Stopping Dog Barking At People Walking Past Our Property

[fiveplusone]

Our garden is at the front of our house. Its surrounded by secure six foot colourbond fencing with a wrought iron gate that our 9 month old GSP can see through. He's an awesome dog and has really been very easy but the issue we are having with him at the moment is that if someone walks past the gate (or comes to our gate) he goes beserk barking and he won't stop when I tell him too. We live near a primary school so lots of kids walk past and he scares little kids!

He is also doing this to some people who come to our side door. some people he calms down once he sees who it is, other people he just keeps barking at. When we know someone is coming we get treats out and make him seat etc but most people are unexpected.

Whats the best way to deal with this? in some ways I don't want to stop him barking completely because he is a good warning device and has a nice deep bark to ward off any undesirable people....but I don't want to be known by kids at the school as that house with the scary dog!

[Kavik]

Have you tried putting something over the gate so he can't see through?

[Dame Aussie]

Have you tried putting something over the gate so he can't see through?

Yep, this is what I'd be trying first. If it doesn't work then I'd do some training with him. Maybe get someone (friend/family etc) to walk past and reward him if he is quiet?

[Red Fox]

I also have a dog who goes off his nut when someone lingers aound the gate or comes to the door. (A passer-by normally just gets a couple of woofs) but to be honest I don't mind it - I like having that warning if someone is hanging around without invitation.

Is your dog crate trained? Will he go to his crate on command?

This is how I manage Kei's behaviour. If a visitor comes to the door I will send him to his crate, then depending on who the visitor is I will do one of 3 things.

1. Let him out to say hello (if he knows the person and is okay with them).

2. Wait until he calms down, open the crate, allow him to check the person out (providing that person is ok with dogs). After which he will go off and do his own thing.

or

3. Leave him in his crate until the person leaves.

If you are having trouble with school kids walking past then I would either be keeping your dog inside (with the door shut), or crating him during those times. (Say 8:25-8:45am and then again at 3:15-3:45pm) You could give him a Kong or a treat to chew on while he's in there too so that he looks forward to it

Is there any reason why he must be in the front yard during the day though?

[skip]

I take it them that there is not much back yard? I have a fenced front yard but the dogs don't get unlimited access unless I am home cause they would bark at people passing by.

And I have a side gate that is colour bond so they can't see out. At one stage I had temporary wire so I covered it for a while with black weed liner cloth until gate arrived.

Good luck with training him to stop. Mine so think it is their job I just put them away from the front mostly.

[fiveplusone]

Thanks for your replies.

There is no back yard, the front yard is THE yard so no option for him to be anywhere else. He does use a soft crate at night and happily goes straight in there after his final toilet break but he only goes in during the day if he wants to so he wouldn't go in there on command but no reason why I couldn't train him to do that. Silly, I hadn't even thought of his crate for when people come to the door.

Most school days he is either inside with me or we are on a walk but this week he just seems to have become quite a bit more vocal about passers by. Must be him being a teenager. He has also become a bit more cheeky this past week with stealing things and running off with them so I think he's testing his boundries. As if I didn't have enough touble with 3 human teenagers in the house!

[oakway]

In your case an electric collar could be the best solution.