I have a 1 yr. Dobergirl, who is the typical loving, velcro Doberman. She is obedience trained, very well socialized, and although I've researched Doberman temperment and behavior, I've never had a guard/working dog, so I'm still learning...

Family members (those living here and those that do not), enter our home through the garage door. Friends and guests enter through the front door. When we expect guests, we put on her prong collar and leash and make her sit when they enter. She gets and excited and barks, breaks her sit in the excitement, and sometimes gets nervous and her vocalizing is more intimidating. She is not being aggressive nor growling... but some guests are visibly uncomfortable.

I have taken to standing on the leash while she is in the sit, with a Stay! command. I say, "Brandi, say hello." while I touch the guests arm so that she knows they are a friend. Then I ask the guest to allow her to sniff their hand, but do not pet. When I have seen her barking stop and body language relax (within about 30 - 50 seconds), I allow her off the leash and ask the guests to ignore her for a couple of minutes. She then becomes the center of attention and guests have always left our home thinking Dobermans are not only beautiful, but so sweet and well behaved... But I am always wondering how I can make the guest entrance more comfortable for my guests.

I realize that Brandi is much more uncomfortable with anyone coming in the front door, and that she is being protective, which is in her nature. My research has also said that Dobermans are quick to discern whether someone entering is friend or foe. Will that come with maturity? I also realize that my training is SORELY LACKING in this area, but don't what or how to begin to do the training so that she is better behaved when guests enter. Or is that just too much to ask of a dog that has instinctive guarding abilities?

Kim

This is the same thing I am having trouble with, with my 1 year old shepherd rescue. My trainer says it will take months of practice to get her to stop this behavior. We want to make guest arrivals a happy thing, and you are doing the right things, maybe they can give her really good treats after she exhibits the proper behavior. Like chicken or something equally good. My dog, probably was not socialized properly, but she is being territorial and I am working on letting her bark to tell us someone has arrived, but when I say "enough" or "quite!", I want her to listen and stop. I hope we will get there one day. You have to pratice though and do some set ups, unless your home is like stop and go. I wish you luck, I know how you feel. jaci

Jaci-
You may have only been using two words for illustration,
but in practice using a single word consistently for any command will get you farther, quicker. Accompany with a
hand signal consistently and eventually it will work as well, silently,remotely.

Dogs also bark out of excitement and restraint. If you restrain a dog from going to someone they want to greet, they are gonna bark. You need to learn your dogs different barks and body language then decide what your dog is trying to do. The breaking sit/stay could just be over excitement to greet this new person that she's not allowed to go up to because she's on a leash, whereas if there was no leash she would probably run circles around the guest and jump up on them if she's a jumpy dog. I'm coming to this conclusion because you said she's not being aggressive. If you are misreading the dog then this could be way wrong and you need to work with her on it. My dog barks a good deep scary bark when the doorbell rings, but as soon as he identifies who it is he goes into stupid happy puppy mode. He doesn't care if he's seen em before or not, he's excited about everyone because he still has all that puppyness in him.