Timid, excessive barking golden-doodle

I have an 18 month old golden-doodle. We did puppy obedience training & she did great. I have taken her on neighborhood walks, walks at the park & dog socialization activities.

For the first 6 months or so, everything went well. She loves other dogs, children & women. The problem arises when a man comes to the house. If it is someone she met when under 8 months old or so, she is fine. Any man after that, she goes nuts. Nothing agressive, just continuous barking. I have tried "no bark" command, to calm her. Tried having men give her treats, she gulps them down, then continues her barking. If I put her outside she will sit at the window where she can see the person, and continue barking.

I spoke with the obedience trainer. Her suggestion was to meet any men that need to come over, away from the house. Introduce her (Kodi) to him, then when all are comfortable, walk back to the house. That works fine with close friends or family, but obviously not for delivery people or not close visitors.

So I'm looking for help or any suggestions anyone may have.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

We find Roxy barks if near a window so now we really have to keep on top of it and make sure she is NEVER looking out the window, not even out the corner of her eye!

We did a lot of practise with someone ringing the doorbell and rewarding her when she was quite. Also if it got to intense we laid her down until she was quite.

Have you also tried distractions? getting her fave toy out and pretend to be doing something interesting with it until she stops barking and enquires as to what your up to? Im afraid I dont know much about the breed. But there are also some good bark alarms you could try.

Thanks Dobiegirl, May sound dumb, but I never thought of grabbing her favorite toy as a distraction. Guess I was too busy trying not to get too frustrated. I will definitely try it next time.

She is a great mix-breed. Mostly goes through life thinking the day was made for her & what a lovely day it is. When she is out in the yard & I call her she comes charging up to the door like "Oh my gosh, you want to see me! WOW!" Truly a joy to have around, as long as there are not any unknown men around.

Aww she sound lovely cadavelier, have you posted any pictures of her yet?

and dont worry, I know what you mean about the fustration thing

this thread might help http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=51339

Hi Jim it sounds as though some incident occurred between an unknown man and your dog, the incident may have involved fear and surprise which initially led to the barking, you may have inadvertently perpetuated the problem by having the strange men reward the barking with treats. See the bit I have highlighted above? she gulps them down, then continues her barking. she may have learnt barking at strange men = a reward.

I would use food rewards but in a slightly different way. I think it is a good idea for strange men to come to the house, and to meet your dog in as many situations as possible.

When a man comes to the house I would have him ignore your dog completely, no word no eye contact. The moment she stops barking then and only then have him throw her a treat from a distance still not looking at her. A number of treats can be thrown, this indicates to your dog that the strange man means good things, not looking at her means he poses no threat. You can have the same man go in and out a few times always adopting the same behaviour. When your dog accepts a man and doesn't bark, progress to the man bending down and calling the dog to him to receive a treat rather than the man approaching the dog, this poses less of a threat to the dog. Have him give lots of praise when she goes to him but no touching, eventually if she is comfortable with him he could extend a hand and gently stroke the dogs chest never the head or neck which can present a threat to a nervous dog.

You can also teach your dog to hush and bark on command as an extra aid....

First your dog needs to learn what the words 'bark' and' hush' mean with a game. To begin you need a 'prompt', a situation where you know your dog will bark and that can be controlled by you, something like someone ringing the bell or knocking at the door.


Take some favourite/high value treats like chicken pieces and stand inside the door, arrange for another person to stand on the other side of the door and ring the door bell and they must do this immediately after they hear you say the word 'bark', when your dog barks praise her, say good dog in a pleased voice;
..now show her a treat while she is barking and say the word 'hush' and your dog should stop barking to take the treat, she can't bark and eat at the same time,
..let her sniff the treat but don't give it immediatly, only give it when she has been quiet for five seconds, then give the treat and say good dog in a pleased voice.

Repeat the game until your dog gets the idea.You can fine tune it to allow a certain number of barks before you say 'hush' to allow your dog to do her job of alerting you . When she has got the idea only give the treats at random intervals then not at all , just give praise.

My present dog likes to sit on a chair-back in the window and watch for anyone going down the lane, she has been taught to bark three times ,it's quite funny if anyone passes, she barks three times and then turns to look at me as if to say is that ok ?


Here is an article by one of our members which may help too...

http://www.dogsey.com/dog-articles.php?t=8050