Hi,

I have a doberman puppy 70 days old , the past few days I have noticed that he barks at other stray dogs that happen to be crossing my house via my street. He runs up to the fence and barks. He has also started barking at strangers who come upto my fence. I want him to do that, but I dont much care for him barking at stray dogs. Should I give him a verbal correction if he barks at dogs ? Right now I praise him , when he barks at strangers and ignore him when he barks at dogs.

Will it harm his guarding instincts if I correct him for barking at other dogs?

BTW, today I took him for a walk and decided I would try and teach him to mind me and walk by my side ( sort of an informal heel). He got excited and was pulling ahead, I gave one pop of the leash and corrected him and started praising him when he minded me and walked by my side. In no time , he caught up with the idea and he walked all the way back while I was just holding the end of his leash in the palm of my hand with fingers open. Just too happy about that.


Anyway, should I take any action on the barking at strange dogs?


Ram

I would suggest not allowing the puppy to bark at dogs OR people just walking by.

You'll regret the decision to allow him to bark at people walking by, minding their own business, in the long run.

He's very young, so it shouldn't be too hard to undo any habits that have begun to form. Keeping him on a line in the yard and distracting him with dogs or people walk by, should be all it takes to break the habit at this age.

Thanks for your input. I will follow that.