Guests, tomorrow

[minkee]

My friend is coming to visit tomorrow. Him and his whole family (mother father, sister, her husband, and their two small children) are on holiday not far from here, and they're coming along with him to drop in and say hello, then I'm going to show them around Scarborough a bit.

I don't think Breeze is going to be at all impressed by any of this, so I'm brainstorming the best way to handle it. My #1 idea would have been for a friend who I trust, who also walks dogs part time, to take him for an hour while they come and go, so he's none the wiser, but she's not available.

So my plan is:
- Get up early and take D to work, so I have the car, then take Breeze out for a long walk so he's good and worn out before anyone arrives
- Pre-warn them that he's nervous around people, may bark at them, and to just turn their backs on him and ignore him
- Have him in the room off the kitchen with the baby gate shut and have them in the garden (please don't rain please don't rain) so he can only see them if they come into the kitchen, in which case hopefully they'll employ the above advice!
- Try and get through the polite hostess bit as quickly as possible and leave him at home while Scout and I escort them down to the beach

If it does rain I'll have to have them come through 'his' room to get to the sitting room. Not sure on the best way to handle this but it may involve shutting him upstairs briefly.

Am I missing any obvious solutions or cautions? I also told them not to wear their rabbit skin hats (as MIL insists on doing when she comes round )

[Ari_RR]

For what it's worth - I noticed with Ari that he is much easier on the guests when they are already inside when he comes in.
If someone rings a bell while he is inside, he'll run to the door and put his "I Am A Big Scary Dog" show on.
When we come back from a walk and visitors are already inside - he will be more like "What are you doing?! Can I help?! I want to help!!"... Which is not that great when it's a service guy fixing the dryer, for example, but still - better than "Big Scary Dog" show...

[Sanna]

I do the pre- guest long walk too, or walk with guest before they come in if they're up for it. I keep P behind a baby gate to start with when people arrive until the initial excitement wears off, and tell them to ignore him (never happens tho ). He settles pretty quickly if not made a fuss of. If we all need to be in the same room I put a house lead on him and keep him right beside me, so he can lie quietly with us as opposed to bouncing on and terrorising guests.. I still don't really enjoy socialising at home tho, too much like hard work good luck!

[ClareMarsh]

- Pre-warn them that he's nervous around people, may bark at them, and to just turn their backs on him and ignore him

Not sure how dog savvy your guests are but back when I was a child I used to visit a cousin with two very barky GSDs. I've no idea what their intentions were as I can't remember it clearly enough but that doesn't really matter. I remember being very scared all the time I was there despite reassurances from all. No doubt the dogs picked up on this.

So just bare in mind that physical separation can keep the humans feel safe which stops the dog worrying so much that the humans are scared.

I know it's Breeze's home and I totally agree your family comes first, just I think visitors getting stressed can make things worse so if you can avoid that too all the better.

[JudyN]

Impress on the adults in advance that the small children need to behave as if they are nailed to their seats, and if they don't, you have a hammer and some 6" nails on standby

In similar situations, I've had Jasper shut behind a stairgate when people arrive, though if they want I'll let them greet him over the stairgate - he's a mix of friendly and wary at the same time, he wants to say hello to everyone but can get overwhelmed. When everyone is seated and settled, I'll let him come & say hello (when I had children round they were at the far side of a table and he did growl and bark a bit before he settled down), then I'll ask him to settle down on his bed nearby.

If anyone wants to go to the loo, or if we're going out, or when they leave, I'll put him back behind a stairgate just in case that triggers anything.

You might want to put a house lead on Breeze, just in case - if nothing else it could make you feel more confident when he's saying hello to people, so less chance of your anxiety transferring to him.

[Nettle]

How about you meet them all in town and they don't come to your place at all?

[DianeLDL]

How about you meet them all in town and they don't come to your place at all?

I like Nettle's idea especially since you will have the car and will be going somewhere with them anyway.

And after a long walk, how long can you leave Breeze alone at home without needing to take him outside to potty?

That is what we did when we had friends (2 adults only, though, no kids) visiting us. Actually, they left their car in our garage (was hot outside in July and they had all their stuff in it plus to take then on the Air Force Base they had to be in our car with OH driving). But, Sandy didn't see them as he was in the house in his bed and comfortable.

Diane

[minkee]

They are planning on parking at my house (free!) and then walking from here. We're close to a park, which leads to the beach, so pretty well situated for it.

I think I might try and leave as soon as they arrive though, rather than have tea and biscuits first. Thoroughly Un-British but for the best.

[Erica]

You could pack a picnic, maybe? Kids like picnics.

[minkee]

Phew, I am worn out! Just a quick note to let you all know it went really well! The early walk worked, and Breeze brilliantly decided to fall asleep in the living room, which is riiiiiight on the opposite side of the house to the garden. A forgotten mention of going to the BACK door meant that he was briefly disturbed by a knock on the front door, but was none the wiser that anyone actually came in. They sat in the garden briefly, with a good 3 or 4 closed doors between him and the guests, then was given the run of downstairs as we left and appears to have mostly settled down brilliantly for it.

I came back later with just my friend, sans his family, and had him sit down in the garden then let Breeze out on his lead, and they both did brilliantly - O following instructions and studiously ignoring B, B having a little sniff, one bark when he realised this was someone new, then remembered that he was just happy to see me home and carried on rarring at me instead. So quite successful - O was boring after that (until he started moving around, but I just asked him to sit down again and he was fine again).

It seems the secret is to have a 'stooge' that is terrified of dogs, and so will follow you instructions to the letter because they're imagining fanged death falling all around them if they don't


(nb: He's not really THAT scared of dogs, but used to be when he was a child. He quite likes Scout!)