I have one more question regarding my new puppy, who is 5.5 months old. Again, we got her a couple weeks ago. She has been passed around in her short life, so who knows her history. She seems confident, but I don't think a confident dog barks at new things the way she does. I see this as insecurity. And, I do not see a pattern (except wheels) in her barking. Some things she doesn't react, some people she does not react to either.

Anyway, Ms Ida, upon seeing anything new (especially anything with wheels, such as cars) will go crazy barking at it. So far, I just casually walk towards it and let her see it, if possible. (mostly things around the property, such as parked lawn mowers, ect) If she just smells it, and realizes it is no biggie, then she will not react again. Except the vacuum. On or off, she goes absolutely APEY on it. Most new people, she will bark at, too. She doesn't act scared as she approaches the thing. She needs to get over this behavior, if I have any hope of taking her to shows in the future.

My question to you is, What should my response be when she acts like this? I am hopeful that as we progress in our engagement work, that she will be able to stay focused on me, and forget about outside things. Should I just redirect her to me?

If you marker train then you can use that to desensitize the dog to the vacuum cleaner.

Same with her reaction to most anything.

Start with the distraction at a distance far enough that the dog doesn't react.

Reward for her attention.

Over a period of time GRADUALLY shorten the distance between the dog and the distraction until you can be close to it with no problems.

With the vacuum cleaner you will want it to be in another room when it is on but it has to be far enough away so it doesn't create any attention.

Ok....that makes sense.