Our ten stone 'pup' has twice this week mouthed two visitors to the house, both are lads in their early 20's, friends of my son, neither are regular visitors, but are not bothered by the dogs, so don't show fear, I have found if I get hold of the Boerboels, i.e. hold them back, they get far more excitable and are more likely to get on their back legs and bark, ditto if I crate them with new visitors, this seems to exacerbate the problem, and makes them more determined to go find them and check them out, I use the word pup as at a year old, the breed is a log way from mature. Our usual routine with unfamiliar visitors is, put the dogs behind the gate, open the door, welcome and invite them in,tell them to ignore the dogs and walk past them with no interaction, and this is usually succesful, obviously they are a guard breed and doing their 'job' but it isn't something I want to become habit. I am using a long line with a prong as part of the OB training to correct lunging for when we are out off lead, but to be honest, when we are out of the house and garden, the problem doesn't occur, they show no interest in other people or their dogs away from the property, so I am assuming it is a territory issue?? We all follow the same protocol with visitors, and don't allow people to lark about with the dogs, once people are in the house and the first flush of excitement is over, the dogs walk away and show no more interest, I don't want them to welcome just anyone in, for obvious reasons, but equally I don't want this to escalate to the point of a proper bite, any advise would be much appreciated, thanks.

Hi Tracy, What type of obedience training are they getting for regular manners such as down, stay, place, etc? I personally would be working on putting the dogs on a down or stay and begin gradually adding distractions - people at the gate, the gate opening, then someone coming through the gate, etc... I would also have the dogs on a leash when people come in (while you are practicing this) so that you have a means of correcting them if they break the down. If they aren't vicious dogs, it could simply be a need for more regular, consistant training. Are they food motivated dogs? Marker training might be the perfect beginning!

Hi Barbara
We have been practising getting them to get back and stay away from the door, and we also apply this to feeding time, no sit/stay, no food, our trainer advised not to simply make them sit at the door, but to stay a distance away and not charge, the frustrating thing is the female got it straight away and just needs a 'uh uh' to remind her, and while she will shadow a visitor, it is with ears down and tail in the middle, satisfied that I am happy, she wanders off, the boy however has got to be the most oafish and clumsy dog I have had, and whilst he isn't aggressive, he is a big, heavy not-blessed-with-brains youngster, he is very food motivated and I do focus work one on one with him in the garden, and he is generally responsive, but I definately take your point about putting on a lead when people come to the door, as I said in my post this does seem to heighten his excitement, but you are right, I think I need to up my game on the OB, I don't want this ending up as an unsociable dog, he is far from fully grown and am aware that we as a family have a responsibility to people we invite into our home.

Thanks for your reply

The prong collar can increase excitement / agression in some dogs, so when working/training at home, they are simply on a regular collar and a leash to allow you to stop them from bolting toward the person if you have given a down command and the attempts to break it. I'm talking about during a training session to allow you to maintain control - not just putting on a collar when people come over. Being proactive and training for the situation instead of reacting to it when it happens is what is needed, IMHO.

I would recommend numerous short training sessions per day - just a few minutes long, on either the down or "place" (sending him somewhere specific). Use Marker Training since he is food driven, and while it is very simple to learn, there are specific techniques which make it effective, so I'd suggest reading all the free info on this site to that regard. After he is 100% dependable on the down/place command, then start adding minor distractions to the training sessions. As an example, someone ringing the doorbell but not coming in. (This is when having him on a leash will be helpful - if he gets up to go to the door, you can stop him.) After proofing on the doorbell for a week or so, then you would "up the ante" by then having a family member let someone in the house - while you are still in control of the dog... It is a prcess of training one command, then adding more and more distractions, to the point that if a guest comes over you should be able to send him to his place or put him on a down and have that person come in the house without the dog moving at all - unless you tell him to.

You will not be discouraging his protectiveness by doing this - simply teaching him that he has to obey you when people are around - period. The marker training will be all positive, no corrections at all, and will open the door to training any behavior you want to train.

I do regularly read and re-read the tons of free advice on the site and am always really grateful to Leerburg and people like yourself who are kind enough to take time to reply to this novice! We had a scenario this afternoon where I was able to practice the excersise, I checked him with his check chain, (obviously he didn't have his prong on as we weren't expecting anyone) I put him out of the room and onto his bed, told him 'wait' and then later brought him back into the room and he said hello then laid down, plus he didn't go to the door when our guest left, which is something else he feels he should do, it was all more calm and controlled. I am absolutely going to use marker training for him with this, a work in progress for sure!
thanks again

One thing with both our Bullmastiffs and the Rhodesian Ridgeback at that age was they got that teen attitude of knowing more than mom and testing their limits of what they should be responsible for. Once we reasserted our training and reminders with them they settled back into listening and trusting our judgement. It reared up a couple times til they were a bit over two years old.

It's funny you say that about the age thing, Kaiser's grandfather and Father were nearly 3 before they matured, and the BB's definately push their considerable weight about, I am so aware of peoples reaction to the size and presence and while WE know its mouthing and luck pushing, I always want them to be good ambassadors for the breed, so I will keep working hard on the OB, and look forward to the day when if they aren't quite so nuts, and yes thats the hollow sound of me laughing!! Thanks for taking the time to reply, sorry for the delay in answering, its the time difference across the pond!