07/19/2026
Save yourself the unnecessary headache. Your dog doesn’t *need* to meet the plumber…and P.S. my dogs don’t either.
So many people over the years have told me stories about how their dogs reacted poorly to the electrician, plumber, house keeper, lawn service people, etc. I’ve even had to work with people that had a dog bite incident in these types of situations.
These weren’t all “aggressive” dogs. Some of the dogs that have bitten or snapped in these situations were seemingly friendly family dogs. A dog doesn’t need to be labeled “aggressive” to have a bad or fearful moment with a stranger in their house.
Any dog can bite, get scared, be unsure, be caught off guard, be skeptical, and be fearful. Especially with strangers (usually with weird tools, bags, smells, and noises)!
That aside, there are plenty of people who don’t like that their overly-friendly, excitable dog jumps, barks, whines, pees, etc. when faced with these types of situations too.
My dogs aren’t “aggressive”, and I still put them safely away while we have the plumber or electrician come in to do a job. I can focus on getting them in and out, without worrying about what my dogs are up to or how they are reading the situation. It helps me not have to be in training and dog mom mode, while also shielding my dogs from needing to deal with it - and save our training moments for more useful and practical times.
So this post is to remind you that you can opt out. It’s your house, your dogs, and your rules.
*There’s never anything wrong with playing it safe!* 🫶🏽
