murphymoo

Thanks those training tips are really useful, we'll start using them straight away. Sorry if I'm really ignorant, but what is a 'throw can'? I don't think the issue is too out of hand yet so there is time to resolve it. The neighbour who complained (from the street behind) knocked on my next door neighbour's door after trying our door as we were at work. But yes we are definitely taking a proactive approach.

Corvus - are there any training techniques you've used that have helped Erik learn to discriminate between the different types of noises? I like the fact that he warns us about possible intruders etc, it's just the day to day noises (my neighbour putting his rubbish out, gardening etc) that I would really like to discourage.

Unfortunately it's not really possible to do this as it's our whole side fence. He listens out for the neighbours even when he's inside the house (when they put things in their bin etc) and sometimes does a low growl before running out and barking. We often close the door to keep him inside with us when we're at home so he doesn't bark and annoy them. I think we have been a bit too soft and not established ourselves as the leader. Hopefully the training/new fence combination will work. Thanks for all your help!

Thanks for your help, It sounds like the training is the way to go at first. I guess if that doesn't work we'll try a citronella bark collar. I'm hoping the new fence will help too as he won't be able to see into our neighbour's yard as easily.

We have done a little bit of obedience, to be honest not enough. We are going to enrol at a new club this Sunday and stick to it. He is allowed in the house all the time when we're at home (free access to both inside and outside), but is in the back garden when we're at work. He sleeps inside too. There has been fruit bats and possums in our back garden at night recently which he has run outside to bark at. I think we might be 'rewarding' his behaviour by calling him inside. I'm not sure whether we should be waiting until he is quiet and then calling him in.

Thanks that's a great idea. He gets a 20-30 minute run at the dog park every morning and also a 30 minute walk in the evenings. I thought that was enough given his age and large breed but perhaps we should be doing more. I didn't think it's boredom related as he does the barking when we're at home too.

I have a beautiful 14 month old GR called Murphy. Recently we have had some trouble with him barking over the side fence at our neighbour. This happens both when we are at home and at work. I'm pretty sure he has decided that he needs to guard our property for some reason. When he sees the neighbour on the street or in our front yard he doesn't bark and in fact is quite submissive (rolling over for tickles). Our neighbour is very sweet and hasn't complained, but yesterday he mentioned that the neighbour at the back was around while we were at work to discuss the barking problem. I haven't had a chance to speak to her yet, but clearly action is needed. So far this is my action plan, but I would really appreciate any tips or suggestions on how to resolve this: 1. We are installing a new side fence that is the standard 1.8 metres high (the current fence is only about 1.4 metres high and pretty old and Murphy can see through gaps and see the neighbours head above it 2. We are going to take Murphy to obedience training, we did this about 6 months ago, but to be honest got a bit lazy and stopped going 3. We are trying to teach him the speak and quiet commands I would really appreciate any ideas or tips on how to resolve this quickly, as I can understand how annoying it would be. Especially I'm not sure on what we should be doing when Murphy is barking when we're at home (i.e. how should we tell him to stop without reinforcing his behaviour) Thanks in advance.