I am hoping that you can all give me some advice on the behaviour that my 2 year old GSD is exhibiting.  Eb has been well socialised from puppyhood at agility classes / shows, obedience classes and puppy socialisation classes - we worked hard to expose her to as many different sites, smells and situations as possible to try and avoid any problems.  I have one issue with her though: when she sees another dog she will bark at it, it is not an aggressive bark but is none the less very loud (and annoying for me) and also makes people think that she is aggressive - i.e. barking GSD = problem.  If I let her off the lead she will happily play with other dogs without any problem and occassionally bark out of sheer enthusiasm I think.  I am trying to train her out of the 'See dog and bark' mentality as I do not want other owners being put off as well as the fact that I know that it makes some dogs fearful of her. I have been trying (for months) to stop the bark, say quiet and then treat, and have recently started using an Aboistop remote trainer collar to stop the bark as I was previously using a shaker can but that was losing effect.

So, any ideas?  Am I doing the right thing?  Are there any other techniques that I should be using? In some ways I am starting to think that maybe it is a fear bark as she will rarely bark and move toward the dog but more either stands her ground or backs off slightly.  She is especially vocal if the dog is playing with other dogs in any way or if the dog is fast moving.

Thanks!

Hi,

To be honest I would not bother with the collar, even though it is a spray ommitter to me if a rattling can is being ignored, so will a burst of spray eventually. I personally don't agree with any of these collars, a better result will come of consistant training, and reward is always a much better training method anyway.

Continue with the treat, shush, quiet training. And get her to also sit when barking, stroke her and speak gently, what you describe is not territorial to me, but a fear bark, the collar will not stop this problem, honest truth is some dogs will never change this character behaviour, you sound to have done all and more to socialise your dog all you can do is continue with what you are doing and hope that it will eventually pay off.

It may also be worth an eye test, as some dogs may bark due to not being able to recognise who or what is coming towards them. (I doubt this very much with a 2 year old GSD but it is worth a check nonetheless.)

Continue with the praise and reward training, a few months down the line may see a vast improvement.

Is does sound like excitement or frustration to me, my dog hardly ever barks but now and again he will at other dogs, if on lead and want to be running around or we meet a few greyhounds and Tyler can never catch at up, he barks at them while running after them, but there is no agression and it's a different kind of woof i can't explain.

I have had the same thing with my GSD but he started out like it and has gradually stopped but will still sometimes have a bark if a dog approaches him "looking at him funnily" or if a dog is off lead running around. with mine it is a fear /excitement /anticipation thing and i have slowly got round it by teaching, "look at me", praise and reward.
still havnt got him to learn to play nicely, (hes very rough)though so he rarely gets to play with other dogs unless they can stand up for themselves or outrun him.