Geoff,

I have the same situation with mine at home with people coming in or to the door. She goes crazy each time, especially when she's outside. I used to fight it 'til I had a trainer who I respect tell me, Hey, you have a GSD, what to do you expect? So, taking a tip from her, I now approach it a couple different ways. If I expect someone, I'll have her in the house, near the door, in a sit/stay and let her observe while my wife meets, greets and lets the person in. No attention is given to the dog for minute or so until she can stay calm. Then when she's released, after about 15 sec. of calm sniffing, she's perfectly content and wanders off. It's a little harder to practice this exercise when you're by yourself, but it's doable. And it's important to get your visitor/guest(s) to cooperate by telling them to totally ignore the dog when they arrive.

I'm continuing to work with her on leash to meet and greet the UPS/Fedex/pest control guys so she knows it's o.k. for them to be on the property.

Mike

i'd like to go back an emphasise the person's (apologies, i missed who said it, and don't feel like pushing "back") point about the dog seeing it as *his* car.

my dogs seem think of the back of my suburban like they would their crate - i theorize that with the tinted windows, some comfy blanket and maybe a toy in there, that they view it as a mobile den. in the beginning my dogs hated the car, and my wife feels bad if we have to go somewhere that they have to stay there for a while, but what i'm trying to say is they absolutely love it. my dogs are deliriously happy if i just take them outside, put the tailgate down and let them sit in it for 10 minutes, even if we don't go anywhere!

so assuming my theorem is correct, i can definitely see where the behaviour comes from. how/if you curb it is probably entirely up to you. personally, as someone else (again, i'm sorry ) said, i don't care if they bark if i'm not in the vehicle at the time. i don't much care for a dog barking in my ear if a motorcyclist pulls up along side of us. :|