Hi,

I'm looking for some advice/tips to help deter my 16wkold GSD from barking at strangers when in the front garden (usually he's going to the toilet).

It's only really started to get worse over the past coupl of days but we want to nip it in the bud as early as possible.

Normally, when in the garden he will ignore most people and carry on with his business.  If they make a noise whilst ging past he'll sometimes start barking at them.  When he looks like he's about to bark he'll get a small tug on his collar and told 'No barking' this usually works he then goes back to doing his business.

We don't get many visitors to our house, but last week we had a surprise visit from our In-Laws (they can be very loud and no wonder the dog barked at him).  When he started barking we had him on the lead so we could have some control over him, when he continued we put him in his den in the corners of the room and closed the gate.  Eventually he settled down, so we let him out again (still on lead) but he started to bark again, visitor tried to give him a treat which he took and ate, but then started to bark again so back in to his den he went.  (Please bear in mind that In-laws are very loud, think they know everything about dogs [they know zilch] and was most probably very in his face and all arms, calling him and being over the top)

We do have some visitors my dad does comes every couple of days or so and the dog is fine with him (maybe this is because he knows who he is)

Since then GSD seems to think he can bark at anyone when in the garden, they don't even have to be looking at him, it's anyone that looks at him and now the gentle tug that used to work doesn't seem to.

He is wonderful natured dog, great with us and my 4 yeard old son.  We know dogs bark as it is a natural thing to do, but coming from a large, fluffy puppy in can be very off putting, shocking for stangers as it does seem across as aggressive.

What tips/advice have worked for you?

Hopefully I have given you enough background info and haven't rambled on.  Any advice/tips would be greatly appreciated.

I'd say the golden rules when raising a puppy are a) ignore the behaviour you can ignore, b) distract from that you can't ignore and c) praise to the hilt when the dog spontaneously does something you like.  I think the remedy for this comes under a combination of b and c - watch him in the garden, and if you see/hear him kick off, show him his favourite toy (which he ONLY gets from now on under these circumstances) call him to you, ask for a 'sit' or similar which you know he already knows, then he gets the reward (his toy and a game) not for barking, but for coming to you when called.  Using this technique, he should get out of the habit of gaurding.  However, it is natural behaviour for a GSD, so you'll have to be very consistent to nip it in the bud.  You also need to make sure you praise and reward him when he's outside and not mouthing off - this bit is often forgotten as it's so easy to ignore pups or children when they are being 'good' but it you want more 'good' behaviour, you have to make it more rewarding than the 'bad'

HTH