My 2y/o shepherd barks frequently, especially if one of us are home. He does not bark as we've tried to "sneak into" the house, trying to see what he does. Neighbors have asked us if our dog even barks, as they never hear him.

If I am home, though, he barks frequently at a car door that slams outside, a cat out the window, the mailman, (anyone he sees even near the house, and especially with another animal.) He'll bark if my s.o. calls to me from elsewhere in the house, he immediately starts barking, annoying us as we're trying to hear the other. He barks when my s.o. comes home and I'm alreay home (but is usually just a little exciteable when I come home if the s.o. is here, but he doesn't bark for me.)

He quiets down quickly once given the command "enough", but five minutes later he'll bark again. It's really annoying! He gets lots of walks. He's great with lightning/ fireworks/ other loud things like that. Is it just in his nature, being a "watchdog?" I've tried correcting him (but like I said, he does stop when told.) I've read other posts here about barking, but haven't found any that fit my situation. I've tried giving him a command, and that works, but then again, five minutes later he'll be at it again. Am I just being oversensitive here, and this is normal dog behavior?

It's almost like he's "jumpy" and hyper-vigilent when one of us are home.

Stephanie,

My GSD is the same way<g>. She tells me when my husband walks in the door; first, she'll run to the door, barking, to tell me someone is there, then when she sees it's him, she'll come to tell me he's home! Soon as I thank her, she's fine. She also helps when I call him for dinner, or anything else. She alerts to unauthorized critters anywhere near the house. She'll quit as soon as I tell her "enough" or "quiet," but IMO, this is what most GSDs do...tell you when something is going on in your environment.

I've always reinforced her telling me when anyone is on our property, whether it's a vehicle coming up the drive, someone walking, anyone on the porch. To my way of thinking, that's just part of her job, and as long as she stops when I ask her to, I don't consider it a problem.

I have no way of knowing, but I'm not sure that she does this when we're not home. I think she mostly goes into screen saver mode. If someone were to ring the doorbell, I do think she'd be barking, tho.

If you want to train your dog that a quiet command extends for longer periods of time than the five minutes yours seems to give, you can. For example, my girl and I travel a lot, and stay in hotels and motels. I don't want her barking at all in those situations...at everyone walking down the hall, opening/closing their doors, using an elevator,getting in and out of vehicles in the parking lot, etc. You have to be aware of when your dog is going to start up, and stop it before it does. I do not have to physically correct my dog for this, I just shush her before she starts up and tell her "good quiet" when she listens to me. It's like anything else in dog training; you want to prevent the unwanted behavior before it starts, which requires a lot of attention and management. But, if you do it consistently, they do get it in time.

And, it does take time. When she was as young as your dog, we were still heavily into serious, ongoing management. But, persistence pays off.

leih merigian

Our last shepherd NEVER barked! Though we lived in an apt and trained her early on to not bark at anything, even people walking by right outside our door. In fact, we had taken her for a short time to a local Schznd club (abbrev because I can never remember how to spell it!!) and everyone was so amazed, they tried everything to try to get her to bark on command, but it never happened!!

It does seem like there's certain times he's more "jumpy".

Yeah, I've heard of some GSDs that don't bark, but I've never personally known one<g>.

If he seems more jumpy at some times than others, maybe you can try to notice if there are any circumstances that tend to happen at those times...less exericse that day? More people coming around?

Then again, sometimes there's just no way to know what's going on in their little brains.

Good luck with it<G>

leih merigian

If he is only barking when you are home, then he is probably taking your reaction as a reward, even if you aren't intending it that way.

I was unsure from your post if that (only barking when you were home) was the case or not.

Of course I can't know for sure he doesn't bark when we're not home, but I don't think he does. We've tried sneaking in on him (and witnessed him hiding, quietly peering around the corner to see who was coming, not making a noise.) I've tried letting it go, just ignoring him, but it's like he gets ramped up by his own barking and will bark and bark. So then I silence him, but yes, it is a reaction on my part.

I am having trouble with my 8mo dog. He flips out if I go outside the front door and he is in his crate. He will bark nonstop until I come back in(sometimes for 30 minutes)
This has become somewhat of an issue if my husband is sleeping because it wakes him up. If my husband is not home I just go outside and do what I need to do and ignore it.
I have his crate in the office so he sees me walk out the door, maybe I should move it and try to be sneaky? Or should I try to teach him not to bark in this situation?
He will be quiet until I am out the door for about 6 seconds. If I come back in he will quiet down so I don't want to be in a situation where he is controling me. Just very frustrating for my husband.

Hi Elizabeth.
Good questions, and I'm sure you'll get a ton of answers (I know I have advice for you). However, if you go here:
http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=newpost&Board=15
and start a new discussion, that will allow everyone to reply without "hijacking" the original poster's thread.