After they let me know, I tell Babs, in front of them, to GO TO MY BED.
The dog is still fully capable of attacking if anyone were to do something stupid. But it also shows that she is well trained. She trots off to my bed. The other two dogs behind the couch area are right there, but they are behind a baby gate, that can't be seen from the door. Evenso, they do not come up to the door, so some restraint is obvious.
Personally, the best deterrant type dog is a dog that will not only bark, but will stop barking when you give them a command, and who will exhibit some well-trained behavior. When Babsy was a year old, I would let people come into the house for the furnace or the water softener or whatever, and I would have Babs SIT, and STAY. Her eyes would be constantly on the person. But she would be sitting there like a statue. Even the little 58 pound stick of dynamite gave them the eebie-jeebies.
Dogs that bark and jump up, and let you drag them into the other room where the crate or door is, is not nearly as intimidating as a well-trained dog is.
Train your dogs. Train them that ENOUGH! means stop barking or stop whatever crazyness you are doing. Then give them a command -- tell them what you want them TO DO.
The dog is like: "oh my gosh, oh my gosh, someone's here, there's someone here, hey it's a man, it's someone, oh my gosh, where's my ball, it's a man, oh my gosh" ENOUGH! "OH! there's Susie, she knows about the man, what does she want me to do?" SIT "Oh, sit, uhm, yeah, that's when my butts on the floor, yeah, I can do that." STAY "Susie says stay, we know how to do this.
And the Pizza guy is like:
Oh my God, listen to that, there are dogs in there, probably big ones.
Knock Knock,
Yep big dogs,
ENOUGH
Wait, they're not barking now, maybe the owner has them under control.
SIT
Wow, the dog is trained, I wonder what all its trained to do.
STAY
I hope it does stay, but it seems like she has it under control. I wouldn't want to bother this lady.