You’d love to be able to have people over, but your dog won’t stop biting visitors! Why do they have to do this to you and your guests? Why does your dog want to bite visitors? What has made it so that your dog doesn’t trust guests? Are they going to grow out of this frustrating behavior or do you need to be proactive to change it?

Today, we’re going to give you the answers to all of these questions, and most importantly, we’ll tell you how to stop your dog from biting your visitors. Soon, you’ll be able to have guests over to your house without having to hide your dog while they’re there. Won’t that be nice? Of course! So let’s not delay any longer and get to our article “How to Stop My Dog From Biting Visitors.”

Why Does My Dog Want to Bite Visitors?

Your dog wants to bite visitors because they feel threatened due to territorial aggression. Your dog doesn’t like these unknown people coming into your home, and they lash out by biting because they see them as potentially dangerous.

It could also be something about the way your visitors interacted with your dog. Did they immediately swarm the dog with attention and pets? While your dog still should not respond by biting your visitors, they should have not pushed themselves on your dog either.

New people being in or around your home makes your dog feel anxious and scared, and if they’ve not been properly trained then it is not uncommon for them to respond to these threatening feelings by biting guests. But regardless of how they may have provoked your dog, you need to begin addressing this improper response immediately through behavioral training.

We’ll go over how to stop your dog from biting your visitors in the last section of this article, which you can skip to now.

Why Does My Dog Not Trust Guests?

Your dog does not trust guests because they are unknown and cause them to feel anxious and threatened. It could be just that your dog doesn’t like that these guests are in your home due to territorial aggression, or they may have had a negative experience with a stranger in the past — and this guest reminds your dog of that.

Your dog also might not trust your guests due to something you can’t perceive. It could be something about their body language, or maybe the way that they smell reminds them of someone they don’t like or trust (remember that dogs can smell up to 100,000 times better than we can). Let your dog decide whether or not they need to meet your guests.

It’s important that you not push your guests on your dog. If your dog is showing signs that they are not interested in meeting these people, do not force them to regardless of what your guests might want. If your dog is hiding, growling, barking, or staring at your guests, put them into another room. These are signs of threat and anxiety, and your dog could bite your guests.

Will My Dog Grow Out of Biting Visitors?

Your dog will not grow out of biting visitors. This is a serious behavioral issue, and not one that is age-related. While puppies may like to nip during play, you surely know the difference between that and a bite. Do not attempt to convince yourself that your dog is simply going to stop biting guests just because they’ve gotten a little older.

The only way you can solve this problem is by using behavioral training. If you don’t address things now, you give your dog the idea that it’s okay and the problem will only grow and escalate. Soon, aggression towards neighbors becomes biting them. Aggression after moving becomes biting people in your neighborhood. Barking at someone knocking becomes… well, you get the idea.

Be proactive and stop your dog from biting visitors by gaining a hold on your dog’s behavioral issues before their biting problem can rear its ugly head again. We’ll go over how you can do just that in the very next section of this article.

How to Stop Dog Biting Visitors

To stop your dog biting visitors:

1. Greet your guests outside, so that your dog sees you welcome them into the home. Make sure to speak to your visitors in a positive tone of voice so your dog knows you’re not threatened.
2. Keep your dog on their leash so that they are easily controlled.
3. Put your dog in a safe space for them, like their crate or a closed-off room, if they show signs of anxiety or being threatened.
4. Introduce your guests to your dog if they don’t seem threatened. Stick to just saying hello, your guests petting them can wait. But you should pet your dog during these introductions.
5. Let your guests drop a treat for your dog if things are going fine. Don’t try to hand-feed them yet.

Remember to exercise caution and put your dog into their safe spot at the first hint of trouble. You should also communicate with your guests to ensure they’re okay with meeting your dog. Have them use a positive tone of voice when they speak to your pup. All of these should let your dog form positive associations with meeting visitors.

Still, you need to address your dog biting visitors in the first place. While you may have warmed them up to the idea of meeting guests, there are still always going to be other people that may provoke these threatened feelings in them. And you certainly don’t want your dog to be biting those people either.

To get your dog to stop biting guests and people in general, we should quickly first talk about what makes dogs work to begin with.

You’ve likely heard before that dogs are pack animals, and that in every pack there is a pack leader. Well, when your dog responds to feeling threatened by biting your visitors, they are clearly telling you that they don’t see you as a capable leader of the pack.

If they did, your dog would not be biting your visitors because they would trust that you are capable of knowing who is safe to come to the home, and handling things with them properly.

Show your dog that not only are you their pack leader, but a capable and effective one, and your dog will stop biting visitors, stop all their other behavioral issues, and finally obey your commands at all other times too. That will be a huge relief for you, right? Of course! But it will also be one for your dog, because they’ll have all that stress off their little shoulders.

“Well, all of that sounds great, but how am I supposed to do this?”

You should watch an excellent free video series that’s on just this subject (how to be your dog’s pack leader) by a renowned trainer named Dan. In the series, he’ll teach you everything you need to know in ways that are very easy to understand and teach to your own dog, and he gets right to the point so that you’ll start seeing results in no time.

Start watching Dan’s free training series now by clicking here. And don’t worry, because you’re not going to have to be mean. You won’t even have to raise your voice, actually. Dan uses only 100% humane and loving methods at all times, not just because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s the only way to get permanent, fast results with your dog.

I’m sure you’re eager to not have to worry about bringing your dog around guests anymore, so I’ll let you get started. Good luck with everything, and thank you for reading “How to Stop My Dog From Biting Visitors.”