Puppy Barking At Neighbours

[Jigsaw]

My almost 5 month old koolie has just started to become aware of her territory. Unfortunately she has decided that the neighbours on one side - who have two children, a teen and a 4 year old - are people to be wary of. She is barking at them especially in the morning and the evening. They have come in once to complain about her waking the kids up in the morning (around 6.45 - 7am). She doesn't sleep outside this is just when she is let out for a wee in the morning and she stays out for a bit of air! I know she barks and it can be annoying!! However I have been observing her through the window to try and figure out why she is barking at them and these are my observations :

One I think it is the sounds, radio, young child's voice that might set her off.

Two she is uncertain about it as her ears are flattened and her hackles are up.

Three her barking is not the scare people off bark it is single barks, one after another.

I have thought about feeding her near the fence line so she becomes accustomed to the noises and they are associated with good things. She will "speak" on command, had to train her as she was barking a lot inside a little while ago, she only does a very quiet woof for this though! I don't know whether it would have anything to do with it but she does have some vision problems as well so maybe this makes her a little more aware of her territory???

Any other ideas?

BTW did tell the neighbours that she was a pup (which they knew) and it may get worse before it gets better but will try to not let her bark too early in the morning. Also heard the little one saying Be Quiet (when she was barking) when I was outside with her tonight so that's probably not helping my pup!

[melbournecritters]

Would the neighbours be willing to be a little involved for the sake of long term peace. If she knows the command to stop barking or be quiet you could ask them to give the command over the fence and then reward her for being quiet. If it is an issue of her being unsure of them this might solve that problem at the same time.

[Jigsaw]

Thank you for that idea, I had toyed with it earlier, but will now work on it with her and hopefully it may have some impact on the barking!