What do you do with your dog when..

[ToscasMom]

I had a small incident that got me thinking. We ordered a pizza and the delivery guy called my number when he arrived. He said he was out in front and he saw that I have a dog and he wasn't coming in until the dog was out of the entrance area. I had left the inner front door open so Tosca was sitting there. He said he was really afraid of dogs. So I put Tosca in another room and he delivered the pizza. Generally when someone knocks I put Tosca is Sit position at the far end of the foyer area. This usually works well, allows enough space and she's good about it, unless it's somebody she really loves and gets antsy, a situation I am working on..slowly, lol. Anyways, I put Tosca in the LR, where there are french doors and she could see him, and he was still nervous to even SEE her, poor guy. He told me that he had been attacked or intimidated during deliveries before.

I thought nothing of this incident until later when my SO mentioned, what If that guy was up to no good. What if he actually wanted to rob the house or do something else? Tosca would have been behind another door and couldn't pose a threat to him. It really made me go silent. I never thought of it that way. So I am asking, if a stranger is at your door and is afraid of dogs, and you know his purpose there, what do you do?

 

[2BlackDogs]

WOW that's a good one to think about. I have that problem with my UPS man. He knows me well and he's very nice but he's delayed package deliveries if Bear is outside. Which I can understand with the way their trucks are designed to just go by the house and try to redeliver.

If it's a pizza guy, Usually we have either my husband or I hold Bear and the other goes to get the pizza. When someone comes to the door that I don't know, I grab Bear by his collar and answer the door. I don't lock him up for 1 reason mostly. If he sees something that is not right or senses something wrong, No door or window will keep him in. He's already proved that. BUT I would never answer the door and just let him run up to a person no matter what they are there for. People tell me all the time he's really mean and intimidating just to look at him. If I know someone is coming over, I always warn about the dogs first if I know the person.

 

[ToscasMom]

With Tosca it's the Fex Ex guy. She loves our UPS guy, but the Fex Ex guy is so afraid of her he leaves the packages away from the door. I don't mind because he looks like a tobacco roader to me too. So he doesn't come in. If I have to sign, I go outside. The UPS guy can come right in and get face licks. Go figure. They are smart, our dogs.

 

[Giny]

Well, considering the size of my dogs it wouldn't matter if they were behind a door or in the room. They'd be of no help against a robber either way.

But when we get something delivered our front door way is made so that I have to enter 3 doors (one to get in the little front foyer, the other to the sun-room then the outside door) before getting out and the dogs say behind the first door.

 

[Gempress]

I put the Horsemen in a down/stay a safe distance from the door.

 

[SummerRiot]

Hmm.. thats a good question..

Well, when I was away for a bit - Riot stayed at my parents house.. My sister and her boyfriend were away in Germany and it was just my mom at home (not sure where Dad was.. possibly still sleeping in bed) anyways..

3am rolls around and my mom hears pounding on the front door - she thinks its my sister and her boyfriend coming in early from a flight, so she grabs Riot(naturally lol who wouldn't.. she has two shelties) and proceeds to the door.

Now, mom needs glasses to properly see anything and she didn't have them on or her contacts. She opens the door - Riot immediately goes between mom and this strange man who has been pounding on the door. Mom had said that Riot had a low growl to him and was stone still just staring at the guy.

The guy told my mom to call the police because the neighbours was just robbed.. Mom was quite confused at that point..
The guy started to advance into the house towards my mom - Riot stepped up and stalked towards the guy, now showing his teeth and growling louder.
It was a dark hallway - no lights were on so i'm sure he couldn't have seen Riot before.. but wow he saw him now. Mom said that the strange guy backed up and closed the glass door so there was a door between him and Riot.

If Riot wasn't there - I have no clue what would have happened to my mom.

Moral of the story is - I take Riot ANYWHERE I go. I have never locked him up if a stranger was scared of dogs. Even our land lady who is petrified of dogs - Riot is always with me. I just hold him by his collar or have him sit stay somewhere.

 

[Buddy'sParents]

Buddy and Bella are either crated or put in a room with a door that stays closed, lol.. Banzai is with me always when I am answering the door.

Just the other night the doorbell rang at about 10:30 at night. Uhm, weird. I shuffle Buddy and Bella into the bedroom and tell Banzai to put his game face on. I open the door and Banzai is standing tall and proud and completely unblinking. He's stiff and his eyes are investigating. As soon as I get a register on how I feel about the people at the door, I give him an okay and he's instantly wagging his tail, giving snuffles. I talk to the neighbors, they say their daughter loves dogs, I said well she can come on up. oops. Banzai didn't give her the chance, he charged at her in the driveway and stopped her in her tracks. Didn't like her one bit, not one bit. So, Banzai is always with me when I open the door- always.

And yes, I know I have a Fila. But she's a puppy still and still coming into her own and I would not trust her at this point, to make judgment calls on a persons character, as I do with Banzai. Banzai's a smart dog- he knows. That's also why I have a "I can make it to the fence is 2.8 seconds, can you?" sign with the outline of a dog very much like Banzai. If you were to approach our house uninvited, I'd be worried about Banzai's initial reactions- not Bella's.


Hmm, that was kinda OT. If someone asked me to put my dog away, I would say no (unless I felt completely comfortable with that person at my front door). Take the pizza guy for instance, I am paying him to deliver my pizza and he will- with my dog in a sit/stay at the front door.

 

[StevePax]

My ferocious Leo (up to 5 pounds now) has probably never even seen our front door - he stays in the family room and laundry room area, because that's where our back door is to take him out. I put a small cardboard box on the stairs that lead from the family room to the kitchen/living room area (there are only 3 stairs), and he can't get over them, so he doesn't come to the front door. If any criminal tried to get in, though, I'm sure Leo would tear him limb from limb.

 

[Aussie Red]

mine are always with me. Whiskey has been trained to attack by voice command or hand signal and he will eat you alive. If I tell him to sit stay he will unless the stranger makes a move he deems threatening. I would have them sit stay and tell him he will not be harmed as long as he does not make a sudden move to me.
Whiskey and Kahlua however would tell him drop the pizza and back up and no one gets hurt lol.

 

[oc_spirit]

Every time the doorbell rings (especially if I'm home alone) I have the boys escort me to answer the door. I hold on to their collars and open the main door (there is still a glass storm door). If I recognize the person, depending on who it is (like a delivery person) I send the boys to the kitchen (attaches to the foyer) where they stand at the entrance watching. If something were to go wrong they can just run back to my aid. If everything's cool they stand and just watch. If I dont have any idea who the person is or why they are there I keep the dogs with me and just block the entrance with my body (they arent door dashers) so they know to stay behind me.

 

[Charliesmommy]

Any time somebody I don't know comes to the door I answer the door with Charlie in a sit and my hand on his collar. Once I know who it is and what they want and know they aren't going to rape me or something, I send him to the kitchen where, as Ren said, he will sit and watch.

There is no food delivery where I live but if there were, I would probably have to crate Charlie to answer the door. If someone actually came and knocked on the door with pizza, he would probably tear their arm off to get it.

 

[RD]

When my parents are home, I do lock up the dogs when someone comes to the door because they're overwhelming, loud and probably obnoxious to non-dog people.

When I'm alone, I make sure all 5 escort me to the door. I don't tell them to quiet until I see who it is, and I don't put them on a "behave yourself" down stay unless it's a friend. Nobody in their right mind would try to rob my house

 

[simplymisty]

I'm a single mom so my 3 dogs are always at that door attacking it when someone knocks (most people call to tell me they're in my driveway and I let them in the garage so it's unual for someone to come to the front door). If it's the pizza guy I step out the front door and give him the $ and take the pizza. I don't let them in and my dogs could easily open the screen door if they thought I was in trouble.

My oldest GSD has saved me from several break-ins. Now they just break into the garage because they know they can't get into the house with 3 large dogs.

I also trust my dogs judgement of a person before my own. If Shelby my oldest doesn't like you then you're not staying because she'll be all over them.

 

[Rosefern]

If it's someone I know well, that I know aren't comfortable with dogs (I can only think of two people) - then I'll crate the fosters, and babygate Flicka and Pepe in a different room...

I would never put the dogs away for someone I didn't know...not that Flicka would do any good - if someone broke into the house, she'd probably help them carry out the TV. Pepe's more protective, but being all of twenty pounds wouldn't help much, I'm afraid. I'm not sure what Jackson would do - he's very happy-go-lucky-I-love-everyone when we're out and about, but he's a little more wary at home...

I feel very safe with Tigger and Rover, though - if someone is at the door and I don't know who it is - that's who I take with me. They're protective of Matt and I, the house, the yard, and our things. More so at home then in public. Someone broke into Matt's house last year (before I moved in)...he wasn't home, he was out with me. We come home around midnight or so...we noticed a strange car in our driveway, and hear both the boys barking up a storm inside. We call the cops (he lives six blocks away from the police station). Cops get there, we go in. Tigger and Rover have this guy backed into a corner, both snarling, growling. Matt tells them to back off - they do, and the guy (who was now absolutely terrified) got arrested. Later, talking to the neighbor, he said the car had pulled up around 11:45, meaning the dogs had held him for probably 15-20 minutes...

-Rosefern

 

[Beanie]

I actually usually put Auggie back in his crate when I know pizza is coming... he's so small and so fast. I'm paranoid that he'd squirt out of somebody's arms, go running out the door, and be long gone.
Jimmy Johns came to deliver sandwiches once, and my sister was supposed to be watching Auggie... and he got away from her and slipped out the door before I could catch him. He stopped almost immediately on the front porch, but that was a horrible moment for me. x_x

So if some bad person came to the door, I'd have to rely on myself to kick butt instead of my dog.

 

[Dekka]

If you ask the person to come to your house (and deliver pizza) I don't think they should have to rely on your ability to train your dogs to stay safe. I know from reading everybodies posts for the last few months, that the people posting above wouldn't expose the pizza guy to their dogs if there was any danger. But the pizza guy doesn't know that.

Think of all the 'bad' dog owners who aren't nearly as responsible as us Chazzers. It only takes one or two to make a delivery person very afraid, and with reason. If you are uncomfortable with the pizza guy, go pick it up instead of having it delivered.

However if someone comes knocking on my door and I am alone, all dogs will go with me to the door. But if I have invited them, I will respect them if they fear dogs.

 

[squirtsmom]

Open the door and hope for the best.

 

[Aussie Red]

Open the door and hope for the best.

LOL yea open the door grab the pizza and let the dogs eat the delivery guy. Saves you money for the pizza and on dog food roflmao

 

[jess2416]

If you ask the person to come to your house (and deliver pizza) I don't think they should have to rely on your ability to train your dogs to stay safe. I know from reading everybodies posts for the last few months, that the people posting above wouldn't expose the pizza guy to their dogs if there was any danger. But the pizza guy doesn't know that.

Think of all the 'bad' dog owners who aren't nearly as responsible as us Chazzers. It only takes one or two to make a delivery person very afraid, and with reason. If you are uncomfortable with the pizza guy, go pick it up instead of having it delivered.

However if someone comes knocking on my door and I am alone, all dogs will go with me to the door. But if I have invited them, I will respect them if they fear dogs.

Agreed...

 

[Kase]

Good question! I usually always answer the door with Casey.

One time we were having a fridge delivered and I was home alone and 2 guys came to the door. I opened it with Casey and let them in so I could sign for it after I found out who they were as they were totals strangers and I was on edge. They said they would bring the fridge in but one of them said he was scared of Casey so could I put her away but I didn't know whether to belive him so I sent her in the room and half shut the door. Turns out they were real and they brought the fridge in but its better to be safe than sorry I guess.