hello all,

just some advice if you can please.
We have had a german shepherd move into the garden that backs onto ours. it is an outdoor dog and has a kennel, the problem is now it is there it paces up and down the back of our fence and starts my 3 off barking incessantly something which they never used to do.
My real problem is my BT bitch 21 months old and has now started guarding her bed, her toys, if there is food being prepared human or dog she growls at the other 2 dogs and half heartedly snaps at their faces, she sits in her bed and growls at nothing and now barks at the slightest little thing.
All this behaviour started a few months ago when this shepherd moved in behind.
Do you think this could be a territorial thing or is she feeling a little out of sorts?
If she starts growling i just shout stop it and she runs to her bed and is quiet for a little while, if she goes out into the garden she barks whether the shepherd is there or not.
On walks she is fine, loves all other dogs and humans alike, but has started trying to follow anything on 2 legs or 4.
a short sharp leave it and she is back to trotting along side like normal.

is there anything you guys would suggest?
I have thought of speaking to the owners of the shepherd, but before confrontation i would like to try and resolve my bitches problem 1st.

She sounds hugely stressed (as do the others a bit, with the incessant barking).  The first thing you need to do is to stop shouting at her - all that is doing is adding to her stress and upset (as she is showing by running to her bed and being quiet).  She's already on edge all the time by the sound of it - shouting will make that worse and could escalate the small things you are seeing now to full fights very quickly because her stress levels will simply go too high for her to cope.  She is trying to communicate - listen to her, don't gag her.

Next, can your dogs see this GSD?  If so then I would suggest blocking the view to reduce the stimulation of it pacing up and down.

I would then suggest doing some counterconditioning - make the presence of the GSD a predictor of fun things or tasty things, if your dogs are foody (and I would do it with all the dogs, as she may well be picking up on stress from them too, making her own even worse).

On walks - again, stop telling her off, you will only add to her stress and make it more likely that she'll do it again/more.  Try distracting her, then rewarding her when she's doing it right - lots of fuss and praise/food/play/whatever works for her.

I have direct experience of the difference that telling off vs. rewarding can do a similar situation and with immediate effect either way - River gets quite stressy when the other dogs play, and she will badger them, barge them and have a go to stop them.  If I tell her off, she'll do it more, because her stress levels are increased by me and it comes out in this behaviour.  If all I do is fuss her and play with her when she comes away from them, she does it a LOT less because she is happier and can therefore learn and make better decisions.

Re. the food - put her out of the room while you're preparing.  She is clearly struggling to cope with the excitement of it with the stress this GSD is causing too, so don't leave her in a situation she can't cope with.

I would speak to the GSD's owners too - but not as a confrontation.  It may be that their dog is as worried about yours as yours are about it, and they may want to find a solution as well.

Completely agree with Nikita,

Hopefully, it is the stress of the GSD upsetting your dog which can be fixed. :-)

I would just add in one more ingredient a clicker along with a food treat. A friend of mine had the exact same problem with her two dogs and a neighbouring dog which just moved in, it would bark, her two would go out and bark and they were having real fence wars, followed by nervous stress from her dogs not nice for any dog when it feels it's territory is threatened, not to mention her fence kept on needing repairs where the other dog was trying to get at hers.

Her dogs are verbally trained for simple commands, so I brought around a clicker just for this one problem, taught the dogs click and a recall got a treat, my friend stayed in the house when they were outside (and the other dog was not around) did 2 clicks and they would come straight back in for a treat, the next day we did it when the other dog was outside the barking started, but two clicks and you guessed it :-) the dogs came in it worked really fast.

Every time she clicked the dogs would leave the other dog and come straight back in.

Now, she rarely even needs the clicker if the other dog starts hers will do a bark back then run straight back in the house it has become a routine now and a game, rather than a territorial barking frenzy, they are calm again and the other dog has stopped barking and making holes in the fence because it knows it will only get one bark back and that is it.

So game over for all parties, clickers and whistles are the best tools ever invented for dog training I would never be without at least one of them. :-)

ive had BTs off and on over 30 years and some go in almost a zone so i would try the clicker and treat method .......also i know it is a nuisance financially but can you put screening at the end of your garden to stop the visual stimulus which might ease the stress a bit ...as for the other dogs barking i really sympathise with you but at a loss to suggest other than conversation with neighbour but it has to be done so  carefully doesnt it ??? good luck though ..big cuddle to your bully girl

>If she starts growling i just shout stop it and she runs to her bed and is quiet for a little while

A quiet dog, who is quiet because they have been stopped from growling, will lose the will to give this warning. 

So, eventually find out that, as they are not allowed to voice their fears, they may just as well bite without warning.

I would never advise anyone to stop a dog from growling.  It is stopping them from communicating.

thanks peoples,

1st there is no visual stimulus we have a 7ft fence between the gardens so it is just vocal and i suspect the pacing up and down behind.

2nd The neighbours have already tried to have a word with the neighbour because the GSD is left to bark and generally wakes the neighbourhood up from 6am, they have basically said tuff.....dogs bark get over it!!

i will however try the distraction method she is food orientated, so that may work.

Daftly i never even thought about stress i thought she was just becoming more dominant!

It stresses me out because we live in a very small village with no other bull breeds, all labs and border collies and fluffies......and people are very wary about my dogs since a couple of very high profile tv programmes have been on.

I have never had to deal with barkers because they have up til now been very good and i do not want the neighbours blaming me for this (smalltown mentality......she has 'those' type of dogs therfore it must be her fault!!)

We have the biggest show of our year coming up and I don't want all this to upset her.

Mybe a dap collar might help or some scullcap and valerian?

many thanks, i knew that if i posted different views would flood in, when you are in the situation it is good to have outside advice to make things make sense.....

will let you know how we get on.

Can I just point out that I made the same mistake with my dogs.  They all bark when out walking so me being a highly strung eejit, would join in shouting 'shurrup' which just made them worse, but made my youngest very nervous.  Reason being, she didn't know what I wanted.  She didn't know what the command 'shurrup' meant so would get worried about not behaving.  I taught her to 'speak' and then 'quiet' so she knew the commands and life is much better.  Oh, don't get me wrong, they still bark, but at least she's not stressing about what I'm yelling about!lol.

I've heard those cuddle jacket things are good for insecure dogs?  Maybe give that a go in the garden?  Also, I would be reluctant to leave the dogs out by themselves in the garden.  Maybe for the time being till they all get used to one another, you could make trips to the garden supervised.  Then it means you could be out there making a great game for your dogs and completely ignore the GSD.  That way, your dogs will see that you are not in the slightest worried aobut the newcomer and they will relax too.  Loads of fast games and treats.  Are they good at obedience?  Run through some of that too.  But you must remember and not re-act to any barking at all whether it's your side of the fence or not.  Don't stop or look in that direction at all.

In the long run, I would get some evergreen bushy trees and plant along that fence.  That way, the barking will fade into background noise eventually.

I had a collie that lived behind me.  I had 8 akitas at the time and everyone assumed it was my dogs that were barking and not the poor collie tied out the back all day.  One day, a neighbour had enough of the barking and arrived at my door shouting at me about her OH on nights and shut my dogs up.  I brought her into my house where all my dogs were in the living room and through the back to look at the barking collie.  She was so embarassed and told me that all the neighbours thought it was my dogs as I had so many!! We became friends after that and we spread the word about the collie.  But basically it's always going to be the person with the pack before it's Mr & Mrs Normal.  You'll need to get over that quickly!!lol.

lovely to talk to another bully owner .....Unfortunately some people do have negative feelings for them ,dont they !! Good luck and persevere

Good luck at the trophies..and don't stress she will be fine!
Thunderskirts wrap for dog anxiety or you could try Tellington Touch...bullys love it!

Just an update on the GSD that was driving my bitch mad.....

Well it seems that we weren't the only ones with a problem with the barking, howling etc...

The family have not had their rent agreement extended and they have moved,,,,,,yay.

Peace prevails in the house and my little dee showed like a bomb at the trophies and also got a 2nd in her class at the last champ show we were at.
thanks for all the help and advice, very gratefully received

Oh fantastic, good news for you!

I never would have thought of that,jeansw,i often tell my middle dog"ay!"when she growls at one of the others,well,Ive just learned not to-thanks!I love this forum!

Whenever I'm walking my Golden I usually take a treat with me :) I think a bit of a snack helps Ralph calm down. Easy solution but solved my problem.

btw. Hi guys, I'm new here :)