Excessive Barking

[Cathy, Josie and Piper]

Over the past couple of months Josie who is almost 3 yrs old has been barking more. When someone comes to the door she barks and growls until she meets the person. But if you didn't know how gentle she is you would be very nervous of her growling. Now if it's someone she doesn't know comes to the door I put her in the hall with the French door closed so she doesn't scare the person. I don't mind a bark or two, but not as much as she is doing. We have been getting her to sit 7 feet away from the door and tell her to stop before we open the door and that does help sometimes. She is a very friendly and happy dog and I know she would never hurt anyone. Also, now at night when she goes out the patio door to do her business, she is growling and woofing out the door and then barking down the steps. She barks at the neighbors when they are outing their back yard! I hated it when the other neighbors dogs did this to me, and now my dog is doing it!! I would welcome any suggestions to stop the barking, growling and the woofing in her throat. When we tell her to stop she doesn't stop barking.

[Melissa]

My Sunny did this excessively for most of her adolescence. Thankfully she outgrew it! Now just a bark or two if someone knocks on the door etc. She is more jumpy at night but overall though I was very worried at the time I'd say her vocal reactions have decreased 90%. She's one year old next week.

[Melissa]

I just want to add that I didn't really do anything about it though I tried to correct her. She just got less anxious I think with maturity.

[Cindy and Olive (Ollie)]

But Josie is almost 3 already, right? If I were you, I'd look at the Doggy Dan method - it's worked for us. It's great that you're sure she won't hurt anyone, but I'd be wary of letting her continue the noise, too. I think it's smart to put her in the hall and thus take her out of the equation. She just needs to learn that it's not her responsibility anymore after alerting you. I'm sure you can teach her that you take over and control the door and thus the 'safety' of the house overall. Perhaps some leadership stuff can let her relax and know you're in charge. My other thought is to exercise. Gotta love when they're tired and just plop down in the house! Best, PS feel free to pm me if you want the cliffs notes for the doggy Dan method ;)

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Hurley started doing the same thing about that age. I have not spent sufficient time working with him to correct it. But when he goes outside after he parks 3 times I tell him 'Hurley enough!. If he does not stop he has to come in the house. We have a security screen door on the front door. Hurley loves to lay there and watch the world go by while protecting his home. His bark is down right vicious but he is such a bluff. He is very friendly but cautious and backs away from people as opposed to going up to them. When someone comes to the door and he knows them he just gets excited and runs to get a toy for them to play with. If he does not know them and refuses to stop barking I send him to PLACE and that quiets him down.

We have a court yard in front with a gate. When deliveries are made some delivery persons will come up to the door to drop packages off and others will not even come in the court yard because of Hurley's bark.

I don't mind that strangers are cautious because of his bark. But consistent barking does lead to Hurley having to go to PLACE. In fact there have been times when Hurley goes to PLACE on his own after I have told him 'enough'.

[Laura and Angus]

I think it certainly warrants some type of training or intervention - you wouldn't want to let her escalate beyond barking due to fear. I think barking when there is danger is important, but barking all the time will not help you know if there's danger. It almost sounds like she has maybe developed some anxiety. Have you done any leadership-type training with Josie? We were taught to use "blocking" and other methods to indicate to our puppy that we are the ones in charge in the household. Our trainer taught us to "block" Angus when we walked down a narrow passage (e.g. hallway, stairs, and doorways). Meaning we literally would block him from trying to rush past us - he is supposed to stay behind us. We also make sure that Angus sits and we say "ok" to let him out of our car, out of the front door, or to get his food. This shockingly made a big difference in his behavior - he's only 10 months, but he really calmed down and stopped barking constantly at us when he wanted to play. We also worked on the "quiet" command for barking. I would let him bark one time and then if he barked again I would say "quiet" and we would wait a few seconds and give him a treat. We gradually extended the amount of time he had to stay quiet for a treat. He's much more responsive to the quiet command now. 

I'd definitely try some leadership training activities/"quiet" training to see if that improves Josie's barking at strangers. Definitely don't want her seeing every person as a possible "threat." Good luck with the training!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think you may need two slightly different strategies for these barking situations.  Barking when strangers come to the door is a pretty common behavior.  They are excited and they really want to check out whether there's any danger from the person at the door.  So you need to try to control the excitement and teach her that YOU've got it under control....as the leader you own the front door.  If you have the time (and a cooperative guest) you can work on having her sit at least 6 ft away from the door and wait while you answer the door.  During this training, I would have her on a leash so you can put her right back in her spot if she breaks.  We worked with a trainer on this, and it took several sessions before they would sit or down without barking.  If you can't do this, I would gate her away from the door and let her see that you are the one responsible for opening the door and bringing the visitor in....and don't let her greet them until she is calm.  I still do this if I'm expecting several people and know I won't have time to control my guys around the door.  As for barking as she goes down the steps and into the back yard, I think the only way to train this is to have her on a leash every time she goes out.  If she gets excited or vocal...take her right back inside and wait until she calms down and then try again.  She will learn, but it will take some repetition and discipline.