When the Post Man brings mail and your dog goes ballistic upon his arrival, your dog is reacting to thousands of years of domestication which have produced what we behaviorists call, “territorial drive.”
A drive is similar to an instict. Or more specifically, an extention of an instinct. This territorial drive can be motivated by two other drives… the defensive drive and the prey drive.
Here’s what happens:
Your dog perceives an intruder in his territory. His territorial drive kicks in. He then barks his foul head off and the Post Man goes away. In the dog’s mind, he has shown aggression and this aggression was rewarded by making the Post Man… in the dog’s mind… RUN away.
Your dog thinks: “I BARK… YOU RUN. I BARK MORE, YOU STILL RUN. I BARK EVEN MORE… AND YOU KEEP RUNNING AWAY. AND I’LL BE WAITING FOR YOU TO COME BACK, TOMORROW… HE HE HE.” So, everyday the Post Man comes, the behavior is rewarded. And everyday that the behavior is rewarded… it becomes more pronounced.
Here’s how to fix it:
There are two ways to fix this problem, depending on your dog’s temperament, your personal style, and how fast you want to get results.
Solution #1 For Getting Your Dog To Stop Showing Aggression Towards The Post Man
1.) Confine your dog to a kennel run or a crate where he cannot exhibit the unwanted behavior until after you’ve used the technique successfully and consistently enough to get the results you’re looking for. The trick is to build a new association with the Post Man… and to do this, you MUST be with the dog in order to create the desired association.
2.) Don’t feed your dog breakfast on any day that you’re using this technique.
3.) Sit outside with your dog on leash, and a handful of cookies.
4.) Wait until you see the Post Man approaching at a distance, leave your dog on your property, and give the Post Man a couple of cookies.
5.) Instruct the Post Man to wait at the corner. Then, return and get your dog and walk him to meet the Post Man (still at the corner).
6.) Let the Post Man feed the dog some cookies.
7.) Return home and bring your dog inside and let him eat breakfast. The Post Man should not deliver the mail to your house as usual… since you got it while he fed your dog cookies.
8.) Repeat this exercise for five days in a row… each time letting the Post Man approach the house closer and closer… until he can walk right up to the front gate and the dog now associates the Post Man with cookies and then meal time. This approach works quite well, but can take a lot of time. It is a better approach for dogs with a very strong food drive, or for handlers who have not yet learned how to administer a correction.
Solution #2 For Getting Your Dog To Stop Showing Aggression Towards The Post Man
1.) Confine your dog to a kennel run or a crate where he cannot exhibit the unwanted behavior until after you’ve used the technique successfully and consistently enough to get the results you’re looking for. The trick is to build a new association with the Post Man… and to do this, you MUST be with the dog in order to create the desired association.
2.) You should already have a good foundation of obedience training on your dog and know how to give a motivational correction… in most cases by using a training collar.
3.) Let your dog wander around the front yard (if it’s gated) or around the house, or wherever he usually creates the ruckus… but make sure that he’s wearing his training collar, and either a tab (1 foot leash) or dragging a 6 foot leash, if you have trouble catching him. You need some way to correct him when he barks.
4.) As he starts to bark, tell him, “No!” and go to him and administer a firm correction.
It’s usually easier if you tell your Post Man beforehand that you’re working on a training exercise. In most cases, he’ll be happy that you’re working to reduce something that causes stress in his life! If your dog continues to bark immediately after you’ve corrected him, then this is a good indication that your corrections are not motivational. (In other words, they don’t have any meaning.)
As the distraction (the Post Man) gets more motivational (distracting)… your corrections must become more motivational. It’s like the difference between receiving a ticket from a police officer when you’re speeding home after work… versus speeding home from the grocery store when the Super Bowl has just started on T.V. In other words, one ticket is going to have to be much more motivational than the other, in order for me to pay attention to it. (Can you guess which one?)
5.) Once you’re communicating with your dog, then it’s just a matter of demonstrating to him that your correction for this behavior WAS NOT merely a fluke… that yes… he will get corrected for this behavior EVERY time he exhibits this behavior. If you’re doing it correctly, the behavior will most likely be extinguished in three or four days. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with combining both approaches to fixing this problem to get even faster results. It really just depends on you, your dog, the intensity of the behavior, and what the situation you’re working in is like.
A Common Question I Receive With This Training Approach:
“Won’t This Teach My Dog To Stop Barking If An Intruder Approaches My House At Night?”
It’s a good question. But the answer is, “No!” See, your dog learns in a very situational manner. In other words, as long as your Post Man isn’t dropping off mail late at night, when it’s dark and nobody else is around… your dog will only associate the exercise with the Post Man approaching the house during day light hours.
He’ll still bark if someone approaches the house at night, because you’ve never corrected (or disassociated) the territorial behavior with strangers approaching the house at night.
-Adam