Your home may feel dominated by the animals who live there, but that doesn’t mean you’re not paying the rent. It’s your house, and you’re entitled to have fellow human visitors over if you want to! However, getting Fido and Fluffy to subscribe to your school of thought may be a challenge—or maybe they’ll love the visitors a little too much. This week, we’re going over the Petiquette ins and outs of hosting guests when you have a true animal house.
Be honest with visitors before they arrive.
You don’t have to be ashamed of having a pet, or several, but it’s considerate to tell visitors what type, size, and temperament of animal you have at home before making plans. Some people are so allergic to dogs or cats they won’t be able to come over, and others are terrified of large dogs. Being up front with guests before setting a time will help you both feel comfortable during the visit, or happy to meet at a park or restaurant instead. If your animal doesn’t do well with small children and your guest has kids, now’s the time to be candid and work out a game plan for how to introduce them.
Work on practice training.
If your dog goes berserk when the bell rings, have a friend help you with some training at home. Repeated doorbell training is a great way to encourage calm when dogs hear the ringing notice that a visitor has arrived.
Don’t permit jumping.
Cats will often flee to their headquarters under the bed when guests arrive and remain there until the end of the evening, but high-energy pups can pose more of a discomfort to guests. If your dog jumps, it could not only scare guests, but also hurt them, especially if they are elderly and could be knocked down.
Don’t ignore aggression.
Aggressive behavior from your pet is not okay. Dogs should never growl, nip, or bite visitors you have invited inside. If your dog is displaying aggressive behavior, it’s time to get some professional training advice from your local pet clinic or animal hospital. Aggressive behavior means your dog needs to see you as more of a leader; until they don’t believe they have to take the lead, your dog won’t improve.
Tell guests if you have a training procedure you need them to follow.
Guests can help you train your dog to behave better, too. Enlist the help of friends, neighbors, and visitors to employ some of these ace tricksfrom top trainer Victoria Stilwell, who suggests you and your guests ignore over-excited animals until they calm down.
You don’t have to apologize.
You shouldn’t have to apologize for having animals. As long as your visitors were pre-warned about the conditions, it was their choice to come over instead of meet elsewhere. If you work on training and acknowledge boundaries, you should all be able to enjoy a nice visit!