Barking at the neighbours

Hi all, I'm just after a bit of advice. We seem to be having some trouble with Zara and her barking.
Generally, outside of our road, she is fine with people passing. But, inside of the road, she seems to HATE all of our neighbours. I dread walking her though our road now, in case our neighbours are in their front gardens or are just nipping to the shops etc. This morning, my neighbour stopped me to have a chat, but Zara just barked and barked. Eventually, I successfully put her in 'down, wait' and she was Ok, she still grumbled though.
I know two of our neighbours dislike Zara, even when she was only eight weeks old, they kept telling us that she was 'going to be trouble' (they had a shepherd some years ago, but had to give him up at eighteen months old as he was too much to handle).

Any ideas about what I can do? I would really love to be able to stand and chat to the neighbours without Zara kicking off. When we take her for her off-lead walks, she is fine with me talking to people, she couldn't care less. Unfortunately, when she barks, a lot of people seem to say 'it's Ok' or make clicky noises at her to sooth her, but it just makes her 100 times worse.

I haven't really got the sort of neighbours I can just walk up to and say 'do you mind if I just have a quick conversation with you, I'm just training Zara.' They just aren't like that.

Honestly, I just feel like a complete and utter failure. She IS getting better, but it's still not good enough. Every time Zara barks at one particular neighbour, I get a snide comment such as 'I told you, you wouldn't be able to handle her!'

I have tried feeding her treats and saying 'good girl, quiet.' (when she is actually quiet) as we are going up the road, but it doesn't really work. If she wants to bark, she will, even with a mouth full of treats.

She also dislikes people trying to touch her, she will cower away and bark, which says to me that she is nervous. This could be because she was kicked and nearly punched by a weirdo when she was about four months old (long story, but she was off lead sniffing around and the guy just turned on her, he was a bit 'odd')

Personally, I think she needs some confidence, but I just don't know how to go about it?
She has never shown her teeth, snarled or bitten, but she does 'grumble' not growl, but the noise a dog makes when they are gearing up for a big bark.

It's getting to the point when I am considering getting her one of those muzzles that will keep her mouth shut (obviously not to be worn on hot days) but, that's not really going to train her into not barking is it?

I just feel like, at two years old, she should really be coming to the end of her basic training, I worry that I'm running out of time with her. I have been told by that neighbour that if she is still naughty after two years old, then I'm 'doomed' as she will be 'set in her ways'.
I hate to say it, but is that true? I would have loved to get her a doggy pal this year, but with the way her training is going, I just don't think it will happen.

Can anyone help? x

Oh, wow, I could have written this one. My Kira is now 2 years old, and has always barked at people passing by and is worse on our road.It reached the stage where I was almost not going out with her and was really stressed out and tearful at the end of our walks.

After advice from another forum I made a point of going into the village with her daily, and making her watch me and leave it every time someone passed by. Lots of stern sounds from me accompanied by treats if she looked at me. She is also a fearful dog, but with a need to be protective. I had to show her I didn't need her to do this. She also used to need to be "in front" on the lead. I must admit on a couple of occasions I got down to her level making eye contact, and really caught her by the scruff of her neck and told her off.

I started changing my walking pace from very slow to very fast to stop dead, without talking to her. She soon picked this up and was watching for my every step. After a couple of months of this it is as if a lightbulb has gone off in her head. She now walks nicely by my side with very little pulling, only when she is over excited. I think also because I am not constantly correcting her she is more relaxed on the lead. If I think she is looking too intently at someone, I either make her sit and look at me, or give her a "don't you dare" and a wag of my finger. She has stopped lunging at cyclists and joggers.

I'm still not quite at the stage where I can stop and have a chat with everyone. but at least I can say "good morning" in passing without her barking. We are not there yet, but when we QUIETLY passed a neighbour she has always barked at the other morning, I could have cheered. Still constant supervision needed, but now I feel we are both enjoying our walks.

So message is, don't give up, make her sit and look at you if you think she is going to kick off, and don't forget the treats. The worst part will probably always be the area close to your house because she will be territorial.

I'm like you in that asking for neighbours help was not an option, they look at you as if you have two heads when you dog barks at them!!

Please don't feel despondent or that you've somehow failed ~ you're not the first to have a dog that barks at people in or around its home territory & you certainly won't be the last! As for those silly people that told you that you can't train a dog after 2 years old ~ that's just nonsense. Lots of people rehome older dogs & successfully rehabilitate them or retrain them ~ there's no truth in that old saying about old dogs & new tricks

It sounds like your neighbours that failed with their GSD are just waiting for you to fail so they can say "I told you so". They may not have managed with their dog but there's nothing stopping you, so don't worry.

My dogs still bark at neighbours in the garden, or if someone comes too close to my car when it's stationary. The only difference is that they will stop when I ask them,(mostly ) but it's taken a long time to get there & these are soppy labs that tend to be friendly to strangers..

I wouldn't recommend using one of those muzzles that don't allow a dog to open it's mouth ~ even on cool days. And some dogs can still growl & snarl whilst wearing them. It is soooo important for dogs to be able to pant & breathe properly. Plus they can distort the dog's facial expressions & make it difficult for dogs to communicate & they don't solve the problem so the dog may get very frustrated not being able to give a warning bark. The only time I would say they should be used are for temporary handling purposes, with fear aggressive dogs, say, at the vets & therefore for only a very short time.

There are other things you can do with Zara to get her used to people in your road. Do you ever walk her with friends, family or relatives? If so, could they go for a walk with you & come back to your house? That would give you plenty of opportunity to practice quiet & calm waiting behaviour in your road. Or what about practising lots of calm behaviours when no-one is around? The idea would be to make Zara associate your road as a safe & secure place where she does lots of sitting & lying down ~ lots of treats & praise. But make sure that she is genuinely relaxed, calm & attentive ~ not just in a sit waiting to spring up again & watching all around her. You need to be able to reward Zara's emotional state, not just the physical movement or position.

I don't know the layout of your house & garden, but do you always go out of the same door? Do you have a driveway or front garden that you can practice in? These may be good places to practice in. And if you can explain to some kindly soul in your road that you are working hard to help Zara & would be very grateful for their help, then so much the better.

Best of luck with Zara ~ and please don't feel it's your fault. You're clearly trying very hard to help Zara & most genuine dog lovers will recognise this & not criticise you.

I assume what`s happening is that your neighbours are looking straight into your dog`s eyes? That`s what people do if they glare or if they are nervous.
Unfortunately it is a very rude thing to do in dog language - and is a direct challenge. So she barks in response.
If this is what happens, try to keep your dog`s attention on you - use treats. I teach a `Watch Me` command, holding the treat by my face and reward after a period of attention - start with seconds then build up to a bit longer.

I agree with the above. Kira is more likely to bark at someone looking at her.Unfortunately this also includes people who are looking at her because they like her.............

Thanks so much guys .
It's nice to know I'm not the only one who has had problems. Honestly, I have seen some really, really naughty dogs before, much worse than Zara, but when it's your own dog miss-behaving, everything seems so much worse.

I will keep going with her and substitute some of her afternoon walks on the beach with walking into town. We did this last week and to be fair, she was great, she just wanted to smell EVERYTHING! Only when she pulled me towards a bin to smell it, a man was putting some rubbish in there and he looked at her as said 'hello boy!' (people always mistake her for a boy!) this took her completely by surprise and she barked at him . But other than that, she was good.

I'll do more of that and sit her in the drive way etc. I just hate the thought of people being frightened of my dog- I don't blame them, of course, but it's not how it should be.

Yes- I do find people staring at her starts her off more. She does know the 'watch me' command, and will do it excellently at home, but outside, she will look for a second then look away etc. I need to work on that with her.

But thank you so much for all of your help, it is very much apprecited.