I have a question about my 6 month old male gsd. I noticed that throughout a day while outside with me, he barks at some passers-by, but not others. Now, I do want him to protect our home but not to come off as overly "scary" to people walking by. I guess I'm just not sure whether to allow this barking or not. (I should say that it is a more aggressive bark then his "normal" bark.)

Thanks

My dog does that, I praise him if he is barking at something that I want him to bark at - untrustworthy neighbor, someone on my property, etc. I ignore him in most other cases, n after he completely understood that barking at the window was OK with me, I started to tell him "good boy cujo, it's ok now" n he'll stop barking. I can set him off again or intensify an existing barking fit by tellhing him "who is that". Barking doesn't bother me at all, so I've always let him do it, I'll sleep thru it more often than not. I love the sound of a dogs bark, I wish I could make his "Speak" more consistent as anyone that read my other post would know.

As for neighbors - you need to decide what's more important - deterring people from breaking into your home, or letting your neighbors know that your dog's super sweet. The neighbors who's opinions I care about and trust not to break into my house know my dog is a nice well trained obedient dog, the people who I don't trust or don't know think my dog will take their arm off without a 2nd thought.