Yep, she's probably "claiming ownership" when she does that! With most dogs, that's not more than an annoyance, fortunately. However, I firmly believe dogs shouldn't be annoying!

What does she do AFTER she sits in front of you, though? Does she quickly adapt and relax, or is she "guarding" you the entire time someone is there? If she quickly settles down (and I teach all my dogs "Hush" or "quiet"... it can take awhile, but with treats and consistency, they DO learn to quiet down when I say) and stops "guarding" you... it probably isn't a big problem. In essence, she's "informing" you that there is a "stranger" in the house.

What I would do (if it's a transient thing) is to basically reassure her... a quick pat and a calm statement that "yep, I see! Dustin is here... that's ok, it's allowed" (or similar statements) and then walk away from her. If the visitor is a frequent visitor and you want the dog to accept their presence, have them offer her a treat when they first come in.

To a certain extent, this is normal... our dogs do learn to accept very frequent visitors (our hired kid, for example) coming in without barking... but if that door opens and "the family" is all inside, they WILL bark, even if it turns out to be someone they know well.

And some dogs are just dumb... we had an Aussie cross who would bark at US if we were wearing a different hat.. and she never did learn our truck! Once she figured out it was "us", she shut up and was fine.

Oh, and the working dog command "that'll do" is immensely useful for any dog. In herding dogs, it means "stop what you're doing and come to me" (work's over). I use it when they are barking, for the same command.

The first "trick" in training (and very useful in puppies, where "training" is sort of limited to keeping things out of reach while they grow up!) is DISTRACTION. When a pup is getting into something he shouldn't, you don't discipline them... you find a toy and offer it in place of the shoe or whatever they found. At most, you use a mild scolding, while replacing the object: "no shoes!!".

If one of ours doesn't want to stop barking, I'll use the "that'll do" command... but then will offer a treat or a toy to get their mind on something else. Sometimes it can be tricky to find the half second "quiet" time to reward... but it will come, so be ready to offer the treat as soon as they shut up!

Summerthyme