I agree all dogs will behave differently, but Syd isn't a barker, if the doorbell goes he just looks at me as if to say, you gonna get that? After 3 weeks in kennels we could not shut him up, he barked at everything and anything. It took 3 weeks to get back to normal and Syd is a very laid back dog.

Thanks shaza, I hope her OH agrees too, Would be nice to just come straight home to her, its only a week at the end of the day

Trouble, did you have to train Syd not to bark at the doorbell or did it come naturally? Roxy is pretty random, sometimes she will bark if someone knocks and others she completely ignores it

He's a Dobermann it comes naturally to bark, but I was trying to train him not to bark at dogs on the t.v, Which is the only time he ever barks at another dog except in play. Anyway, with the help of Stephen King well known behaviour counsellor who just happened to be who we did Syd's puppy training with. We tried to teach him to stop barking at the t.v (teach speak on command, then teach enough) Frankly I felt it all went a bit wrong, had no effect whatsoever on his t.v barking and would never recommend teaching a Dobie to speak. I have now got his t.v habit more or less sorted, but it's a work in progress.( it all took a step backwards when we got surround sound ) He obviously hears things we can't and his eyesight must be brilliant, because they don't have to make a sound, even cartoon dog's are not exemp. Syd doesn't think he is in charge round here he defers to me at all times so it was quite easy to get him to ignore the bell, because he ignores most noises ( really good with fireworks etc.)
Rio is probably a better comparison because they are about the same age, she gives a couple of woofs at the doorbell or someone coming in with a key, which I don't object to as she stops when told, then just sits all alert waiting to see who it is. Syd seems to have worked out for himself, if they are using a key, it's not even worth raising his head, but for the doorbell, he looks at me as if to say " you gonna get that or what" . Unless I say "who is it Syd" then he becomes all alert and comes to the door with me. I did put in a lot of effort with Syd as a pup with noises and it obviously paid off, we are quite a noisy household anyway, so most noises just get taken in their stride. We used to ring the doorbell and let him see there was no one there, or it was just us messing about playing a tune. I clearly bored him stupid with it all.