burglary is on the increase where i live and i work nights.i was scared someone could break in while i was at work and my wife who is disabled was in the house on her own.so i got a german shephard (18 months old male) from the dogs home.i thought if anyone came near the house he would bark and put them trying to break in.the problem. i've got with him is he will bark when he looks over the fence into the next street and someone is passing but if strangers come to the house he is very friendly with them he dose not bark at them.
can you help please ( my e-mail mohumphries38@aol.com )

Clarify on what you are saying. Is the stranger in the house already? Does the dog bark when someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell?

Milt

I agree with milt in asking you to elaborate on a couple of things. You said you got the dog from the dogs home. Does that mean from a previous owner? Like Milt asked, does he bark when someone knocks or rings the doorbell? On the surface, based on the limited amount of info you gave, it sounds like when you let someone in your house the dog is friendly because he has accepted you as the leader and if its ok with you its ok with him. In other words, you have a pretty good dog. Also, how long have you had the dog?

HI,
when he's in the garden he if he see's someone going in to the house next door he will bark.but when someone comes to our house knocks on the door he dose not bark he wags his tail and licks them.he will do this if we let people in the house or if strangers call when we are out and he's in the garden.he's lived with us for 6 months. the dogs home is what you call dog pound
thanks for any help

Sounds like you have a nice dog. Probably a wonderful pet, just not the greatest "protector of the home" so to speak. I'm still not 100% clear on one thing. You said that once you let someone in the house he wags his tail and licks the person.(Which either means he accepts the person because YOU the pack leader has accepted the person or he is a Golden Retriever in disguise.LOL) Does he bark before you let the person in...like when they are outside the door? Or are you saying he will not bark at any point that someone comes to the house?

I too experienced this with my GSD. When she was younger (now 20 months) she didn't barked AT ALL and still in many cases she does not bark.
Also she is VERY social and goes up to people wagging her tail and ears down (not licking).
I think the biggest cause is that I got my GSD at 13 weeks and fokker took his pups everywhere in order to socialize.
But don't forget a GSD matures later then belgium shepherds. And it is just now 20 months of age that I see my dog change a little and starting to bark. I tryed a couple of test by making noise myself at the door or a friend of mine, but with this I soon came to the conclusion that my GSD is not stupid. Because at those times someone comes to the house who really does not belong there (not the mailman, sister, friend) or is new she is awake and I hear her. Also if I come home with my dog and someone was on our frontyard I know this because my dog is running around with her nose to the ground following the persons trail.

What you could do is find a PROFESIONAL HELPER which your dog does not know and test this and train this. This is what I plan to do only if my dog is past his 2 years of age or is fully mature. NOT TOO MUCH.

A while ago I was very concerned and posted this similar thing on a board. And most reply's where let your dog mature first. And also some people posted that there dog never barked but if something really happened to them their dog was there.

I have never had a problem with my dog not barking at the door it's usually at the wrong door. The dog gets conditioned to the doorbell ringing and knocking and automatically assumes it’s the front door. I could be in the basement knocking on the wall and she’ll run to the front door barking. I tell the story of how two guys are trying to brake in the patio door and my dog is facing front door barking. The two guys look at each other and say lets get out of here someone is coming.

milt

Milt

Am I the only one that gets your humor?

hi chuck,
he (knight) will not bark at any point i,ve tested him by getting a friend to come to the house while we where out(someone knight has never seen before)and he let him go into the house.i,ve found out why he will bark when he is in the backgarden he is wanting the person to come over and stroke him.
hi mickey,
profesional help is not possible at the moment i'm financially embarriassd

Vince,

I get it as well. Good one Milt.

Mo,

It's impossible to create something that is just not genetically possible. Before I get hammered by Richard, I'm not saying that I know for sure what kind of genes your dog posesses, and I realize saying this to you dosen't help you with your problem very much. I am only going by your description in your posts. Its hard to turn a well mannered friendly, polite lick you to death love bug into a tenacious guard dog. That would be like trying to change Richard Cannon into VanCamp.LOL <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I do realize that you would probably settle for a dog who would bark when someone comes to the door, as this is all that most people need. On the bright side, I'd say that you have a nice pet dog.