Hi Everyone,

Just a quick question, how do you let your dogs greet people when they come to visit?  Do you all go to the door or do you put your dogs in the kitchen then when the visitors are in and sat down let them through?   I only ask because my in-laws came the other day, they don't come that regular (not dogs lovers and seem to spend all their time picking dog hairs off their clothes):rolleyes::rolleyes: Anyway they walked in the front door, dogs bark as normal then i don't know what happen we were all stood in a small hallway, but Jack stood back and barked from his boots so to speak at my father in law. i took him out to the kitchen then let him back through about 5 minutes later and after a wonder and a sniff around he settled himself down and went to sleep. Well this incident just gave them what they wanted and the visit went down hill from there on!!   This is the first time Jack has done this could it be that he was unsure of my inlaws( i often am!!!) , alot of people in a small space, or he was just telling them this is our house!!!
Jane

Do whatever you're happiest with - there are no rules. :) Mine come to the door with me and before I open the door I say loudly "Back dogs, back!" in case there's a stranger there.

Possibly Jack picked up that your visitors weren't relaxed which unsettled him and made him nervous, which in turn made him bark.

My door opens more or less straight onto a busy road so I always put the dogs behind a dog gate in the dining room when I open the door. Depending who it is I'll either let them settle down then let the dogs in, or just leave the dogs out if they're not happy about dogs as they are quite big (the dogs that is, visitors vary ;) ). I've found that dogs are quite good at knowing who likes them and who doesn't (apart from flat coats who think all humans love them), so Jack was probably just picking up on something IMO. I don't know your in-laws, but I'm always on the dog's side :D

No advice here I'm afraid, I do the same as JG, my dogs come to the door with me. They've never really barked at the door though- if it's a stranger (that I invited in) they would just wander back to their beds, they're not interested in people they don't know at all. People they know and like do get flattened against the wall and licked all over :)

I have the dogs behind the gate in the dining room. If the visitors are doggy people I just let them wade through :P if non doggy owning people then the dogs go outside until visitor seated and settled, then I let the dogs in. If visitors don't like dogs full stop, then they don't come in. (the visitors I mean ;) )
If they are really excited about a particular visitor then I have to hold onto them so they can come in and then let them go one at a time :) My dogs are just manic I'm afraid, and people know what to expect so its entirely up to them if they visit or not :)  The only time I know they bark much deeper/louder is when the visitor is cagey about coming in, its like they pick up on it and show off. (like meter readers, window cleaner etc.) Never had them do it to relatives though. Dogs I think are good at reading people, maybe he knows they are not keen?

Thanks to all your replies and your probably right about Jack picking something up, like i say the in-laws are not dogs lovers, pat them once and told to go away. Everyone else who comes to visit he loves them and boy does he show it especially with my dad.
So it looks like its the in laws (  now theres a surprise:rolleyes::rolleyes:)

Depends on the visitors - most people who come have to put up with my dogs, who are admittedly a little excitable when first greeting people (in spite of lots of training!), but after a few minutes will settle down and go off to snooze elsewhere. If it's my sister-in-law they go in the kitchen and usually never come out while she is there as she's terrified of all dogs. And if it's a grooming client they go in the kitchen, and depending on the dog either stay there while I'm grooming or come out and sit on the sofa watching! :-)