Dog trainers' simple hack to keep pets calm when having visitors is a life-saver for pet parents

Being a pet parent is no easy job. From catching their hunger cues to working on potty training, a myriad of responsibilities come along with having a furry companion at home. When talking about dogs in particular, there's another hassle to deal with - their burst of excitement when visitors arrive. To help prevent this behavior, dog trainers Morgan Strack and Katie Eaton, who run the training facility The Good Dog Yorktown (@thegooddogyorktown) in Virginia, shared a useful video. The trick to calming your dog in front of visitors has a lot to do with using a tether and the internet is grateful for this advice.

The trick was demonstrated using the behavior of Strack's apricot poodle, Cooper, when a guest arrived. As the video began, Cooper realized someone was at the door and started to bark. Before opening the door to the visitor, the pet parent tethered Cooper to a leash attached to another door in the house. She did this to prevent "bad habits from forming" while also making it easy to greet the guests. Once the guests entered, they were asked to completely ignore the pooch because "attention is a reward." An excited Cooper was wagging his tail and expecting the guests to interact with him, but they simply ignored him. Even if one's pet tries to pull on the leash and keeps barking, the trainers ask pet parents to ignore the behavior. 

Whenever the guest passed by him, Cooper seemed to stand up in excitement but soon calmed down when not given any attention. The key here was "patience" and the trainers emphasized that it might take minutes for dogs to become calm. At one point, Cooper relaxed and laid down on the floor and the text overlay read, "This is what you want to wait for. A relaxed dog. Each time you practice this, it will take less time for your dog to relax until eventually, you won't need a leash at all." When the pooch had calmed down, the pet parent released him from the tether, but not before transitioning it to another handheld leash. "It's important to realize that attention is a reward to your dog. Rewards reinforce behaviors," the caption read.

The trainers pointed out that tethering was the best option when no one else could hold the leash while visitors arrived. "The tether will prevent your dog from being able to crowd your guest so that the wrong behaviors don't accidentally get reinforced. You want to reinforce calmness instead - so don't let them greet your guests until they are much calmer," the trainers added in the caption. "The tether in my house is closer to the front door than I'd like - the farther you can get it from your door, the easier it will be for your dog to calm down," they suggested.

The video garnered nearly a million views in a couple of days and pet lovers on the internet could not be more thankful for this trick. "Yes, this does work. However, we find our visitors have the hardest time ignoring the dogs," said @hbmelm. "This 100% works! We tether ours on a flat leash and hook the leash to the outside door handle, then close the door on the leash. She calms right down after a few minutes and then she gets a chance to say hello to our guests," explained @hbscroeder. "Thank you!! I needed this tip. My dog has excitement pee! It drives me crazy because people don't always accept my request to please not touch him until he calms down. This will be a game changer, I'm sure," added @sherilynlarsen.

You can follow The Good Dog Yorktown (@thegooddogyorktown) on Instagram for more dog training content.