. The crates don't have to be in the hallway either, my own dogs automatically go into the sitting room when there's a knock on the door.
Good luck! This sort of training is good fun, so I hope you enjoy it!

clare82

Thanks for the replies ;-) crates are not really an option but yea I think we could try the ring the doorbell but don't react trick. I think it could be successful as there's been times in the past when a doorbell has gone off on the TV and they've pricked up their ears etc but because we didn't budge they calmed down. Will try it this week.

Graces7

clare82 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies ;-) crates are not really an option but yea I think we could try the ring the doorbell but don't react trick. I think it could be successful as there's been times in the past when a doorbell has gone off on the TV and they've pricked up their ears etc but because we didn't budge they calmed down. Will try it this week.

usually when my two hear a car they bark loud and long, but this week since the accident have been less able to get downstairs fast and the barking was much less because i made no response. stopped sooner too.