Barking at Strangers
 

Hi gang. Lately Sango has a terrible habit of barking and growling at strangers. New people that come into the house (ie. during the Holidays) and also at people when I take her out with me. I tell her to stop and tap her on the snout while shusshing her but she still continues. When we are at home I tell her to sit and sometimes she'll listen sometimes she wont. Even with treat in hand. After about 10min of barking & growling I'll urge her to sniff the person and ask them to give her a treat. (ONLY TO MY FRIENDS & FAMILY IN THE HOUSE, not in the mall outside) She'll sit take the treat, but still bark at them, grumble, & complain a lil' bit. (she's quite the drama queen) Any suggestions?

Oh girl I feel you on this one...can anyone offer us some advice? :confused:

I SECOND THIS BUT MINES AFTER THEY HAVE BEEN IN THE HOUSE FOR A LONG PERIOD OF TIME SHES MORE RELAXED!!! :)

*bump* anyone?

Sorry I can't help you I have a non barker!!! When ever we see the postman I always say "Smudger that's the postamn you're meant to bark at him" lol :rolleyes:

I'll bump this too, I have the same problem. :confused:

I have the same problem, especially outside the house. When she's in her energetic mood, she'll bark at strangers walking by, rollerbladers, dogs everything (especially when it's coming towards us). It's very frustrating, because she's such a sweet dog and not vicious at all. I find that when I have her smell the person or animal, she's okay. But I really don't want her to sniff if she's barking and growling at them. I think it's partly a territorial thing, like she's protecting me. Help anybody???

Mojo never barked until he started hearing our outside German Shepard bark...now if she barks (either at a bird in the yard or a car coming down the drive), Mojo barks. I think this is probably just normal for a dog though...and I don't find this annoying because it doesn't last and it is minimal. He is normally okay...just a quick bark or two to let us know that something is there...

UNLESS it is the postman or UPS driver - boy, then you better watch out. He has a fit over them! I was told to have them carry a treat, so the next time they come, they will be considered a friend with a chewy. I also read one another post not to hold them in your arms because they are more likely trying to protect you. BUT I don't know if I would put my little guy down at the UPS drivers feet!!! HA!

I would like to hear ideas and suggestions too!

How lucky are you! :D

You are SO LUCKY! I would love to know how to stop that barking mess too!!

This issue still isn't resolved for me. She barks at nighttime now also. She isn't crated, she sleeps on her puppy pillow next to my bed, sometimes she'll jump & sleep on the bed with us. She barks at every little sound she hears. People walking by etc. She still also barks at EVERYONE when we take her out for a walk. *sigh* Any suggestions?

Try getting them to bark and rewarding them for that, then say quite and then just reward for the quite.It takes a while, but ours is a work in progress but it seems to be working. We also use when outside a look at me command which we click and treat for , it takes their mind off the barking and gets them to focus on you.

I'll have to try that. Thanks for your suggestion :)

I've also taught a "quiet" command which usually works pretty well.

To teach quiet, when Joey was barking, I said "quiet" and in that one second that he stopped to listen to me, I said "GOOD! GOOD Quiet!". If he was still quiet while listening, he got "GOOD quiet. You're such a good boy. Let's go get your treat!". I gradually increased the length of time that I expected him to be quiet before he got his praise and his treat.

As far as the barking at strangers, from what I've read, you need to drastically increase her exposure to new people. Take her for MORE walks, not less. Take her to places where there are alot of people. While there, do as Julie suggested and try to distract your dog and give lots of treats when NOT barking. Do NOT reward barking with your attention. Dogs are like kids - negative attention is better than no attention.

I wish I had seen your original post. I would have told you to stop tapping her on the nose for barking at strangers. Strangers are stressful to her. She barks because she thinks you and she might be in danger. Tapping her on the nose increases her stress level and "adds fuel to the fire". So does yelling at her. She thinks "strangers come. they're scary. even mom gets scared. i know she does cause she starts barking (yelling) and lashing out".

As far as the night-time barking, I would do 2 things. I'd try to wear her out more in the evenings. Take her for those walks we talked about above. I would also consider buying a DAP diffuser. Vets here carry them; I'm sure they do in the States, too. You might even be able to find it online. It emits a scent that is soothing to dogs. It takes several days to build up, but if you're losing sleep, it might be worth looking into.

This is long. Hopefully, there's something here that you'll find useful.

My Husband saww something on the dog Whisperer and it worked for Chachi. He cupped his hand and put it over the dogs muzzle and said no bark. My husband did it it took a couple of times but it worked.