Hello everyone! I have been involved with Schutzhund for only about seven months and have a situation I need some input with. My dog is a German Shepherd who just turned one year old with good bloodlines(Troll grandson with Natz, Fado,Orry,Mink)on his dams side and Mink is his great grandfather on his sire's side.His father was a dual purpose dog in patrol and narcotics that was a very, very hard dog. I have had my shepherd since eight weeks of age and have socialized the heck out of him since day one. He loves to play with other dogs and loves playing with anyone who will. When walking on a leash he allows people to pet him, loves to go up to other dogs to check them out, has never much as barked at another person. At home we have a chain link fence so he can see everything and he is always outside. If a person enters the yard he will bark, if they keep coming he will bark louder and if they go up to the door he goes ballistics! He will run along the fence to get a look at them and eventually he will try and climb the fence by the door. If these are people he knows he will let them come up and pet him and he will stop.His hair does not stand up, his ears are erect, but he does try to make himself look larger in these situations.I have a very difficult time getting him to calm down but if I throw a ball he will chase it and settle down. Question: What is the best way to train him to be quiet in these situations and let him know these people are not a danger to us?
Thanks Kenny

Kenny, this dog is a puppy. If you dont control this behavior at this age with these bloodlines you can have a moster at 3 1/2.

Get a dogt crate and use it. Train this dog with a prong collar. Allowing the dog to have the kind of access to strange dogs is a huge mistake - read my article on dog parks. What you are doing is a accident waiting to happen - then you really have a mess on your hands.

If I may add to Ed's post, Throwing a ball to calm him down is only rewarding his behaviour.

Thanks for the info! I do have a crate and walk him with a prong collar. I must have left the impression I take him to dog parks which I dont believe in. He is always on leash outside of our fence. Are you saying he should be crated all or most of the time when he is outside and not to allow people to pet him when I walk him and expose him to other dogs? Will simply crating him when he wont stop barking stop this behavior?
Take care. Kenny

Mr. Lopp,

I agree that throwing a ball is a form of reward or approval for the dog's behavior and not a great idea.

Do you want the dog to respond when people come in the yard? Is the issue the enthusiasm with which the dog responds? Or do you wish the dog to observe but not respond very much?

Anyway, by your post I concluded that you don't want the ramping-up of, for lack of a better word, aggressiveness. Without trying to be a smart-butt, does your dog fully understand the command 'no, 'nein,' or 'pfui?

If you want the dog to change its behavior you have to address the behavior in a manner in which the dog is encouraged change.

It is a problem. We want our dogs to alert us to stuff, like people visiting, but we don't want the dogs to be viewed as intimidating or out of control. Or too noisy. It can be hard.

If the thing you want to accomplish is to stop the dog from being quite so noisy and enthusiastic, you might try working on a command like 'enough.' I use it when my dogs have been going on for a minute or so of barking. It probably means the same as 'no' to them but I use it in situations when the two of them are getting a bit too enthusiastic, and only after they've had a little time to get stuff out of their system. Works for me. Probably the same as a 'stop' command for some. And they are getting to the age where they realize a little barking/alerting when they are outside is OK but a marathon is not going to fly.

If the dog barks a bit and then quiets down, the ball might be a good reward.

That stuff probably didn't make much sense...

Mike- You made sense. My original question was what specific training I needed to do to have him stop barking and calm him down when there is no threat. I like your suggestion concerning teaching what enough means. I only mentioned the ball to let respondents know something I did a couple times to calm him down.