Wouldn’t it be nice if your dog greets your visitors when they come in? It will draw attention, be a subject of conversation and result in even more fun activities. Well, that’s what we will be looking at in this article, how to train a dog to greet visitors.
First of all, everyone wants a well-trained dog as a pet. When you have visitors coming over, you’ll want your pet to be on his best behavior, and that could start with a greeting.
If your pet can greet visitors when they visit you, he’ll not just be showing how well trained he is but will win more friends and admirers.
This article will go through the steps needed to teach your dog to greet your visitors. However, if you want to train your dogs to be perfectly well-behaved and do many tricks, see our post on brain training for dogs review.
Table of Contents
1. Leash Train Your Dog
One of the reasons you would want to train your dog to greet visitors is that your dog jumps on people. Dogs naturally communicate differently than we do. They can get excited when they see someone new and jump or bark at them to draw attention. So, the first thing you have to do is stop this behavior.
You can prevent your pet from jumping on visitors by putting him on a leash which is why you have to leash train your pet. If he’s leashed, you can better control him and restrain him from jumping at your visitors.
Also, leashing keeps your pet closer to you so you can walk with him to meet visitors and greet them. See our post on how to train a dog to walk on a leash if your dog is not leash trained and the best training collar for stubborn dogs if you have a very stubborn dog.
2. Train Your Dog To Sit
Your pet should be seated in your preferred spot when visitors arrive, calm and welcoming. Teaching him to sit is not very difficult, but your pet will need to understand commands first. That way, he’ll sit when you say “sit.”
It’s also not just about teaching him to sit but also about sitting at the right spot when you have visitors. You can get a greeting mat and place it in an ideal location close to the dog to make things easier. Direct him to sit on the greeting mat to greet your visitors whenever a visitor is coming.
While teaching your pet how to sit, a leash can also be of advantage in controlling your pet. Watch the video below on training your pet to sit and stay. There is also a great video at the bottom of the page on teaching your pet to shake hands.
3. Practice By Yourself
While we’re discussing how to train a dog to greet visitors, it’ll be best if your pet starts with you; someone she’s familiar with and trusts. So, instead of bringing guests for the training, you can practice with yourself.
Tell your pet to sit, then walk out of the room; re-enter and watch your puppy’s reaction. One thing’s for sure; your pet will be less likely to jump on you. If you walk in and your dog leaves the designated sitting area to approach you, don’t give any attention.
Practice until your pet learns to stay put as you walk out until you walk in. Then, you can introduce the guests.
4. Reward Your Dog
If you want your dog to keep doing a particular thing, it’s simple, reward him whenever he does that. The most common reward you can give your pet, which he can readily appreciate, is dog treats.
As you train your pet to greet visitors, always have a pack of his favorite treats on standby. If he behaves well when leashed, reward him. When he sits, reward him, and so on.
If he’s not acting accordingly, show him the treats but refuse to give him any. That way, he’ll understand what earns him a treat and what earns him none.
A quick word on treats you can use healthy treats like carrots to reward your dog or use tiny quantities of low calorie packaged dog treats to reward each action. You don’t want your dog overeating and becoming overweight as it’s terrible for their health. See our post on how can I help my dog lose weight if you have a fatter dog.
5. Teach Your Pet To Avoid Distractions
Distractions and noise are less indoors than outdoors, so your dog can react to noises from outside, such as sirens and doorbells.
Therefore, your dog can be afraid of the sound of the bell, jump or bark at anyone that enters after it rings. This action is a form of self-defense. In fact, according to Vet Street, your pet isn’t actually scared of the doorbell, but what will happen after the bell rings.
Teaching your pet to avoid such distractions is necessary to keep your pet calm when visitors arrive. One way is by getting your dog used to such sounds.
Training a pet is more effective when there are fewer distractions, but once your pet understands your requests, you should relocate to a place with distractions and continue training there. That way, your pet will eventually obey and understand you in any location you may be.
See our post on how to train a dog with a whistle, best dog collar, and clicker training a dog for various methods to train a dog indoors or outdoors.
6. Teach Your Dog To Shake Hands
The trick here is teaching your dog how to shake hands with your visitor. Your pet staying calm and welcoming as visitors arrive will score him 50%, but he’ll get a 100% when he successfully greets them. What better way than to shake hands?
Teaching your dog to shake hands is simply making him offer his paw. You can achieve this by holding a treat and letting him reach for it with his paw; you can associate the command “shake” or “greet” with it. Whenever you say this command, your pet sticks out his paw.
Gradually, instead of putting treats in his paws when he reaches out, you simply take his paws in your hands.
Watch the video below to see how to train a dog to shake.
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Bottom Line
No visitor will enjoy visiting you if your pet constantly jumps or barks at them. Therefore, knowing how to train a dog to greet visitors is necessary. You can also have a lot of fun with your visitors if your pet knows how to welcome them and do some simple tricks. You can thoroughly train your dog and teach your pets more tricks by reading our post on brain training for dogs.
I have listed tips that can help you achieve that and train your pet, so all you need to do is practice. While at it, remember to be patient; some dogs are slow learners and won’t catch up quickly. I hope you enjoyed this. Would you mind sharing this post on teaching your dog to greet if you found it interesting?
