Hello, just wondering if anyone can help me..

While in the house my 2 dobermann bitches (2yrs and 4yrs) seem to bark at anything that moves or makes a sound outside. 

It started with people walking past the house that they did not know, and now it has progressed onto everyone and even cars. They seem to enjoy this and watch out the window looking for something to bark at all the time. They even look into neighbours windows and bark at them! 

It has gotten so bad that we have had a letter from the council saying someone has complained, on one side a neighbour has put a large fence up so they cannot see him and the other side we have had a neighbour (he was drunk) actually come over and threaten and attack my dad. People don't even like coming near us when the dogs are around because of it. (also mainly because they are 'big bad Dobermanns'  )

It did start to get slightly better after a while of trying to sort it but then it suddenly got a lot worse and we noticed they barked viciously at my neighbour. we couldn't figure it out until i caught him one day when he thought we weren't in teasing them at the window and running off. Since then we have caught him teasing them over the fence, at the window and knocking at the door and running away. As we have no proof of it there is nothing we can do, and im sure one day one of the dogs will get out and hurt him (or someone else) because of this. 
It is also becoming a danger to us and the dogs because when he does this it gets Leah so wound up and tries to attack Danni. Luckily no damage has been done but it could one day be one of us that gets attacked, and it is me who has to split these fights up so me and the dogs could get seriously hurt. These fights are very rare though. 

Danni(4yr old) is not an aggressive dog atall, but im worried she will be if this doesnt stop. Leah has been aggressive for quite a while but is not allowed off her lead or near people or other dogs she doesn't know. 

We have tried telling them off, sending them to bed as a punishment, spray collars, not letting them outside/in the room they can see out of etc. The spray collar has worked for a bit but they soon get used to it and the other dog realises they can set it off if they bark. 

I believe that if we got the neighbours to talk to them and generally be nice instead of teasing them/keeping away then they would be a lot better, but in this village if someone makes up their mind about you then they very rarely change it no matter what you do. 

I have taken Danni out to different places to see different people and she has been perfect and just wants fuss, shes just so territorial in her own home. 

Any advice? It's getting so bad that my parents are thinking of rehoming one of them. 

Emma

My doberboy barks at everything that goes past the front window - and the one thing I've learned is NOT to punish them; no shouting, no spray collars.  The best thing I find is to either tell them it's okay in a calm, happy voice then lead them away from the window and distract them; or to say "good girl, that's enough" then again, distract them.  Do bear in mind that dobes are guarding breeds - warding off trespassers is second nature to them, whether those people are actually on your property or just walking past.

Remy also used to go nuts - and I mean nuts! - at people walking past if we were walking up the drive heading out for a walk - I did use to correct him for this, either shouting at him or a little smack, but he got worse; since I started distracting him, and praising for attention to me, he has improved dramatically, and hasn't even grumbled at anyone going past in at least 6 months - even if we are standing at the very top of the drive and someone who he's previously had a go at has walked right past his nose.  Even his reactions to Jet - his arch-nemesis collie from down the road - have gotten markedly better of late, just with well-timed praise and titbits, and ignoring bad behaviour. 

Corrections only serve to make it worse; far as I can tell, as with correcting a dog-aggressive dog, they associate any and all unpleasant events with whatever they are focused on - so when your girls get a spray when they are trying to ward off a stranger, they associate the spray with that person, and will most likely be worse next time.

Keep a close eye on both girls though - same-sex aggression is seen in many dobes that live together; much more so the boys, but it is seen in the girls too, and you've already seen some redirected aggression (that is, frustration from not being able to get at people outside - or the annoying neighbour - being directed on to each other as fighting).

There may be other issues at play here, and I'm sure someone else will be along with their own thoughts and feelings - someone with more experience in these situations than me and my one territorial boy, I just wanted to tell you how I've dealt with a similar problem.  If there's any way you could keep a record of the moron who's teasing your dogs it might help in the future, but that's not my area of knowledge!

Mine aren't that bad, but so bark if someone stops by our drive or parks outside our house.

For this reason they are never left unattended where they can see outside distractions, and they are not a guarding breed, but can certainly be one prone to barking.

When you are not in the room then put them in a room where they cannot see passersby (backroom or kitchen), when out keep a Radio or TV on for them so they can't hear outside noises that wind them up. 

The fewer opportunities they have to practice the behaviour the better, after all they find it rewarding.

When your with them then tell them not to bark, or have a lead on them and put them out the room each and every time they do. 

They will then realise barking at passersby is not rewarding as it leads to being excluded.

This behaviour is no different to that shown by dogs that guard the car, and is in fact very common in guarding breeds especially, I see a lot of it when I walk past peoples houses.

This time of year it shoudl be easier as you can draw the curtains earlier.

As for teh council I would write to them telling them that you have had neighbours deliberately winding the dogs up to bark, but that you are working at remedying the problem by excluding them from the problem areas.  If you show that you are actively tackling the issue they will be more sympathetic.

Hopefully with the problem reducing the neighbour will feel no need, or get tired of playing silly bu**ers.

we had a dog who used to bark at passersby. advice given to us that worked was ,1,  put up blinds or similar to block dogs view,  2,distract dogs when someone is passing, be more interesting than outside. may be helpful to stop dogs being in room where people pass at least till they stop winding up dogs.

Along with the excellent advice already given about distraction.  It might also be a good idea to think about what other things these dogs have to do all day.  Are they barking because it's the most interesting thing that happens to them?  Have you thought about feeding them using what Zoos call 'environmental enrichement' so they have to work for their food (using Kongs or Buster Cube type devices.....) a dog whose busy satisfying it's basic bodily requirements will be too occupied to break off and bark at passers by normally....

Sorry to hear about your difficult situation. As you have mentioned in an earlier tread, Leah has been through so much in her short life :-(. Have you tried consulting a behavioural expert?
Hope everything will work out for you and your dogs,
Karen

Thanks everyone for your help.

Leah was rushed to the vet today as her stomach has started bleeding loads. She is back now and on antibiotics and has to have an op and biopsy to find out what it is Hopefully she will be ok, i was sure they'd have to put her to sleep today.

Anyway, while Leah was out i stayed in and looked after Danni. She doesnt bark half as much when she's on her own! She stands there with her nose on the window and watches people go by, occasionally growling and then a few barks. This is easily corrected by firmly telling her 'NO' and then praising her when she has stopped.
As soon as Leah was back, she started barking a lot more at people going past. I'm wondering if this could be to protect Leah or something? I really am confused!!

Have had Danni barking a few times at our neighbours fence, so guessing he's been out again. Am getting a camera installed to see if we can catch him out though.
What is weird though is that Leah suddenly started vomiting, and had very bad diarrhoea with a lot of blood in it. We have always had off days with her but never this bad. The whole house was covered when we got back. Ive noticed Danni has had diarrhoea too, so am thinking maybe they could have been poisoned somehow? I don't want to say it is definitely this, but just seems weird that they are both feeling unwel. And with the neighbour absolutely hating our dogs i wouldn't put it past him. It would be easy as they will eat anything.

Anyway, Thanks again!

Emma

If someone is deliberately poisoning your dogs, that's just beyond words !!
Another reason for Leah's illness could be stress. From what you've been telling us about her, a picture of a very stressed animal is emerging. Mental stress will often give bodily symptoms, like bleeding ulcers, for example.
Hope everything works out for the best,
Karen

ADMIN DELETED

what is this link to not sure what im surpose to do when i get on the page

It is a wind up merchant trying to disrupt the smooth running of the forum and get people onto their site.

Click on their name and then click the ignore button above the posters details then you won't see their posts.

That's a great tip Brainless, thanks for that. I've just done as you suggest, and the post comes up as being on my Ignore list and as you say, you just dont see it :P
Didn't know we could do that - we live and learn!

Just another link spammer.  Ignore em, or better yet report them to http://invisionfree.com/report.php, as an abusive spammer, and possibly if enough people complain invision will ban their wonderful doggie training forum from the service.  Might be worth reporting em to the admins on this board - they might be able to do a little to ban this moron regardless of user id, such as blocking their IP address or having a word with their ISP.

Just more of the polution on the net sadly.

Any one else now getting PMs from the trolls? :(

*

i had a coule a while back  just report them and then ignore them

Yes! And not impressed. I'm going to file an abuse report with Invision.

Do you mean file an abuse complain on takingthelead site where the abuse post was? anyway a untill recently there was no way to reliably put a dog at risk because of anti social barking and a static pulse anti bark collar would have stopped it.
I only hope its not to late by now, they have total succes on the dogadvice board, not like a behaviourist walks in the door, takes £100 and the dogs unchanged sometimes worse, councill gets involved and out the dog goes. Sadly, very sadly in this case a neighbour took the law into his own dirty hands, if a static pulse anti bark had been used it would never have happened.

Luckily enough no :D

No me neither. There seems to be a lot of silly posts at the moment.

Emma

I have four dobes, two bark at anything, and I mean anything, flies, birds, even if my car is parked in a different place they will growl at it, my other two dobes dont.

Am leaving work soon and need to rush off to the loo - so email me if you need further advice than what has/will be said.