Barking at people

[Kristin Foti]

 My 7 month old female goldendoodle is very sweet and loving. However, when she encounters anyone, she barks and barks. Even if it is some one she knows, it takes her a minute to settle down. Sometimes she flips out really bad. It is embarrassing.  How do I get her to stop barking so much at people? We have tried discipline, positive reinforcement, and nothing has worked. I am close taking her to obedience classes. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[F, Calla & Luca]

Obedience classes are a great idea.

[Ricki and Tara (doodle)]

I agree that obedience classes would be helpful. Not so much with the barking directly, but indirectly by establishing and reinforcing your authority and bond with your doodle.  At 7 months, your doodle is still just a baby and learning how to behave properly in the human world.  Similar to chewing and digging, barking is a natural behavior for a dog so you're asking them to NOT do something that is natural and instinctual for them to do. Some people have had success teaching their dog to "speak" on command and then they are able to use the "no speak" command to inhibit barking but I haven't tried this myself so don't know how successful it may be.  I taught Tara the "enough" command. LOL This means whatever she is doing she is to stop NOW.  I use it with barking and with kissing because she is an exuberant kisser! I did this by removing her from the situation to a distance where she could be calm, giving her the "enough" command and rewarding her when she stopped. But you have to be really consistent and it does take some time.  Now she stops barking but she makes all kinds of grumbling and mumbling noises that are pretty funny and not annoying. I didn't want to teach her not to bark at all because I appreciate her alarm barks when a stranger is at the door or outside.

[Jen W]

My 8 month old would bark every time she saw someone on a bicycle. And not just bark but bark nonstop and flip out so that she'd be flying around on the leash. Living 3 blocks from a bike trail and in a bike-friendly community, this was a huge annoyance and embarrassment!

My trainer said that every time a bike approached I should give her the sit command and then just feed her treat after treat until the biker passed. It took less than a week for her to associate bikes with treats and now when she sees a bike, she sits and looks at me ready for her treat. No barking!

You could try the same approach. But I definitely recommend obedience classes, too. My pup is about to start Obedience 2 and I can't imagine how much harder life would be if we hadn't gone to training classes right off the bat.

[Heather & Brinkley]

Brinkley is 3 1/2 and he developed barking and dog reactiveness about a year ago.  He'd just go buck wild when he saw another dog on our walk. If you didn't know him, he looked scary.  We've been doing the same treat routine that Genevieve suggested above. We don't have a 100 percent track record yet but he's gotten much better.  I will continue on with this for quite some time to make sure he's okay around other dogs.  Walks became a very stressful time for me until we did the treat training and it started to work.  I'm still aware at all times of who might be approaching but we are getting better and better. 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I really think this is a great age to start some serious obedience training.  I really think the key to behaviors like this is to teach the dog what you WANT them to do versus what they are doing now.  There are a few ways to deal with this.  You can teach a solid heel, and then build up the distractions so she's able to heel right past them (other dogs, strangers).  You also might teach her to stop, sit, and focus on you rather than fixating and barking at the stranger.  I would reward with high value treats and/or affection.  No matter what method you choose, it will be helpful to work with a trainer.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

At 4.5, my dog still does this and he has had consistant obiedience training. Dogs bark, people talk. Sure, it can be annoying. Usually, if the person allows my dog to greet it pretty much stops :)
My trainer, thought a barking dog was a healthy sign. Makes sense to me. Certainly better than the shy, skittish dog. Dogs, primarily alert us! That's great too. But I do get the annoying.
Do go to training. Do understand a dog barks. If my dog alerts, I actually tell him thank you, enough, shhh.
For a puppy, it will take longer to perfect this behavior, because like I said- DOGS ALERT US. Dogs bark. Some basic behaviors are just natural. Good training though, will be great