I did a search on this and couldn't find anything, sorry if this is a repeat question. A couple of issues here, so I posted on general conversation.

I am currently sitting in a coffee shop watching my 20 month old GSD bark at strangers walking by while he is waiting for me in the truck. He started this yesterday, this is his second time doing this, and quite frankly I am surprised at his actions (besides being p-ssed off to the nth degree). I have walked him (sat on benches, etc) around Walmarts, downtown areas, etc. since puppyhood, so he is accustomed to the environment and people walking by in this setting. I don't think this is the issue.

He has Sch3 parents, but we have him for a well trained family pet. He loves people, tail wagging body type when he meets them, so I don't think this is an aggression issue, although he could be "guarding" the car. He doesn't do this when I am in the car, so I can't correct him for it.

I am currently going through Ed's e-collar conditioning and as much as I want to turn the collar on for this, I would rather leave the kid home until the conditioning is done in a week or so. I don't want to let him get into this habit, better for him to be in his kennel at home than barking at strangers, imo.

When I am finally using the e-collar, I want to be out of the car and correct him for the barking/aggression(?) towards the people walking by. So here is my question:

I will be standing behind a car close by, but he won't know I am there. I have two options when I correct him;

1. To let him know it is me that is correcting him like I would in standard training.
Or
2. To not let him know it is me - like the invisible fence, or the bark collar.

Which would you choose?

Thanks in advance

Personally, I don't have a problem with the dog barking at people while in the car. He's just being protective of "his" car which is just something that I feel is natural. My dog does this all the time, but I'm also doing Schutzhund training with him.

I don't have a lot of experience with e-collars, so maybe someone else can chime in, but I would be worried that he would begin to think the strangers are causing this to happen. He might begin to get a little standoff-ish around people. You say he is fine when out of the car around people, so I would be happy with that. My dog barks his head off when in the truck, but take him out and he's a friendly, sociable, confident dog.

Just my opinion. Good luck.

Andrew,

maybe you're on to something. He barks at me when he is outside looking at me when I am at the sliding glass door - he simply wants me to come outside and play/train. Hmm..

I guess I don't want him, at this age, to get used to barking at people in case it turns into something more.

Geoff, I'd wait on the correction for that until you hear opinions from some others. I don't mind my dog barking at people outside the car. But I have protection training in mind for him (he's only 8 mos now). I could be wrong by letting him bark, but at this point, not really knowing how that ties in with protection training, I don't want to correct him for something that I'm not sure about yet.

Good point, Sandy. Personally, I allow my dog to bark while he is left inside my truck, alone. Upon my return, he needs to remain quiet, and he knows this. If the barking is really bugging you, then a No-Bark collar would probably work best for your situation.

If you decide to let him know that the correction is coming from you, you will have to use low-level stimulation. Using low-level stimulation might discourage him from barking in your presence. However, it is not enough to discourage him while you're away. He will most likely take a chance, and he will very soon realize that stimulation is only there when you're there.

To discourage him, without your presence, you will have to use an avoidance correction, as you had mentioned (to use the e-collar like a no-bark collar). Avoidance corrections require you to use high-level stimulation right from the get-go. You start high, and stay high. Ed says to use high level medium stimulation for soft dogs. You've probably already read about this in Ed's article on theory of corrections.

I have personally used avoidance corrections (my dog used to explore the kitchen's garbage bin), and they work very well. It will only take the dog a few training sessions for the dog to realize that it is not allowed to do/touch something, period. If you ask me, using avoidance corrections for your situation sounds to be unfair to your dog.

I've never had experience with No-Bark collars, but I know that the Tri-Tronics No-Bark collar allows you to change stimulation levels. Also, the No-Bark collar will completely eliminate the issue about your dog realizing that stimulation is only there when you're there. Ed sells this collar, but it costs $110.00. If you bought the e-collar specifically for the barking issue, no worries. The e-collar has many uses! My 2 cents

Can I borrow your dog? Maybe my 2 will learn to bark at people in the truck when I'm not around. They only seem to bark when I'm there with them.

I do however have to tell my GSD regularly to shut up when he's just barking for the sake of barking, but it's not hard to tell the difference in the bark. Deep vs. high pitched and whiney.

Personaly for me I like my dogs letting anyone know that my car would be the wrong one to break into.We have alot of that here in Vegas.(it's a big problem) SO for me heck bark at anything that comes near.It does not bother me.One time I was coming out of the sotre and my car was rocking back and forth with my dogs going nuts barking in it at this bum that was sitting right against the car next to mine.So I guess he picked the right car to sit against , not mine..Why stop a GSD barking at strangers?

I agree w/the majority here.

If the dog's not damaging the interior of your truck or his crate, let 'em bark. If he enters into destructive behavior OK correct him.

If you must, then I think the no bark collar is the trick as he'll be corrected always instead of only when you're watching.

Having said this, what happens when you do want him to bark someday?

I just have a family pet, no PPD, etc. and I don't know that much about training - that's why I come here. But I disagree with the majority to the extent that I want to be to control my dog when I'm there. I want to decide when it's o.k. to bark or allow a bark or two vs. using a bark collar to stop all of it.

When I first got my 1-1/2-yr-old rescue GSD a year ago, she would basically go ape $#!+ at everything outside the car - people, other dogs, any creature moving within a 50-yd radius. I have no problem with some barking, but I wanted her to learn "no bark" for most situations when I'm in the car and don't want the distractions of dealing with her while driving.

It took about a dozen sessions with an annoying little squirt of water in her face and "No bark!" and she got the message - and of course follow with praise when she complies. I can still selectively allow her a few barks at freeway offramp panhandlers and such and then "It's o.k., no bark" will quiet her down. If I see her in the back starting to zone in on someone or another dog, I can give her a "no bark" before she starts and she'll just continue looking. This training has carried over to the extent that she is less aggressive now when she's in the car alone. Most of the time, she'll just watch things calmly, but then she is a little older, too.

Mike

Thanks everyone. I guess I was over reacting. He just went through a period where his usual, obedient self decided to question every command. I didn't like that attitude change - chalk it up to adolescence(?). He is now back to normal, but I was worried that this recent barking may escalate to an aggression issue that wasn't there before. Maybe I've been reading too many "aggression threads" lately...

At home, if someone comes to the door, he barks like crazy, and then obediently goes to his "place" and waits for me to say it's ok to come over and say "hi" to the visitor. That's exacly how I want it, so why not in the car? Now that I think about it, I've seen posts here asking how to train a dog to bark at the door - no worries here and I'll count myself lucky. I guess he's just being a "perfect gsd" and doesn't need any correcting for doing what he is supposed to do. He looks kinda scary though

Thanks again all, just me being silly I guess

Mike, thanks for the reply. He won't bark when I tell him not to, at least most of the time ;-)