My 4-month-old German Shepherd puppy barks when he sees certain dogs on our neighborhood walks, do you have any tips?

I have a 4-month-old GSD and I am very aware that they can be vocal/whiny/barky however, I am determined to prevent this behavior via management and controlling his environment. When he sees certain dogs in the neighborhood (large, fluffy) he does a bark when he is not engaged in something/activity. most of the time he sees a dog, looks and easily can move along, but certain larger fluffy dogs can elicit a bark. So far the bark doesn't turn into anything more(it's a bark or two and I can redirect him or sometimes correct which works) but do you have any tips moving forward? Wondering if there are more things that I can do for him to become indifferent while also understanding that he is a puppy and his emotional uncertainty towards things is expected.

Cindy's Answer

I've raised many GSDs and the first thing I evaluate is how confident that puppy is. Since I know that many GSDs go through a reactive barking phase that typically starts between 4-6 months old if I have a very solid and confident puppy I stop taking them into environments where there are triggers for this behavior. My current dog is 3 years old now and he was very solid and self assured but coming from working lines I knew the strong barking was a genetic tendency. Keep in mind that barking is very reinforcing to many dogs.

I took him to places for training and walking that were not residential or public spaces that were unlikely to have dogs. I go to our local office park where there is a trail around the businesses and it's my go-to for working with young, nervous or inexperienced dogs. If dogs were walking there I can see them from a long way off and can make distance while I work engagement.

As my puppy's mentor, I will start working on redirection and engagement long before the pup even notices the other dog, person, bike, etc... It's all about being very aware of your environment. Too many people wait til the puppy notices something to try to redirect.

You'll need to proceed cautiously if you have a less-than-confident puppy. One bad experience can set the stage for reactivity that will intensify over time. I tell puppy owners that neighborhood walks can be a goal but I don't practice walking my puppies in a neighborhood setting because of all the "moving parts" There are just too many unexpected things that can happen in a typical neighborhood that are beyond our control. It's not ideal for training a puppy, especially one with reactive tendencies.

I'll recommend some training material below. In the Come When Called course you'll see footage of me walking my 3 year old dog in this environment on a busy day, he's a real busybody and we're always working on redirection. When he was a puppy I only took him out on this path on rainy days or weekends when there were no people around.