Barking at anyone who comes in the house

[jeannie.surber]

I adopted a 18 month/2year old German shepherd corgi mix I named Hershey 3 weeks ago. I live alone in a very rural area and do not have a lot of visitors but,when I do Hershey will not or at least takes a long time to stop barking at them. I did get a trainer to come to my house and it would take him 15 or even 20 minutes to get Hershey calmed down. Once he stopped barking he was great. Learned things pretty quickly and would even roll over for belly ribs from the trainer. Then the next day when the trainer came it was the same barking. Today my brother came over and unlike with the trainer I didn't take Hershey out on his leash to greet my brother I just let him in the front door and Hershey went crazy with the barking. He did not lunge or even to towards my brother he was backing up and barking. I finally got him in the back yard and got him calmed down and took him back inside where he sat on my foot and behaved. I get the impression Hershey was not socialised very well if at all. Without having much company and due to the long drive for friends and family to come visit daily any suggestions as to how to socialise him. As for walks I have been doing that but, have not seen any neighbors out at the same time so don't know how that might play out. Thanks for any and all suggestions.

Jeannie

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Greetings,

Your German shepherd is going through the adolescent stage and this is a time when there may be challenges. This article can help you know what to expect during this stage:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

 

Barking at visitors is not an uncommon problem. Below is a guide on how I tackle this type of problem. Although it discusses about the owner having problems with her dog barking at the boyfriend every time he entered the room, similar behavior modification takes place when dealing with guests. It takes patience and time for behavior changes to occur and it's important to go at the dog's pace. There are moments where there will be setbacks.

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

 

You are correct that living in a rural area can put a dent in socialization. Dog trainer Jean Donaldson calls this "suburban dog syndrome." Here's the thing, in rural settings, things get pretty static. And when dogs living in rural areas see humans under the form of delivery people or when they are walked and encounter a person in the distance or see visitors, all alarm bells are set off, as these stimuli turn out being perceived as "superstimuli." In other words, they are very salient presences that urban dogs encounter on a daily basis and could care less about.

 

With dogs as such, it's important to do "remedial socialization" making sure the dog is under threshold and prevented from rehearsing the barking through desensitization and counter conditioning, but this requires having guests over frequently, or taking the dog to places where there are people. Particularly helpful would be taking your dog to group training classes or enrolling your dog in a dog sport where Hershey gets to see people and other dogs and where he can keep busy and increase his confidence. Now, something worth precising though is that there are many dogs who do just fine with people outside of their homes, but still struggle with people coming over.

 

So having guests over in a structured setting would still play an important role, because the less people come over, the more the dog feels nervous about the situation. However, seeing people on walks or driving to places where there are people still is sure worthy.

 

Since you mention that you don't have much company and it's a long drive, then unfortunately, this leaves little room for improving the situation. And although the trainer coming to your home can implement behavior modification acting himself as a stimulus, there may likely be a struggle in maintaining any progress made if there will be no visitors coming over for a while as scarcity may cause them to become "super stimuli" once again.

 

As a starting point though, you can take advantage of delivery people or trash employees coming to collect the trash by practicing the "look at that" exercise in the Brain Training guide. This may give you a starting point. Below is the link:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

 

As for walks, you may need to find a way to make the most out of them by perhaps walking your dog when you know your neighbors may be leaving for work or coming back home or on weekends when most are home, perhaps gardening in their yards.

Edited June 22, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[jeannie.surber]

Thank you for your help. It seems I am doing the right stuff to help Hershey and that makes me feel better knowing that and having the input of others.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome! Keep us posted on how things go.

Best wishes,

Adrienne

[cammidge]

I'm in a rural area too, so it's hard to socialize dogs in the situation - I discovered lots of videos on You Tube that might help to desensitize him (which I'm using too) like fireworks, so maybe look for those, door bells, door knocking, voices etc.

[jeannie.surber]

Thank you. I have been looking at some of the you tube videos. Also doing some of the teaching him not to bark at people from the car. Fireworks, door bells and knocking are not a problem until he sees a person. Things have gotten a tad better as far as the seeing people from the car or walking past the house. It is slow going but going in the right direction at least.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Sounds like you are on the right track! Behavior modification takes some time, especially when the problem behavior has been rehearsed for a while, but if you were construct a graph and measure the behavior responses over time, you should see a steady progress, although there may be here and there a few setbacks.

 

With barking at people in the car, I have a driver and sit in the back seat with the dog. I carry super high value food (boiled chicken, baked liver strips) and every time we see a person I make a smacking sound with my mouth and present the food. The goal is creating positive associations and a strong conditioned emotional response at the sight of people. Start at a distance from people and pay close attention to not send your dog over threshold. If you notice a setback, evaluate carefully what may have caused it (too close, person was too loud, child moving fast? screaming? throwing a tantrum?) and take steps to prevent it in the future by taking some steps (feed several treats in a row, park at a distance, play music to buffer sound etc).

[jeannie.surber]

Hershey has gotten really good at not barking from the car at people in parking lots. He even knows to stop barking at the TV when I tell him to. He loves doggy daycare and doesn't bark when I drop him off or pick him up. They tell me he loves the other dogs and never barks. All this is great and I am thrilled!

That being said let anybody come in this house and it is on. He is a barking machine. I don't have a lot of company but,would like to visit with my grown children and friends without the dog going crazy. I hate having to "put him away " when anyone comes over. He simply will not stop barking if he can see anybody in the house besides me.

I am beginning to believe this is my life for the rest of his life. My family will never get to know what an awesome dog he is and I will not have out of town family over for a week end.

Any insight is appreciated

Jeannie

[Adrienne Farricelli]

So glad that you were able to reduce the barking from the car directed at people in parking lots and that you were also able to stop him from barking at the TV. This is not easy to accomplish for a dog prone to barking, so kudos to you for putting all the effort.

 

It's very natural for dogs to bark in the home. If we think about it, humans have selectively bred dogs for barking as they helped alert back in the days when we didn't have chain link fences and bolted doors. They alerted about wild life, other dogs and people getting close to properties. Their barking back then was a great gift, nowadays instead it's considered a nuisance as we rely on other ways to protect our homes. However, one thing is letting out 1-2 alert barks and then shushing and one is a dog barking non-stop, over threshold and in a highly aroused state.

 

You can read more about territorial behaviors in dogs here:

 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/overprotective-at-home/

 

This brain game has worked well as a starting point for both my Rotties (a dog breed known for being highly territorial).

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

 

Another helpful read to desensitize dogs to knocks and doorbells:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/

 

Now more and more trainers appear to agree that territoriality in dogs has some elements of fear incorporated. So this read showing my case study can turn helpful:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-barking-someone-enters-room/

 

Once your dog is calmer, training him to go to mat can turn helpful:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

 

Now a disclaimer is warranted here; please be cautious: when dogs bark and are in a highly aroused state, touching them or grabbing them by collar may lead to a redirected bite. For safety and correct implementation of behavior modification, it is always advisable to consult with a behavior professional.

 

Hope this helps!

Adrienne

Edited September 4, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli